Page 58 of Wreckage of Us
“Well, I’m with Ethan,” Colton agrees. He was home a few times when we were on with Wyatt and his family, and he was able to say hi and chat with them all. “You seem happy,” he adds as an after-thought.
His words take me by surprise. “I am happy,” I realize with a start.
“Is Oliver still sniffing around?” the little asshole snickers. He gets a kick out of how wound up Dylan gets when Oliver comes to visit.
“Quit with that,” I throw a piece of bread at his head. Carbs have been my guilty pleasure lately, much to my little brother’s horror.
“What’s he doing out there anyway?” Colt points with his spoon toward the back yard where Dylan is hard at work.
“He’s been trying to level the ground where that bush was. It was a mess when he pulled it out, so now he’s finally at the point where he can plant some grass.”
I am so focused on watching Dylan from the kitchen window that I about jump ten feet in the air when a light knock echoes from the sliding door in the living room, which runs parallel with the kitchen.
“Hi, Jessica,” I smile at my neighbor when I open the door. “And baby Ryan,” I open my arms out for him to give me sort of a side hug and slobber all over the top part of my shirt.
“Dada dada dada…” he keeps on chatting away with his baby words.
“Has he said mama yet?” I eye Jessica amusingly.
“Not yet,” she sighs with disappointment.
I wouldn’t say that she and I became friends, but we’ve been chatting more in the last couple of months while I’ve been home. Dylan is not a fan of hers, which is totally fine with me. The girl is so beautiful, I feel insecure around her, especially now that my baby bump is growing. Him not showing any interest makes my heart happy.
“I got a box of pregnancy clothes from one of my sponsors,” Jessica gets right to business. “I wanted to know if you’d like to model them in one of my videos. And they’re all yours after,” she adds like it’s a given.
“Oh my god,” I clap my hands. “I would love that! What if I become famous?”
“You’ll make some money off it then,” she shrugs with amusement. “Just like I do.”
“Oh,” an idea comes to me. “I wonder if I could do videos with my books!”
“What books?” she starts looking around like she’s expecting to see stacks of books laying around everywhere.
“I read a lot,” I start explaining. “And I love talking about the books I read, so I have a blog now,” I hop around like it’s the most exciting thing ever.
Jessica watches me with amusement. “What kind of books?”
Her question makes me blush, mostly because romance readers are few and far between out in the open like that. And the ones who are not fans of it usually judge us.
“Uh, romance,” I squeak out.
“Oh nice,” Jessica doesn’t show much of a reaction, but she doesn’t sound judgmental either. In fact, I am starting to get way too excited at the idea that we could become real life book buddies.
“Oh my god, my favorite author just released the last book in one of her series. And it issogood! Her name is Maci Roberts…”
As soon as I say the name, Jessica’s face falls. She looks at me like she is about to cry, and now I don’t know what to do. Lately, it’s been me doing all the crying. I am not equipped at all to deal with someone else crying on me.
“I know that name,” she finally mumbles, then gets distracted by her son. “Anyway,” she brings her attention back to me, “do you want these clothes or what?”
My eyes go to the large bag she brought with her. I didn’t even realize she had it all with her.
“Yes, totally,” I assure her. I scrap the book buddy idea in my head. So not meant to be. “When?”
Jessica shrugs. “Today if you’re up for it. We could make some funny videos. We’ll record a couple with each outfit, then I’ll post one or two a week, it depends on how many views I can get on them.”
“Yay,” I clap my hands again, making Ryan laugh and blow bubbles. He is so different than when I first met him. Then again, he is about to turn one soon, so that’s to be expected. “Should I come to your house?”
“Yeah, if you don’t mind. I got all the baby stuff there already,” Jessica almost apologizes for it.
