Total pages in book: 44
Estimated words: 41687 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 208(@200wpm)___ 167(@250wpm)___ 139(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 41687 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 208(@200wpm)___ 167(@250wpm)___ 139(@300wpm)
Are you drunk?
Magpie
No. Drunk Robbie can’t be trusted.
We were teetering a little too close to the forbidden topic. The night at the beach house a decade ago when he’d made his drunken confession and then panicked.
Things had been awkward between us for a while, but when we’d been seated next to each other at his father’s birthday dinner several months later, we’d finally been able to move past it and silently agree to never mention it again. That night, I’d learned he’d mostly stopped drinking. At first, I’d hated the idea that he’d had such a strong reaction to one embarrassing moment. But on the other, if it meant my Robbie would be less likely to make ill-thought-out decisions, I was all for it.
Magpie
Now that Jason and Sam are both happily paired up, I’m just feeling sorry for myself. I’ll be fine. I’ll fuck around and forget about it.
His two roommates had both recently found their soulmates, which had understandably left Robbie, the one who’d actually wanted marriage more than his friends, reeling. And now he was going to do something stupid.
Maybe take some time alone before deciding to hit the apps. It’s not safe.
Magpie
You can stop worrying about me, you know.
That’s never going to happen.
I forced myself to shove my phone in the desk drawer to keep from messaging with him any longer. Even though I wanted to be his confidante, I couldn’t. Confiding in someone created intimacy, and I couldn’t allow more intimacy to build between the two of us.
Instead, I buried myself in work and even accepted an invitation to a small dinner party for that night to keep me from doing something stupid, like flying to South Carolina to check on my beach house.
I successfully kept myself busy for two days until Rajiv happened to mention Sibley had charged forty dollars to an urgent-care location on the company credit card.
“Mr. Evers?” Sibley asked in surprise when I called.
“Is he hurt?” I was too concerned to worry about keeping a friendly tone. My voice sounded cold and sharp.
“He’s okay. Just cut his foot on some shells. It only needed four stitches, don’t worry.” I could hear the smile in her voice, reassuring me she wasn’t concerned. “Do you want to talk to him?”
“No, no,” I said quickly. “Don’t tell him I called. He’ll be annoyed at the intrusion of his privacy.”
“Yes, sir.”
“Thank you.”
I got off the phone quickly and refocused on work.
But that night, I couldn’t help but pull up the surveillance cameras at the Rabbit Island house to get eyes on my boy.
It was a mistake. A big one.
He was sitting on a rocking chair on the back porch, his feet pulled up and his arms wrapped around his knees. On the one hand, I was grateful he was outside since that was the only place I had security cameras, but on the other, I could see the moonlight catch on the tear tracks staining his cheeks.
He gazed out at the ocean. Soft music played from something—his phone or a small speaker—and a glass of ice water sat next to a small bowl of food on the table next to him.
I watched him for ten minutes before he finally moved, wiping the tears away before reaching for a nearby blanket and tugging it around his shoulders to form a cocoon. It was fall break at the school where he taught, which meant he’d have to fly home tomorrow to make it back to work on time.
After forcing myself to close out of the security system app, I pulled up my texts and shot one off to Rajiv.
Make sure the next tenant in 3E is a woman. Someone young and outgoing and friendly. And kind.
If I couldn’t be the one to comfort Robbie, and his two best friends were too busy to do the job, I needed to find someone else to look out for him. Someone who would live nearby and be there for him.
It should have worked.
Instead, it backfired horribly.
2
ROBBIE
Briar’s voice sounded panicked. “I’m sure it’s all a misunderstanding!”
“I need you to call Kit,” I said, trying to remain calm. “Do it right now.” I rattled off his number from memory and told her to text him SOS MAGPIE if he didn’t pick up.
“You don’t want me to call your dad? He could probably send a fancy lawyer over—”
“No,” I snapped. “Do not call my dad, or I’ll be locked up all fucking night.”
It was rare for me to lose my cool, especially with someone I liked so much, but if it hadn’t been for Briar talking up her brother the way she had, I wouldn’t be in this predicament.
“Okay, I promise,” she said before the officer yanked my phone away and covered my head with a hand as he sat me in the back of his cruiser. Meanwhile, Briar’s brother, whom I’d been dating for all of ten days, was busy arguing with the other officer as the man tried to put him in the cruiser from the other side.