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)
“Taking off?”
I smiled at Jesper, though it didn’t reach my eyes. “I am.”
“Have a good one. Stay warm,” he said as he tipped his imaginary hat.
Stay warm.
If I had a man at home waiting for me, I might.
Though I couldn’t say that it was all bad. At least when Romeo had disappeared, he hadn’t taken Brawny with him.
And Brawny would keep me warm.
I didn’t need no man…
At least, I had that opinion until I got home and tried to open a new jar of pickles.
No matter how hard I tried, I couldn’t get the damn thing open.
“Stupid small hands,” I grumbled, kicking my big toe at the corner of the rug that’d flipped up. “I hate you.”
I set the bottle of pickles on the counter and glared at it.
I glared at it so hard that the ringing of my doorbell had me startling.
My head whipped around as I stared in hope at my door.
I moved toward it quickly, though not too quickly. I didn’t want to look desperate.
My hopes were dashed, however, when I got to the door and yanked it open only to see…
“What are you doing here?”
Birdee and Shade.
My face dropped as I saw her standing there with her arm in a sling and a crutch under the other arm. The cast on her leg was bright red.
“I thought we were cordial now?” Birdee questioned.
I blew out a breath. “I’m just surprised to see him here.”
“I’m actually not staying,” he admitted, shifting from foot to foot.
“And…” Birdee urged.
“And I’m sorry for giving you lime. That was out of line, and I shouldn’t have done it. No matter how much I thought you hurt my best friend,” Shade muttered.
“You’re forgiven,” I said. “On one condition.”
Shade’s brows went up. “What?”
I left the door open and walked toward the kitchen and my jar of pickles.
When I had them in my hand, I turned and thrust the jar at him. “Open this.”
He did, handing it back to me.
“That’s it?” he asked.
I nodded once.
“Guess that was pretty easy.” He wrinkled his nose. “I’m sorry again.”
With that, he took off, slamming the door closed behind him.
I stared at Birdee and said, “What’s going on?”
“Two things,” she said as she looked around. “But I’m waiting for Cody to get here.”
“You are?” I asked in surprise.
Brawny got up and walked toward Birdee, touching his snout to her hip.
She reached down and scratched him behind the ear. “Aren’t you just so handsome?”
Brawny nudged her pocket, and she snorted and pulled out a treat for him.
He sat, letting his tongue loll, then offered up both paws.
“Good boy,” she said as she held it out to him.
He took it and walked over to his dog bed in the corner of the room, set up in front of the huge plate-glass window that offered a view of the entirety of my backyard.
“He looks like he’s done that with you before,” I mused.
“I used to visit with him when you weren’t around,” she admitted.
I walked over to the kitchen and gestured toward the barstool at the counter. “Have a seat. I’m making sandwiches. Do you want one?”
She took the seat and studied the fixings for the sandwiches. “I still don’t like anything but meat and cheese.”
She sounded so embarrassed that it had me smiling, despite the slight awkwardness of the situation.
“I figured that,” I said. “I’m not actually putting anything veggie-wise on this. I’m using the pickle juice to flavor my mayo. Would you like to try it?”
She hesitated.
“You can have a bite of mine.”
She nodded. “Okay. Thank you.”
I got to work fixing dinner which consisted of chips, a sandwich, and lemonade.
By the time I’d slid Birdee’s sandwich onto her plate, my front door was opening and Cody was walking inside.
“Yo, hos,” she said as she barreled toward us. “What’s poppin’?”
My brows went up. “Are you subbing at the middle school again?”
“High school.” She flashed me her beauty queen smile. “What’s up? Not that I’m complaining if you’re going to feed me.”
“Well, mainly, I just wanted to share what I found,” Birdee explained. “I went to clean out my room at the mansion since they’re moving everything out in preparation of getting kicked out. Tom wanted me to get everything out before he dumped it. He’s really mad at us, by the way. He thinks we betrayed him. Anyway, so I’m getting everything out, and I take my computer that was hooked up to their network. Only, it wasn’t my computer.”
“Whose computer was it?”
She pulled it out and handed it to me. “My mother’s.”
I stared at it. “Oh.”
“I was going to ask if you wanted to give it to your man’s computer friend.”
I grimaced at that. “Well, that’s going to be hard since I haven’t seen him in a week.”
“What?” Cody asked. “Who?”
“Romeo?” Birdee asked.
“Romeo,” I confirmed.
“Why?” she asked. “Have you called him? What if he’s dead in a snowdrift somewhere?”