Total pages in book: 85
Estimated words: 82077 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 410(@200wpm)___ 328(@250wpm)___ 274(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 82077 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 410(@200wpm)___ 328(@250wpm)___ 274(@300wpm)
Ah. Her giant scary warehouse that she loved. He’d been making fun of that.
“You’ll never find anything there,” she finished sarcastically with a roll of her eyes.
I cleared my throat, and he turned to me. “May I ask what it is?”
David only stared at me.
“It’s a Cruchon & Emons mirror sighting compass,” Hannah informed me. “It was manufactured in Paris, France, and in Berne, Switzerland, by both Plan Ltd and Cruchon & Emons, starting in 1915.”
“Okay.”
“He collects compasses because he travels so much,” she explained, smiling at me. “He used to be obsessed with the idea that a plane would go down in the jungle or in the mountains, but now he just likes them.”
He did a slow pan to her. “You remember that?”
She grunted.
“Be nice,” I said under my breath.
Second roll of her eyes.
“Hannah,” David husked, and she turned back to him.
“Maybe you won’t be so judgmental next time of things you’ve never experienced.”
“Of course,” he rushed out.
She smiled then and walked over and pointed at the compass he was still holding like it was the holy grail. “You see that it’s the one you were looking for, with the enameled dial, so you know it can’t be any newer than 1918––”
“Because that was the year they switched to aluminum.”
She waggled her eyebrows at him.
“You’re saying this treasure was in that horrible-looking warehouse of yours?”
Smile and nod that time.
“Count me in when you make your next sojourn there.”
“We’ll see if I remember to call,” she replied flippantly.
“Wait here, all right?” he asked her, putting the compass gently into the box and darting down the steps to our front gate.
I moved over next to her. “You’re mean to him.”
“Oh, he’s so full of himself I don’t know how his head fits into cars,” she assured me with a noise of disgust at the end. “I mean, he’s a good guy way down deep, but the digging is exhausting.”
“I’m sure that’s not––”
“He had a date at that event we were at with George and the shooting and the––”
“I know which one,” I said snidely.
She snickered, and I growled at her.
“I had no idea he had a date until I noticed this girl trying to kill me with the death glare laser beams coming out of her eyes,” she groaned.
I couldn’t help chuckling.
“I mean, Pa, come on,” she apprised me, sounding like she was in pain. “He was on a date and he asked me to dance? That’s so…entitled and rude and––”
“It’s because he likes you best.”
“I think best is a sliding scale that moves depending on where he is and who he’s with.”
I would disagree, but I didn’t get to have an opinion, so I kept my mouth shut.
David was back then, on the bottom step, and was about to pass Hannah a square velvet box that was too big to be a ring or earrings and too small to be a necklace. My money was on a bracelet, or maybe a brooch.
She crossed her arms. “Are we friends?”
Instant scowl from him. “Yes.”
“Is there jewelry in that?”
“I––”
“You know I want that mala that you always try and give me, but you’re also aware, because I’ve made myself clear, that I’ll never accept it because it’s too much money. That box, though, wouldn’t hold the mala, but you see where I’m going with this.”
“No,” he replied defensively.
“I know you know the jewelry I love, but you also know we’re friends, and friends don’t give friends jewelry.”
“I can give you whatever I want. It’s Christmas.”
She shook her head. “Even if I didn’t have a boyfriend, jewelry would be a no go.”
He growled in the back of his throat, spun on his heel, and charged back down the path to the front gate, flung it open, and was at the rear door of the car in seconds.
“You know the hinges on that gate are not new.”
Hannah cackled.
“What do you think was in the box?”
“I know what was in the box,” she whispered. “The last time we were shopping together, which friends can do––”
“I didn’t say anything,” I protested.
“––we looked at Chanel gold charm vintage bracelets in my favorite estate jewelry store. If he got any of the ones we were looking at, it probably set him back two or three grand.”
I could only stare at her.
“He’s rich by himself, Pa, and that’s not counting his family fortune on top of that.”
“Holy crap,” was all I could say.
“Oh my goodness,” she gasped suddenly, and David was back with what looked like a giant pillow that was made to look like a cat. “You got me a Squishmallow!” she squealed.
It was at least two feet high, and when he reached us, she made grabby hands for the cute tie-dyed blue-and-purple thing. David shook his head as she squeezed the cat tight.
“You’re a grown-up, you know,” he groused at her, trying not to smile at how happy she was.