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)
The smirk vanished. “You...? You, Soo Min Kim, have job interviews lined up? Real ones?”
“Yes, real ones,” I returned hotly. “I was banging my head against the wall trying to think of something I could do from home without drawing a lot of lawsuits-and-bird-poop hate, when the answer hit me over the head.
“Captioning.”
Alex stared at me. “Caption... ing.”
“Exactly.” Excitement bled into my voice. “K-Pop and Korean dramas are getting more and more popular every day, and what do all of these production and music companies need? People fluent in English, Spanish, French, and so on to caption their videos. Seriously, I don’t know why I didn’t think of this before. Everything I read online says I can bring in an extra fifteen hundred dollars a month.”
“And you’d really work for that little?” His brows crumpled. “You spend two thousand a month just on makeup.”
“Not anymore. It’s time we both start tightening up around here—be a better example for Lily.” I pointed. “Starting with rehiring the groundspeople, housekeepers, gardeners, and cooks. I am very much done with the haunted house vibe. Time for the manor to be a home for living people again.”
Amusement etched into the lines of his face, flicking my eyes to the early morning stubble still lingering on his jaw. Only Alex could make bike shorts, rumpled sweatshirts, and jaw scruff sexy. “I agree, but the last time I brought it up, you said you weren’t going to waste any more money on this overgrown outhouse, because you were just going to throw all of us out, sell it, and buy yourself a chateau in France with your new lover.”
I cocked a brow. “Alexander Montgomery, we’ve been married for seven years. When are you going to learn to ignore the stupid shit that comes out of my mouth?” I asked, startling a laugh out of him. “You want to know why this place is an outhouse? You’re looking at her.”
He doubled over—cracking up and clearly surprised to be doing so. “That was a good one,” Alex wheezed, straightening up. “But self-deprecating humor doesn’t make up for lying straight to my face. You see?” His laugh lines melted away. “I knew this new nice-Sue routine was all bullshit.”
“What? Lying? When did I lie?”
Alex’s eyes narrowed to slits. “Two fucking days ago, I told you we don’t allow Lily to have playdates with people we don’t all know. Not after that whackjob invited Lily to his daughter’s birthday party, and then tried to grab and drag her into the bathroom while everyone else was distracted by the cake.”
“Whackjob?” My eyes bugged. “I had no idea—”
“What the fuck are you talking about?” he exploded, blowing my eyes wide. “You were the one distracted in a corner, messing around on your phone when Lily’s screams brought everyone else running! But no, that wasn’t you,” he mocked, putting on a voice. “It was her other mother who failed to keep an eye on her then. Just like it was her other mother that stood in that kitchen and promised she’d respect my boundaries with Lily, and then turned around and did whatever the fuck she wanted anyway.”
I quieted, shrinking lower and lower in Sue’s gold-lace wedges.
“Not only did you take her out to a picnic with some best friend who you’ve never mentioned or spoken of in ten years, but you pulled her out of school to do it. It’s like I asked you not to do the most irresponsible thing ever, and you went and said, now I’m going to do it even harder.”
“Alex, please,” I whispered. “I didn’t see it that way. I didn’t mean to—”
“You’ll never change.” The words pierced my heart. “No matter how much I want to believe it. No matter how many times I convince myself to give you another chance. It’s always going to be nothing but lies to my face, deception behind my back, and fake tears and amnesia when you’re caught. I’m done, Sue.” Turning around, Alex walked away. “I’m just done.”
I stood there for a beat, then I cleared my throat, picked up my feet, and walked past the receiving room and the strangled piano chords floating out of it.
I made it all the way to the bathroom door before I started crying.
CLANG! CLUNG! CLANG!
Emerging from the bathroom, I made my way to the receiving room and stuck my head through the doorjamb.
Alex sat in the armchair beside the window, tapping away on his laptop while Lily banged away on the ancient piano that was here when Omma and Appa bought the place.
“That’s very good, Lily, now let’s try to do one smooth movement. A, C, F-sharp. A, C, F-sharp.”
Lily played the correct notes, but there was nothing smooth about it. The girl was, in a word, terrible.
No wonder she wants to switch to the drums. At least it’s fun banging on those. Banging on piano keys just makes your ears bleed.