Total pages in book: 70
Estimated words: 65335 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 327(@200wpm)___ 261(@250wpm)___ 218(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 65335 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 327(@200wpm)___ 261(@250wpm)___ 218(@300wpm)
CHAPTER 6
Cass
A few things Lennox said to me really hit me hard. The talk we had, combined with him showing me those scars, pretty much broke me in the kind of way people say the internet gets broken. Or maybe it’s not the same. For someone who is just twenty-three and does marketing for a living, I should be more updated on my social media jargon. Anyway, I’ll tell you what it did. It registered with me like I stuck my head inside a great big bell while it was being rung. The echoes of it, the memories of what I saw, rang through my head all night. I was thinking about what kind of a life Lennox must have lived instead of thinking about what I did with him on Ayana’s couch.
Okay, I thought about that a few times, but then I thought about how it mattered to him that I believed what he was saying, and now I know why. Because before he was adopted, he wasn’t lucky in any sense of the term. He lived a hard life. He probably didn’t have any of those things he listed for me—a loving family, health, enough food, an education, and somewhere he could sleep at night and feel safe.
I’m starting to believe that maybe there isn’t really a thing that makes us lucky or unlucky. Maybe I can be blessed and still be clumsy or have unfortunate things happen to me back to back to back. Perhaps that’s not luck. I was slowly wrapping my head around that, though it’s hard to change my mind after living my whole life thinking one way about something.
It’s Saturday today, and I only work Monday to Friday. I slept terribly, tossing and turning and thinking about everything that happened at Ayana’s, but I got up early and did yoga to work out the kinks and try to focus my mind. That didn’t work out—at least not with the mind thing—so I called Mom and asked if I could come over. She said my call was excellent timing because she had made coffee but then realized she was out of cream. So, on the way over, I went to pick some up. At the corner store, the guy rang in the two small containers of cream and said they were free. I was super confused until he said they were on sale at two for four bucks and then showed me the two-dollar-off sticker on each carton.
I thought to myself, well, shit. Things are looking up.
I decided to push it by buying a few scratch-off tickets, and what do you know, they were all winners. Yes. Every. Single. One. Of. Them. I only won a total of twenty-two dollars, but that was still eighteen dollars more than what I spent on them.
I was so excited, and I thought of Lennox right away. I did try and tell myself it wasn’t him making me lucky, but thinking about him made me think of pie because we ate pie and fries the first time we met after he kidnapped me.
So, before I reached my parents’ place, I stopped by the bakery and chose a cherry pie. I actually ended up with two pies because it was a weekend special, buy one pie get one free.
Then, I had a great coffee and an even better chat with Mom, and she even told me that I would for sure get my license next time. She believed in me, and she really meant it. Dad was out golfing, but she made sure I knew he believed in me too.
And there I was, thinking they didn’t.
I got back to my small condo right around one, and my phone dinged the second I walked in the door. Lennox had texted me the night before, asking if I got home okay. I was honestly quite touched. Aside from my mom, no one had ever done that. Apparently, Ayana left my number on the fridge for him as an extra emergency contact since she and Ransom were at a small concert last night and may not hear their phones.
Or Ayana just wanted him to have my number since she already knew I was going to be going over there because she set us up, which I totally don’t mind. Actually, I’m insanely grateful to her. It was just about luck at first, but now…
Now it’s not.
And since I still believe in falling pianos and the universe hating on me, I’m a little bit worried about it. The luck thing got tossed around when I was a kid. I’m not sure what age exactly, but I guess I’ve been thinking this way for a good long time. I need at least two weeks to change my mind. Isn’t that what everyone says about forming a habit? That it takes two weeks?