Total pages in book: 109
Estimated words: 107352 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 537(@200wpm)___ 429(@250wpm)___ 358(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 107352 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 537(@200wpm)___ 429(@250wpm)___ 358(@300wpm)
“What am I supposed to do? To them, I’m a fossil.”
“Hand in,” Tatum insisted.
“Love…”
“Now,” Luke badgered me. “Get your hand in there, Miller.”
So I did, and all their smiles were a concern.
“Fossil is actually accurate, considering you’re over half a century,” Darwin chimed in.
When I shook my head at him, everyone lost their minds.
Wednesday morning, the first school drop-off after we were all home for Veterans Day, had been fine. There had been a lot of frantic back and forth for forgotten items, which included Luke’s phone, his tablet, and lunch pail. A week later, it was seamless.
We always went in separate cars, as Luke’s brick-and-mortar Wildwood Landscaping office was closer to Darwin and Tatum’s school, and it was easier for me to take Griff. Luke had spoken to Darwin’s teacher, and it turned out she was excited to talk to him because she wanted to move Darwin into calculus. She knew he was ready, and her annoyance with him being a know-it-all told her so. He said that after she explained, she laughed so hard, she snorted.
“I liked her.”
“Because it sounds like she totally gets your kid.”
“Yes.” He had been so pleased.
Therapy was going well. Luke was taking the kids two days a week, and on those days, when they got home, they walked in to the aroma of home-cooking. Everyone was very enthusiastic about whatever I’d made. My culinary skills were nowhere near Griff’s already growing repertoire, but there was nothing left, no leftovers ever, so I counted that as a win.
When we were all leaving Friday morning, Luke grabbed hold of my bicep when I was on the way out the door. My eyes met his in question, and the smile I got was nice.
“I forgot,” he said, staring at me, “how much better it is not being the only one.”
I nodded. “Then it sounds like we gotta put up a dating profile for you pronto.”
He groaned and shoved by me. “Would it kill you to take a compliment,” he groused on the way to his truck.
Later that morning, when I got back from dropping off Griff and stopping by the Village Idiot for my large espresso-shot-loaded coffee, I did what I always did and checked the cameras I’d put up a week ago Tuesday. It had been a weird day, as the cameras arrived by courier because Shaw was not taking a chance on my safety or the security of the family. Cameras needed to be there ASAP. I’d had to call Rais, because nothing would boot up and he was the camera guru after Owen, and when I used the ladder and nearly fell off the roof—which was not on my bucket list—I almost gave one of my oldest friends a heart attack.
“You bastard,” he rasped, and I could tell I’d scared him. “You fuckin’ bastard.”
“Even if I fell, it’s only a two-story roof, man.”
“There’s an attic. I know there is.”
“True.”
“I hate you,” he said, and I could hear him taking deep breaths.
“Who knew you liked me this much?”
“Ohmygod.”
“Calm yourself.”
“Fuck you.”
“Are you lying down?”
“Now I am!”
The indignation was particularly good.
So now I was watching the camera feed, when suddenly my phone rang and it was Luke.
“You texted?”
What? “No,” I assured him.
“Oh, you need me to come home?” he said, sounding strange, like he wasn’t even hearing me. “Of course. I’m on my way right now.”
I was frightened for a moment, thinking he was being kidnapped or something else equally horrible, but then my brain kicked in.
“Why’re you using me as an excuse to get away from whatever you’re doing?”
“I swear to God, this never happens to me,” he whispered fiercely.
I laughed. “You’re supposed to be giving those nice people a quote for a mini winter ice rink and a summer pond, and you’re out there doing what, shakin’ your moneymaker?”
“You remember what I’m doing?” He sounded surprised.
I huffed. “Stop believing your horrible daughter. I have a great memory, just not for the names of all the different Pokémon she has on that game on her phone.”
Apparently I was quite amusing, if his chuckling was any indication.
“So what happened? Did the wife hit on you or the husband?”
“Both. Separately.”
It was funny as hell.
“I assure you, I’m not that kind of landscaper.”
“Don’t be such a prude,” I said, checking the cameras in the backyard. “Shit, I’m gonna have to get up on the roof and reposition one of the cameras, and that’s the same one that nearly killed me the first time.”
“I’m sorry, what?” he asked, his laughter subsiding.
“Cameras don’t go up by themselves, ya know.”
“Wait, you’re not kidding?”
“Why would I be—hey, I gotta call you back. I need Rais to look at these, and he’s calling.”
“Who is Rais?”
“Buddy of mine I work with. He’s our best tech guy after Owen.”
“Who’s Owen?”
“Are you listening to me?”
“Yeah, okay, fine. But call me back.”