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)
“When’s she get out?” Cody asked.
“Supposedly later tomorrow afternoon,” I answered. “Which’ll give us just enough time to get all this accomplished.”
“Let’s do this,” Birdee said. “Where do we start?”
Twenty-Five
If you’re reading this, you need to go to bed.
—Quotes we need to live by
Romeo
It was killing me not to take her calls.
It hurt even more when I saw her pull up to the drive and stare at the building like I’d just ripped her heart directly out of her chest.
“You okay?”
I looked over at my sister, a fake smile on my face. “Sure.”
“It’ll be okay,” she promised. “Apollo’s working on everything right now. He has a link into her computer. He’s deleting your old life completely. By the end of next week, you will officially no longer exist to the outside world.”
“I know,” I admitted. “But that doesn’t make seeing her texts any easier.
“What was the last one she sent you?” Dru asked.
I pulled out my phone and switched to the messaging app to show her.
Dru leaned over and started giggling within the first two words.
Mable:
Listen up. It’s fucking rude to ghost people. It’s especially rude to just stop taking care of our child. You owe me child support and time off.
“You like her a lot, don’t you?” Dru asked as she gave me my phone back.
Just as she did, another text message popped up.
Mable:
If you’re reading these, Mr. Apollo, I have my stepmother’s computer. Feel free to come get it if you need it.
“You think Apollo’s going to see that?” I asked my sister.
“Probably,” she admitted. “He’s monitoring them because of everything. He’ll probably do it without getting access, though I imagine it’d probably be easier to have the computer.”
Another text came through, this one making my stomach clench.
Mable:
I’m choosing to believe the reason you left has something to do with what I just found on the computer. If that’s the case, then I understand why you had to leave. If that’s not the case, I really dislike you right now. Call me back, please. At least let me know what I did wrong.
“You sure I can’t text her?” I asked.
“He said you couldn’t,” Dru admitted, sounding apologetic. “I think she’ll be okay. I promise, this is only temporary. Apollo is the best I know. He’ll fix this, and you’ll be back home by the end of the week.”
A kid squealed somewhere near the kitchen, and Dru got up to go investigate the sound.
I remained where I was, staring out at the view of the Rockies and wondering what Mable was doing. Was she working?
The storm that’d hit them wasn’t as bad as it was originally thought to be, only dumping a foot of snow on them instead of the three that it’d suggested.
Where we were at in Colorado had gotten the same storm, though we’d gotten just the southern tip. It’d snowed here, but only a light dusting, making it still rather pleasant to ski.
Which I’d done a lot of.
Dru and I had skied our hearts out over the last several days. Me because I wanted something to do to take my mind off of Mable, and Dru because she’d found a new love of her life.
I had a feeling that Apollo would be taking his family to ski every year, though only if he could drive to it.
Understandably, Dru was still slightly terrified of flying after she’d nearly died in a plane crash when her and Apollo had just met.
“Peanut butter sandwich?” Dru called from the kitchen.
I shoved my phone into my pocket and went in search of sustenance.
When I got into the kitchen, Dru was strapping her son into his highchair with food set out in front of him.
I walked up to the counter where the ingredients for peanut butter and jelly was already laid out, and got to work making four sandwiches.
I couldn’t even muster the hate for it that I normally would have. Nothing tasted good, anyway. Not when Mable wasn’t in my life.
“Is one of those for me?” Dru asked.
“No,” I snorted. “You don’t like peanut butter.”
She lunged for my sandwiches, and I had to hold them up high over her head to keep her from snatching them.
“Leave it!” I yelled. “You freakin’ crazy weirdo!”
She laughed and punched me in the thigh, which luckily was over my phone.
“Ow!” she grumbled as she gave me the bird.
I chuckled as she shook out her hand.
Pushing her slightly away, I placed my sandwiches on the counter and helped her with her sandwich.
She pulled out two more slices of bread as she said, “Pregnancy messed with my brain chemistry. I like it now.”
I sat down at the kitchen table with my stack of sandwiches and got to work eating them.
“Are we going out to ski?” I asked.
“No,” Dru cried. “We’re going to stay here all day and cuddle up on the couch! We’re going to watch movies and make popcorn. And we’re going to do all kinds of fun things during nap time. Then we’re going to go out to eat later, and we’re going to visit that shop where they have all those cute baby clothes I showed you a few days ago…”