Total pages in book: 113
Estimated words: 109086 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 545(@200wpm)___ 436(@250wpm)___ 364(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 109086 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 545(@200wpm)___ 436(@250wpm)___ 364(@300wpm)
Which, sigh. I missed the old days when I just wanted to be the best tourist I could be. Gone were those lists. Gone was the real-life bucket list. Now I had one main objective: survive.
Blake didn’t respond to me, but it didn’t matter. We pulled into a parking lot, and they were there.
I cried out in relief.
“Is that them?”
A minivan was parked in the back corner, but I could see Graham in the driver’s seat. Oliver was in the front passenger seat. There were others in the back. In fact, there were more than two more heads and two dogs.
“Who is with them?” My voice cracked. All the tightness in my chest exploded to happy flutters.
She drove over to them. Parked.
I was reaching for the door, bursting to physically be near my family again, when Blake’s hand caught my arm. “Wait,” she barked.
Tension fell over us.
She was watching the street, her eyes trained on a car that was driving past the lot at a slow pace. She kept scanning. A bunch of abandoned and broken-down homes were across the road. A lot of vehicles were parked up and down also, but ironically, not a lot of people.
She let go of my arm. “We’re good.”
I could tell she was going to wait in the car.
“Come with me.” I caught her hand.
She blinked at me. “Uh . . .”
“Meet my family. Fair warning, they’ll try to adopt you.” I shoved out of the car. I hadn’t missed how she blinked rapidly, like I’d blinded her, but then I was running for the minivan.
The side door swished open and my family spilled out from inside.
Bess winced, stepping down. Her hand went to her knee.
Clara shoved at her from behind. “Scoot, woman. You’re holding me up from hugging my niece.”
Two dogs jumped out, hurrying around both of them.
The older Lab ran up to me, bouncing awkwardly with his mouth wide open, smiling. His big tongue hung lopsided out. He loped around me, dodging my hand, and he kept doing circles. Pooh, their little white rescue, ran up to me and expected me to pick her up, so I did just that, swooping her up and cradling her against my chest.
By that time, Bess had moved to the side, still grimacing from her leg.
Clara was almost to me, her arms up, when I saw who else had stumbled out of the minivan.
“Mom!”
And then, “Aunt Maude?”
Clara pffted, her nose wrinkling before she yanked me to her. “Come here, you. We were starting to get worried. We couldn’t get a hold of you yesterday.”
I glanced back, seeing that Blake had gotten out of the car and come around to my side, but held back. We shared a look because they were starting to get worried? They hadn’t already been worried?
Clara gave me a last squeeze, muttering into my ear, “We tried keeping the Fourth from coming with us, but we couldn’t shake her. She and your mom hopped a plane yesterday without telling us. It was a whole big awkward surprise when they called from the airport because they didn’t know where to go. Also, why is that car’s window busted?”
My mom was trying to hold back her tears, standing just behind Clara, and she was failing. Maude moved to the other side, overhearing what Clara said. She spoke up, griping, “Why wouldn’t I have come? He’s my son, after all. Of course I’m coming to see my son. I won’t let you start acting like you were the one who wiped his ass and changed his diapers like you do with Phyllis’s daughter here. My son is mine, not yours.”
“Maude!”
“Mom!” Graham was not happy.
Clara had stepped aside, but froze at hearing what her sister just said.
My mom froze too, horrified. She snapped, adding, “Take that back. That’s a horrible thing to say. We’re family.”
Clara glared, retorting, “She’s my godchild. Can you say that much?”
The back of my neck grew heated. The verbal sparring had begun.
Maude rolled her eyes, moving stiffly to me. She was the shortest of the sisters, around five feet and one inch. Clara was a few inches taller, but the roundest of them. Maude was shaped more like a box, with a few extra layers of skin. She didn’t have the curves like Clara and Bess did, but she was bulky. Her brown and graying hair was pulled up in a bun, a bunch of stray hairs falling free where half her hair was a mess. The bun almost seemed like a joke. She didn’t seem to care, blowing out some air and grabbing me, jerking me to her for a brusque hug. I felt like I was hugging a stiff cardboard box. I wasn’t sure what to do, so I patted her on the arms before she let me go.
I said, “Hi, Aunt Maude. Welcome to New York.” I tried to grin, but it failed miserably.