Total pages in book: 70
Estimated words: 70004 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 350(@200wpm)___ 280(@250wpm)___ 233(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 70004 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 350(@200wpm)___ 280(@250wpm)___ 233(@300wpm)
My hand covered my mouth. “He did not!”
“He sure did,” he confirmed. “It was one of the good steaks from Brussel’s, too.”
That made me feel even worse. “Oh, man.”
Those steaks cost a fortune.
There was a reason they did, sure. The meat was the best in the area, and they had Wagyu.
“I’ll bet you didn’t react well.”
“I didn’t hit him or anything.” Meo inaccurately read my words. “I just made sure that he got fed at the same time that I did. That way he knew not to beg.”
“Ahh,” I said. “Training big dogs like this takes a lot of work. And patience. I never thought you’d hit him, though.”
He tilted his head as if to study me before saying, “Sorry. Just wanted you to know that I did it the right way. Not the cruel way.”
My lips tipped up at the corner. “I’m pretty sure that I know your character.”
He frowned harder. “How would you be knowing that?”
“You took care of a dumped dog for six months. Formed a bond with him to the point that he doesn’t know whether to choose me or you. And then called me when you found out that I’d been missing him and never stopped looking. Again, I might point out, after you’d already formed an obviously strong bond with him,” I explained. “Hence the good character comment. People don’t go out of their way to help other people.”
He finished off the last of his fries and then leaned back, using the napkin in his lap to wipe his fingers clean.
“How’d he go missing anyway?”
I gritted my teeth, contemplating whether or not I should tell him about the woman that was my sister, and decided…fuck it. If he goes to that god-awful country club and Birdee latches onto him like the tick that she is, he needs to be able to protect himself.
“My sister, Birdee,” I explained, then pushed away the last of my fries. I couldn’t eat another thing. “I guess this might be a really long story. Are you sure?”
He gestured to the fries. “Can I have the rest of those?”
I waved my hand at them.
He reached over and caught the last handful and popped them into his mouth, then stared at me.
I took that to mean he wanted to hear my story.
“I guess this needs to start when Birdee and my stepmother, Whitney, first came into my life. My mom had just died of cancer, and Whitney was my mother’s hospice nurse.”
He didn’t react by saying anything, but his eyes went to slits.
“I don’t know what happened there. I just know that a month and a half after my mother passed away, Whitney was moving into our house with Birdee,” I said. “And from that point on, it was like a competition to her. At first it was seeing who could win more of my dad’s affections. Spoiler, it was her. My dad chose her every time. He went to her graduation—because she continued to attend her fancy private school and I attended public. He chose her birthdays over mine—our birthdays are four days apart.”
He finished off his fries and once again cleaned his fingers.
I took a sip of my Fanta and then continued to explain.
“Meanwhile, I don’t even care anymore. All of my desire to like her went out the door when my dad chose her twenty-first birthday over mine—he paid for hers. Meanwhile, I was deemed inconsequential while they all went to Europe and celebrated for her. I didn’t even know that it’d happened until I saw stories on social media showing me where they were.”
He shook his head. “I thought my parents were bad.”
“I’d like to compare stories, but I figure I’ll finish this one first. That way when you tell me about your awful parents, we can compare notes.”
That got a smile from him.
“Anyway, so after that, I just didn’t try anymore. I barely went to anything of theirs. And then I met this really nice guy named Morris. And I thought all was right in my world. Until Birdee saw the change in me one day and I messed up by telling her why I was happy for once. From that moment on, she went out of her way to sabotage that relationship.”
“Let me guess, she stole your ‘sweet guy,’” he drawled.
“Bingo,” I confirmed. “I found out the day before my wedding at my rehearsal dinner. Morris sat me down and said that he wasn’t interested in me that way any longer. He’d found someone else.” I laughed sardonically. “I stayed with a friend that night, unable to go back to my apartment where there were so many reminders of him. My friend convinced me to go on the honeymoon anyway, hoping that it would help. So I decided to go get my things from my apartment and do just that. But when I got there, every single one of my belongings was sitting outside by the curb. Half of it was gone because people had seen the stuff and decided ‘free!’” I shook my head. “When I tried to go up to my apartment, the locks had been changed. When I went to the leasing office, it was to be informed that I’d been the one to terminate my lease. And that there was nothing they could do about it now.”