Page 169 of Riding the Sugar High

“I do. I’m still here.”

“Missing me a little too hard today, Barbie?”

I smile, because it sounds like he’s smiling. Every time he does, his voice takes on a softer, warmer edge.

“Always, cowboy. But I’ll be there soon, right?”

“Right. Twenty days and sixteen hours left until you land.” He clears his voice. “Kyle taught me how to use the phone’s countdown timer.”

I fight to hold back a chuckle. “Look at you. A real pro. Have you turned on the TV at all?”

“What for? I’ve got no one to snuggle. I set up all the streaming services the guys swore you’d want, though.”

And an internet connection too. He’s made his perfect house even more perfect for me, and I’m not there to enjoy it.

“What else is new?” I ask as I pull at a loose thread on my skirt.

“Uh, well...” There’s a beat of silence. “We have a new goat. She’s a feisty one, Julia. She kicked the crap out of Rob yesterday.”

“Well, to be fair, Rob is a little...” I say as I think of the male goat.

He snorts. “Dense? He is. He could use a little goat to keep him on his toes. Or...hooves.”

I drop my head back. “What else?”

“Kyle’s grown an eight-foot zucchini. He might submit it to the Guinness World Record.”

“Is he asking women if they want to see his massive zucchini?”

“No,” he says with a low chuckle. “He’s still going strong with Cassidy from the juice bar. He seems happy.”

Even knowing I’m missing out on Kyle’s relationship makes me sad. I wish I were there, checking on the progress of this zucchini, meeting Julia and watching her pester Rob.

“Simon’s daughter started walking last week. Really, she skipped walking altogether, and she’s just running all over the place.”

“What about Aaron?”

“Aaron...” His sigh rattles against the microphone. “Aaron is lonely. Figuring out how to be a single dad now that Josie is in rehab.”

My lips twist. Josie has been at the facility since the week after I left. I might be wrong, but it seems longer than usual. Is she hiding out? How is Sadie dealing with it?

“Are you there for him? For them?”

“Josie doesn’t want any visitors, but you know I’m at Aaron’s place nearly every day for dinner. Sadie is still going through her Barbie phase.”

“Aw, just like me.”

“Afraid it isn’t exactly a phase for you, love.”

“Fair enough,” I concede, my lips curling at the nickname as butterflies overtake my stomach. Since I last saw him, there’s been a whole lot of tastefully erotic pictures and filthy video calls, which are great but don’t hold up against the real thing. They’ll have to do for the next twenty days and sixteen hours, though.

“Do you think you might want to, hmm...give me two more minutes of your time?”

“Uh-huh, of course.”

“And do something a little adventurous?”

“I’m feeling pretty adventurous today. What did you have in mind, Barbie?”