Total pages in book: 173
Estimated words: 163802 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 819(@200wpm)___ 655(@250wpm)___ 546(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 163802 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 819(@200wpm)___ 655(@250wpm)___ 546(@300wpm)
I stared at him. “Late to... what exactly?”
He laughed. “Very funny, Mrs. Kim. See you tomorrow.”
I waved him off. “Nariboo, what’s that strange man talking about?”
“Mommy, you know. My piano lesson.”
“Oh, he’s your piano teacher too?”
“Yes,” she said with a hearty nod. “But I don’t like it. Piano is boring. I want to play the drums.”
Chuckling, I opened her door and helped her buckle in. I couldn’t help but love her six-year-old straight talk. Honestly, I think the worst thing we do as a society is to stem a child’s natural flow of truth and directness, and teach them they must run every word through a filter until the only thing they’re left speaking is bullshit.
I climbed into the passenger seat and tossed a smile at Micah. “Good news,” I told him. “I called Mrs. Prado and convinced her to come back and work at the manor. She’s even going to take on hiring the rest of the staff that we need. Because for a feminist, you didn’t take on too much of the cleaning and cooking, did you, Spencer?”
“Baby girl.” He laced his fingers through mine and brought my palm to his lips before I could get out a squeak. “If you want me with a broom in my hands, you only have to say.”
My face caught fire and exploded. “What kind of nonsense are you saying with a child in the car!”
That just set him off laughing at me. But he didn’t let go of my hand...
...and I didn’t make him.
I WAS A STRAIGHT MESS when we got back to the manor.
Micah spent the whole car ride rubbing tiny, mind-melting circles on my inner wrist that had me shivering up and down my spine so much, I would’ve vibrated out of the car if the door wasn’t shut and locked.
As soon as he killed the engine, I hopped out, hurried upstairs, changed into my running gear, grabbed my phone, and then sprinted out the door.
My usual route was out of the question thanks to a certain clawed and fanged animal who might have aggrieved friends, so instead I turned right after climbing off the front step, and made for the cliff path.
The Kims owned miles and miles of prime Lantana land, except where Poseidon’s trident cleaved the earth and forced it to give way to the sea. The cliff path was exactly what it sounded like. A running and hiking path that ran right alongside the cliffs.
The view was gorgeous. Nothing but the glittering, undulating waves stretched out to the horizon and beyond. I wished I could’ve run this path more often as a teenager, but back then I had a not-entirely-irrational fear that the last thing someone with a sister like mine should do... was get within pushing distance of a cliff’s edge.
How ironic was it that I was the one who ended up throwing her into the sea?
But either way, Sue was the last of my concerns. She wasn’t the problem chasing me across the coast.
“You can’t sleep with him. You can’t sleep with him. You can’t sleep with any of them,” I shouted into my phone, recording every word. “You can’t sleep with Micah, Rhodes, or Alex, and you’ll repeat this message to yourself every time you forget it!”
I shouted sense into myself and my phone for a good half an hour until my rubber legs demanded I go back inside.
Trudging through the mud and grass, I tried turning my thoughts to what I was making for dinner that night. Nari had eaten enough processed and takeout food to last a lifetime, and I didn’t trust the three former rich boys inside not to go straight to all the packaged and microwaveables I bought at the store.
Corned beef and cabbage would be quick and easy, I thought, heading inside and climbing the great hall stairs. I could throw in some white beans, and make an avocado side salad.
My door loomed at the end of the hall, promising me a steaming hot shower on the other side.
I’ll see if Nari wants to cook with me. I don’t want her waking up at eighteen years old and finding out that without a cellphone and a delivery driver, she’d starve.
I threw open my door, and stopped dead.
There was a steamy, hot shower waiting for me all right, but it seemed someone else had gotten to it first.
I stood there blinking and gaping like an idiot, my sluggish brain fighting to connect how and why steam and singing were coming out of my open bathroom door.
“—that ass, shake that ass, shake that—”
“Hello?!”
“Oh, hey, Sue,” called a completely nonchalant voice. “I forgot to grab it on the way in, but would you mind getting my shower gel from under the sink? No offense, but I’m not interested in smelling like a mocha sunrise. I don’t even know what that means.”