Total pages in book: 39
Estimated words: 37200 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 186(@200wpm)___ 149(@250wpm)___ 124(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 37200 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 186(@200wpm)___ 149(@250wpm)___ 124(@300wpm)
“Let it out, sunshine. Let it out,” he soothes, consoles, and coddles me in only the way Ezra can.
TWENTY-EIGHT
Ezra
“Go back to sleep,” I tell Millie, trying to keep her ass in bed. She woke up earlier this morning, anticipating to get up and open the coffee shop. It took some time to explain to her that the shop being closed for today won’t kill her. Bad pun intended and all. It took some cajoling, but she went back to sleep, probably because her body was so worn out from the crying jags and worry. She was out like a light in no time at all.
“I don’t think lying around all morning is going to happen. I need to make some phone calls. If I’m not going to work, I can at least call Perry and ask him if moving in the middle of a loan process that is falling through is okay. I feel bad even making plans like this when Bonnie and Chad are missing.” Yeah, this next subject is going to suck, and it’s going to have her reeling.
“About that. You can call Perry and ask him, tell him that things are going to be slow going for a little while. He might know already.” I’m going to keep Millie off her phone and the television off as much as I can. Last night was hard enough on her. It took a couple of hours to calm her down, a few glasses of wine and her talking on the phone to Vanessa for another hour, then to her grandma. Only then for the news to make an announcement of Scott’s arrest at the eleven-o’clock news, catapulting her into another crying spell. It was a long time after that until she finally found sleep. It took even longer for me because as expected, with Millie’s name being attached as the barista at Books and Brews, my name was being thrown out.
“I guess I’m out of a job, too.” She takes a deep breath. I don’t say anything. “Okay, enough of the pity party. I’m getting up and going to take a shower. If anything else bad happens today, don’t tell me.” She attempts to slide off me, but I hold on to her for a moment.
“You’re allowed to worry about yourself, sunshine. Let’s get through the week and see where things go. I’m all for you calling Perry and moving in here soon.” I don’t tell her that if she didn’t figure it out, I’d be moving her in with me when she was out with Nessa next time.
“I know, but I still feel bad. Ugh.” She drops her head, groaning.
“Love you, sunshine. Go hop in the shower. I’m going to make a few phone calls and figure out what’s going on, okay?” I use my hand to lift her head up, needing her eyes on mine.
“I love you, Ezra. I’ll come and find you when I’m done.” My lips move to hers, sliding over them once, then twice, my tongue snaking out to lap at her lower lip for a moment.
Millicent slides out of bed. One of my shirts is covering her body. I grab my phone off the nightstand, making sure damage control is done. Luckily, I was able to turn the television off before they started talking about Scott’s charges, a list the size of my arm, including hiring someone to take out his parents in a literal sense and trying to get as much money as he could. Luckily, Millie was making the deposits, and he wasn’t too much of an idiot to fuck around with the business side of things. Bonnie and Chad had their account set up so a certain amount each deposit would go to their personal account, which Scott had no problem using for his gambling and coke addiction.
I pick up my phone. A text from our work group chat appears.
Parker: Nessa is on standby. Let me know if we’re needed at your place.
Theo: I’m at the office. Don’t come up here at all.
Boston: Fucking media frenzy is a shit show. There was no containing my shit. Sorry to leave you guys to Dickscott.
Ezra: You did me a solid. Thanks for taking that. Means Millie won’t have to see the Smithers plastered on the TV, since it’s all about your favorite family member.
Boston: Never a problem. New Orleans is calling my name. I’ll check in later.
I close out that thread, noticing another one from Sly telling me he’s doing damage control. No other words need to be said. Once the dust has settled, we’ll get the ball rolling for Millie to officially owning Books and Brews. It’s a shit situation. I know it’ll take her some time to get over their deaths and not feel guilty. No one is really a winner in this scenario, and that fucking sucks for my woman.