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)
Griff and his buddies did not want to go, extra credit be damned. Darwin volunteered to go in his brother’s place and take copious notes. I ended up driving the three boys, plus a very excited thirteen-year-old, to Seattle.
“You just went to the stupid Science Center,” Griff reminded Darwin. “Why would you want to go back?”
“Because it’s awesome,” he told his brother, sounding ready to cry with happiness, which was what mattered.
It soon became clear that Dr. Attwood knew nothing about teenagers. He spoke over their heads and hit them with statistics and graphs. A few of the chaperones had glazed-over expressions, and one father fell asleep and woke himself up with a snort that everyone quietly cheered. The one kid Dr. Attwood did appreciate was Darwin, who asked insightful, thoughtful questions. Poor Griff wanted to die. So did Benny and Sean. I myself felt lucky to have survived.
We got home right after three, having dropped Griff’s buddies off first, and there was an SUV in the driveway with out-of-state plates. A rental, my brain immediately supplied.
“Oh,” Darwin said, leaning forward from the back seat between me and Griff. “I bet Nana and Grampy are here early. They don’t usually come until the day before Thanksgiving.”
“Your grandparents come for Thanksgiving?” I asked.
“Yeah,” Darwin assured me. “Every year.”
I was going to kill Luke for not telling me.
Once we were in the house, I heard the washing machine running. I called out for Luke and Tatum but got no answer, and taking in the stillness, I realized the house was empty. The note on the kitchen counter confirmed it, explaining that Luke, his parents, and Tatum had gone to the store to purchase everything needed for holiday cooking.
“I thought I was cooking,” Griff said miserably.
“Even with your grandparents here?”
“I thought we would make a new tradition.”
“You should probably have let them know before now and it would have been nice to inform me.”
“I thought Dad would’ve said something.”
“Next time, don’t assume, just tell me.”
“I will.”
He looked so dejected. “Who cooks? Your grandmother or your grandfather?”
“My grandmother.”
“Maybe you can cook with her,” I soothed him. “I’m sure she’d like that.”
He didn’t appear happy. I wasn’t either when I went into the guest room and found their suitcases in the room and the bed stripped. In the bathroom, all the towels were gone as well. It felt invasive. They could have at least waited until I moved all my stuff, but I suspected this was their room whenever they came, so I tried not to be annoyed. It made sense, as the guest room was on the ground floor with Luke’s room and his office, and depending on how old they were, going up and down the stairs to stay in one of the kids’ rooms could prove difficult. As far as I knew, there wasn’t another guest room in the house, so I wasn’t sure, beyond the couch, where I was supposed to go.
Moving around the room, I was packing quickly, when I heard a gasp from behind me. When I turned, Darwin was there staring at me with wide eyes.
“What’s wrong?” I asked him.
“You’re not leaving, are you?”
“No, buddy, but I have to move rooms.” I squinted at him. “How come no one told me your grandparents were coming since you all knew?”
Not a word.
“I understand they visit every year, yeah?”
He coughed softly. “I didn’t want you to think you should leave or something because they would be here. I was worried about that.”
“You shouldn’t have.”
He nodded and then suddenly brightened. “Hey, since you’re changing rooms, you can sleep in mine with me,” he volunteered.
“Are you kidding?” I said and got an instant grin from him. “You sleep with that stupid vent open above your bed. It makes that room a freezer at night.”
He smiled. “Yeah, that’s true.”
“And Griff sleeps with the stupid wave machine.”
“It’s not a stupid machine,” Griff said as he walked into what had been my room. “The whooshing is very calming and is helping with my insomnia.”
“Great, good,” I assured him, walking into the bathroom to grab my toiletries, plus my loofah, which I was quite fond of, and everything out of the drawers. “But that sound would haunt my dreams, buddy.”
Once my duffel was packed and my laptop bag over Darwin’s shoulder, the issue became where I would put my clothes and where I would shower. I would not do any of that in Luke’s room and en suite, so I was thinking it would most likely be Griff’s.
“There’s a bed in the attic,” Griff said with a shiver.
“What’s with that? Are there spiders?”
“No, it’s just, there are things up there, like clothes.”
“I’m sorry?”
“Clothes,” he repeated. “Creepy clothes.”
“Like in bags?”
Quick shake of his head. “Like racks.”
“Racks?” I was stunned. “Why didn’t those come down for the yard sale?”