Total pages in book: 85
Estimated words: 83786 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 419(@200wpm)___ 335(@250wpm)___ 279(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 83786 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 419(@200wpm)___ 335(@250wpm)___ 279(@300wpm)
As soon as I’d wrapped my hand around the hot coffee cup, I crossed back over to my gate and got in line with the other people waiting to board. One of my aunts said that coffee made everything better, and I was really hoping that was true. When I’d woken up that morning with my stomach in knots, knowing that I had to go back in to Refordable and quit, I’d assumed that it would all work out. I hated confrontation and knew they’d be irritated that I wouldn’t fall in line, but nothing else had gone the way I’d imagined it would.
By the time I got to my seat and settled in, the numbness began to wear off a little, and anger took its place. I hadn’t done anything wrong. There was an entire chapter in the employee handbook that detailed what we should do if a company we worked with was acting in bad faith. First, you call your boss—which I had—even though she hadn’t answered all week. Then, respectfully sever contact with the bad faith company. There were a few other minuscule suggestions in there, but that was the gist of it.
I’d done those things. I’d potentially saved the company from heaps of legal trouble in the future. Honestly, I was a fucking hero, and they should’ve rewarded me.
Settling into my window seat, I pulled the hood of my sweatshirt over my head and pulled out a book. It was a little bit of a relief that there was nothing I could do about any of it while we were in the air. Unless I paid for Wi-Fi—which I wasn’t planning on—Seat 22A was my own little bubble of solitude for the next few hours.
Well, it would’ve been if I hadn’t had a woman next to me that wanted to chat. There was no way I could’ve known that pulling out a romance novel would open up a conversation about women’s fiction, porn—her words, not mine—in literature, and what constituted a good book. I just wanted to read, but nothing I said or did made the lady catch a hint, and I wasn’t willing to completely piss her off when I was stuck elbow to elbow with her until we landed.
Instead, I just nodded along, staring at the pages that I couldn’t read with her jabbering in my ear the entire flight.
By the time we landed, I was dying to get off that stupid plane. Our little airport had never looked so good, and I let out a sigh of relief as I wandered toward the baggage claim. Hopefully my two suitcases had come through the trip unharmed, considering they held pretty much everything I owned.
After wrestling them off the conveyor belt and assuring myself that they were in full working condition, I dragged them toward the exit. My eyes fluttered closed as I stepped out into the cool damp air.
Home.
This was the place I was most comfortable. This was the place where I instantly relaxed. Turning on my phone, I ignored the notifications lighting up the screen and pressed a couple of buttons as I moved out of everyone’s way and posted up by the outside wall.
“Hey baby sister,” my brother answered. “You good?”
“Why wouldn’t I be good?” I asked suspiciously, perching on one of the suitcases.
“Because you’re callin’ me in the middle of a workday?”
“That’s fair,” I conceded, watching the travelers around me meet up with friends and family.
“Always glad to hear from you, Harp,” he said with a smile in his voice. “What’s up?”
“Well, I just got into town, but I don’t want to pay for a cab or a rideshare because I lost my fucking job,” I replied in one breath.
There was silence on the end of the phone for a long moment.
“All right. I’ll be there in fifteen.”
“I have bags. Two bags. Big ones.”
“I’ll borrow someone’s rig. See you soon.”
As soon as he’d hung up, I made sure my phone was on silent and stashed it in the bottom of my purse again. I didn’t want to deal with anything on there until I’d had a minute to get my feet under me.
If you couldn’t rush home and cut off all contact with the outside world, what was the point of home anyway?
It was closer to thirty minutes later when a large SUV pulled up to the curb and a familiar head of long dark hair popped out of the passenger window.
“Harp! Gray says you got canned!” my brother’s girlfriend yelled, grinning at me.
I flipped her off as I rose from my perch. “Glad to see you, too!”
“Are you kidding?” she screeched, leaning further out the window as Gray rounded the SUV and headed my way. “I’m fucking stoked you got fired! Now you can stay here where you belong.”
“Say it a little louder,” I complained as Gray pulled me into his arms, his biceps wrapped tightly around my head.