Total pages in book: 35
Estimated words: 32717 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 164(@200wpm)___ 131(@250wpm)___ 109(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 32717 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 164(@200wpm)___ 131(@250wpm)___ 109(@300wpm)
“And I’m thankful, please don’t doubt that,” I say on a tired yawn. I’m so exhausted after unpacking and putting things in their respective place that my talking is putting me to sleep. Plus, I have a weighted eye mask that I can’t wait to put on and sleep for a solid twelve hours before my work week starts.
“I know you are, even if you weren’t, I’d have done it anyway. Alright, get some rest. I’ll text you tomorrow to see how your first night went. Love you, kiddo.” I roll my eyes. We’re only six years apart, but that still makes me younger than him.
“Goodnight, old man. I love you too. Try not to worry too much. I hear it causes gray hair and fine lines.” Colt grumbles when I bring up the bone of contention.
“You’ll pay for that, mark my words. The next time you’re near a pool, you'd better be on your A-game.”
“Be nice to Auntie Kara!” I hear my niece say in the background, glancing at the clock, and realizing I’m in bed before eight o’clock at night. Nellie is still awake, and here I am, showered, in bed, and about to put on the weighted eye mask she gave me as a moving present well before my seven-year-old niece's bedtime.
“Yeah, you tell him, Nellie girl. Okay, guys, I love you, but I really need some sleep if I’m going to not be a zombie tomorrow for work.” My job isn’t anything inspiring or glamorous, to say the least. It pays the bills, and they allow me to use my time off when necessary. And boy, has it been used as much as possible the past few years. Honestly, now that I’m locked into my apartment and have done the whole verifying of income, coming up with deposits for everything: the small two-bedroom place where my head is currently lying, power, and water.
The only problem with switching jobs is what I do next. It’s not like I have a career in mind, and I’m pretty sure my crafting hobbies aren’t going to pay the bills without hustling while working a job too. Damn, if only I’d listened to my parents and brother.
“Kara, you good? You went quiet on me.” I’m mulling over whether I should even bring this up or not. I guess it doesn’t hurt to try.
“Yeah, um. I know you have someone coming in a couple of times a week to do the books for Barlow’s. Do you think maybe if she decides to quit, I can work there?” Colt bought the auto repair shop from our parents before Nellie was born, and since then, it’s only become more successful.
“Thank christ, Kara. Only been wanting you to come to work there for years now. When can you start?” This is why I’ve held off as long as I have, I didn’t want someone to lose their job.
“Well, I mean, I don’t want to take someone’s bread and butter. Plus, I’d have to turn in my two weeks’ notice.” For someone who was ready to pass out, I sure did a one-eighty mighty fast. Which only means one thing: sleep isn’t going to come easy once this phone call is over.
“Cool, see you in two weeks. Maybe the office won’t be such a shit show, and I won’t have to deal with ordering parts.” And just like that, there’s no going backsies.
“Alright, we’ll talk more tomorrow,” I say on another yawn.
“Love you, Aunt Kara Bear!” Nellie says so loud, I wince. This is what I get for not putting my phone on speaker.
“I love you too, see you tomorrow.”
“Later, call me. Seriously, it doesn’t matter the time, I’m there.” Colt reiterates nearly verbatim what our dad said.
“I will, hopefully it won’t come to that though.” I plug my phone into the charger that I’ll place on my nightstand once our phone call is over.
“Same, night.”
“Goodnight, big brother.” We hang up, I double-check my alarm is set, turn off my bedside light, grab the remote, and make sure my fan is on high to drown out any of the noises that I’ll hear through the night.
It doesn’t matter the weather, cold or heat, the air conditioner blasting, or the heater on. I need the moving air and the noise. The television is awesome, and I more or less get sucked into what’s playing, then sleep never comes. Once I have everything ready, I put on my weighted eye mask, sink into my mattress, and hope that slumber takes hold.
I replay everything that’s happened the past couple of days, all of the planning, preparing, and then working tirelessly to make everything the way I want it. My type A entered the chat, making resting impossible anytime I saw a box that needed to be unpacked, and then when my groceries were delivered. I dealt with it all over again, this time by myself, since everyone had left for the evening. When I sent Mom a text with the mountains of bags I placed, she laughed, and Dad went into overprotective mode, a lot like Colt did tonight. I held him off, barely, and worked my way through the mess.