Total pages in book: 260
Estimated words: 245483 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 1227(@200wpm)___ 982(@250wpm)___ 818(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 245483 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 1227(@200wpm)___ 982(@250wpm)___ 818(@300wpm)
That’s all I could do after everything with the MC fell apart, and it’s all I can do now. It’s made me a stronger person. Some people might have collapsed under the weight of that life change, and God knows I wanted to, but I didn’t. I carried on. Even when my dad vanished into witness protection and left me with nothing, I kept going.
I shift the bouquet of flowers in my left hand to the other one as we go up the steps, keys jingling as we go.
* * *
The benefit of working for the florist just outside town is that I get to take leftovers home on Friday. We’re closed on Saturdays and Sundays, and my boss lets me have some of the blooms that look like they might not make it through the weekend. Only the freshest flowers for our customers. This bouquet of white peonies will have a happy home in the mason jar that’s centered on the hand-me-down table in the small kitchen-dining room combo.
“Well, I’m coming in with you,” Lydia says and crosses her arms over her chest as if I’d object.
“Good,” I tell her and point the flowers at her, pausing with the keys slipped into the lock of the door, “’cause I have two bottles of red that aren’t going to drink themselves.”
Lydia cracks a hint of a smile, but she doesn’t let up that the break-in isn’t something I should make light of.
Swallowing down that thought, I push open the front door and I’m met with the beep beep beep of the new alarm system that requires a code I quickly punch in.
The moment I hit the little green button, it’s silent save for Lydia pushing the front door shut and letting out a sigh of relief.
“See, safe and sound. The alarm system was a good idea,” I tell her as she looks around like she hasn’t been here nearly every weekend since I rented out the place.
It’s a small house, a little rough around the edges but with good bones. The inheritance my mom left me was supposed to go toward my college tuition, but that fell through. Just like most everything in my life.
“What did the police say?” Lydia asks as we go in and I toss my keys on the kitchen table, then hang my purse over the back of one of the wooden chairs. Setting the flowers down, I follow Lydia’s gaze. She scopes out the house like she doesn’t trust it, her eyes wandering from room to room.
“You know I didn’t call the cops.” Lydia stares at me, eyes wide with exasperation. She’s silent, though, ’cause she knows that’s not something I’d ever do.
Her mouth opens and closes with a silent protest, but then they form a thin line.
“You ready for a glass?” I ask her and she reluctantly nods, slipping her bag off her shoulder and draping it over her chair. “Let me just have a look around,” she says without actually asking permission. With my head in the cabinet, snagging two glasses, I listen to the old wooden floors creak as Lydia goes about her way.
I have everything I need here. A little kitchen, a little living room. A bathroom. Two bedrooms. It’s plenty of room for me, but barren for the most part.
I can’t imagine what anyone would want to steal. Nothing was taken but when I came home, the front door was wide open with the small glass panel busted out, answering the question of how the intruder got in. I’m not going to lie, I was terrified at first.
That’s the only reason I called Reed. I had to.
I didn’t see anything out of place and he didn’t see anything that made me worry. The alarm was his idea, though, and he had it done in a day. Emotions toss and turn as I remember the way he looked at me and how I couldn’t even look back at him.
With a long exhale I snatch up my glass of wine in one hand, grab scissors for trimming the flowers in the other, and take both to the table.
I’ve spent some time putting the place together. I found the dish towel that hangs on the oven at a thrift store last winter. I liked the look of the owl embroidered on the front, with teal streaks running through it and a floral pattern in the background. I hung new curtains just before the break-in happened. They have a bit of blue in the pattern that goes with the dish towel. I have a teal teapot I’m in love with and a thick floor mat by the sink that cushions my feet when I’m washing dishes.
It’s cozy and cute and I’m sure whoever broke in was sorely disappointed. If only they’d known I was broke and barely making it by.