“You’re not getting out of the signing this weekend,” Amber said with a pointed look in her direction.
“I know,” Kristen mumbled sadly, knowing that wasn’t an option, not after waiting five years to be invited to this signing. The Vault Romance Signing was one of the top romance signings in the world and only the top-selling authors were ever invited. She’d waited five years for her invitation, which meant that canceling wasn’t an option.
Not unless she wanted to get banned for life.
“I’m going to stop by the post office and pick up the mail and run a few errands for the signing, but I should be back in a few hours,” Amber said, dropping her cellphone back in her bag with a heavy sigh as she made her way to the door. “Text me if you need anything.”
“Thank you,” Kristen mumbled as she watched Amber leave before she shifted her attention back to the flatscreen television that Garrett carried up here for her the other day so that she would have something to do, besides getting better acquainted with his bathroom, that is.
She would have preferred dying in the comfort of her own bed, but that apparently wasn’t an option since Garrett felt the need to keep an eye on her. After a few minutes, she found herself staring at the bathroom door and-
“This is stupid,” Kristen said even as she shoved the covers off and sat up. When her stomach didn’t punish her for the move, she climbed off the bed and made her way to the bathroom, telling herself that this was a waste of time as she grabbed the pregnancy test off the counter and made her way to the toilet.
Then again, since she had nothing better to do at the moment...
A few minutes later, she was placing the test on the counter to finish doing its thing and making her way back into Garrett’s bedroom as she once again found herself staring wistfully at her laptop before deciding that this would be a good time to help herself to another blanket. For a moment, she considered texting Garrett to see if he could run across the street and grab one, but since her phone was constantly on the verge of dying these days, she settled for raiding his closet instead.
She opened his closet door and-
“Of course it would be on the top shelf,” Kristen said, looking for something to step on so that she could reach the blanket only to frown when she spotted an old shoebox with her name on it.
Curious, she glanced over her shoulder as she worried her bottom lip between her teeth before she found herself reaching for the shoebox and-
“Rocks,” Kristen said slowly as she tried to make sense of what she was seeing. Wondering why he had an old shoebox full of rocks with her name on it, she picked up a white rock and-
“That was taken from your front yard after our first real kiss,” came the softly murmured words as she watched Garrett reach past her and pick up a gray rock. “This is from our first nightcamping,” he said, before dropping the rock back in the box and moved the rocks around a bit until he found a smooth gray rock at the bottom. “And this is from the playground where we first met.”
“And this one?” Kristen asked, picking up a gray and white rock as she glanced back at him.
“I took it from your aunt’s yard after I taught you how to climb a tree,” Garrett said with a fond smile as he took the rock from her and placed it back in the box with the others.
“What exactly does this mean?” Kristen asked as she watched him place the cover back on the box and carefully place it back in its spot.
“That I’ve been in love with you my whole life,” Garrett said, only to send a questioning look at the blanket on the top shelf. When she nodded, he grabbed the blanket and closed the door before taking her hand in his and led her back to the bed. He waited for her to climb back into bed before he shook the blanket out and placed it over her.
“That doesn’t really explain the stones,” Kristen pointed out.
“Doesn’t it?” Garrett asked, shifting his focus to the small bottle of pills on the nightstand. “Are they working?”
“Starting to,” Kristen said, waving it off. “Don’t try to change the subject. What do the stones mean?”
“That you screwed over my cousin for nothing,” Garrett said, shooting her a wink as he opened the bottle of ginger ale and handed it to her.
“It wasn’t for nothing if it entertained me,” Kristen said, making him chuckle as she reluctantly accepted the bottle and took a tentative sip even as she mentally prepared herself to make another mad dash for the bathroom. When nothing happened, she took another sip, handed it back to him, and gestured for him to get on with it.
“I’m not allowed to tell you that story,” Garrett said as he leaned down and kissed her forehead. “At least not for five more years.”
Slowly nodding, Kristen said, “You’re evil.”
“You never left your readers wanting more, dangling a juicy secret in front of them only to keep them coming back for more while you built up the story instead of putting them out of their misery?” Garrett asked while Kristen sat there, reaching up to rub the bridge of her nose in a sad attempt to hide her wince.
“I would never do that to them,” Kristen said, even as she couldn’t help but wonder if she was going to hell for lying her ass off.
“Liar,” he said, chuckling as he pressed one last kiss against her forehead.
“You’re really not going to tell me?” Kristen asked, dropping her hand away so that she could pout, hoping that it would be enough to break him.
“Not a chance in hell,” Garrett said, making his way to the door. “I will, however, randomly tease you throughout the years.”
