Total pages in book: 100
Estimated words: 97364 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 487(@200wpm)___ 389(@250wpm)___ 325(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 97364 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 487(@200wpm)___ 389(@250wpm)___ 325(@300wpm)
She’s all skin and bones. I haven’t seen her eat solid food in weeks. She drinks juice, lots of juice, and really potent teas that she makes from some weird weed-looking crap brewing in a ceramic pot. Clearly, she has an eating disorder, but it’s none of my business. If she wants to starve to death, who am I to change the course of her life. I sure as hell don’t want anyone trying to change the course of mine.
However, the most disturbing part is how much she watches me. When I work around the house, I feel her eyes on me. She thinks I don’t see her, but I do. I see her peeking over the top of a book, giving me quick glances at the kitchen table, and I feel her footsteps in the sand a safe distance back every morning when I return home after my swim. She’s everywhere and nowhere at the same time.
In my head.
On my nerves.
Gnawing at my conscience.
I hope she’s not waiting for me to save her. I’m no one’s savior.
“Where are you going?” Her voice halts my forward motion.
I’ve succumbed to the real possibility that one day I’ll come home to her wasted-away body dead on the floor.
I slowly look back over my shoulder to her standing at the bottom of the stairs in a white beach-looking dress, hair curly, like what black women look like when they don’t try to deny the fact that their hair is meant to have life. It distracts a bit from the gauntly look in her face, much like the loose dress hiding her bony body, except her arms. They still look like a skeleton covered in a thin layer of brown skin.
“I’m going to town for some supplies.”
“Mind if I ride along?”
Of course I mind if she rides along. “It’s just the hardware store.”
“Works for me.” She smiles.
She has no life.
As soon as we pull out of the drive, she slips off her sandals and tucks her legs underneath her, staring out her window. Since weeks of silence has been broken, I expect her driveling to commence, but she seems quite enamored with the view as we make our way off Tybee.
“So beautiful,” she whispers. I don’t think her comment was meant for me to hear.
I clear my throat along with the unwelcome thoughts of her in my head. “I’ll be starting on the upstairs in a few days. It’s the last project before I leave. So all of our bedroom furniture will need to be moved out so I can work on the floors. You can take the sofa sleeper.”
She turns to me. “Where will you sleep?”
“I’ll stick a cot in the kitchen.”
She laughs, looking back out the window. “You can put your ‘cot’ by the sofa. I’m used to your snoring.”
“I don’t snore.”
“You do. I hear it when both of our bedroom windows are open.”
“I don’t—”
“You totally do. It’s so loud it could be its own instrument in your imaginary band.”
Rolling my lips together, I keep my focus on the road, but I can feel her looking at me, and I know she’s smiling.
“Oh, Theodore Reed …” She sighs and leans back, seemingly quite content. “You are a labyrinth—an onion with infinite layers. If given the chance, I think I could really miss you someday.” Her eyes close with a soft smile gracing her face.
What does she mean by that?
CHAPTER TWELVE
My name is Scarlet Stone and I steal random stuff and plant it in the sparkly rucksacks of mean girls, then report them as thieves so they get in trouble. Karma is my religion.
Scarlet
“I’ll buy you lunch.” Theo pulls into the car park of a café.
“You don’t usually eat lunch.”
He turns off his truck and pins me with a serious look.
I shrug. “Fine. You’re hungry today. I’m just along for the ride.” I get out.
He opens the door to the café for me.
“Thank you, sir.” I wink.
He shakes his head and mutters something I can’t quite understand.
The waitress seats us by the window and gives us the specials. Theo orders a bacon avocado cheeseburger with fries and iced tea.
“Have you decided, ma’am?”
“Do you have spring water in a glass bottle?”
“Sorry, just tap.”
I nod. “Fine. I’ll do that, no ice, and several lemon wedges.”
“Food.” Theo glares at me with narrowed eyes. “Order food.”
“I’m on a cleanse.” I smile. “It’s good to give your body a break from constant digesting.”
“She’ll have what I’m having.”
“I don’t eat meat anymore.” I keep smiling at him. “I think meat is too acidic for my body.”
He sighs. “Grilled cheese for her.”
“Or dairy.” I cringe. “It’s too acidic too. I read that our bodies have to rob calcium from our bones to neutralize the acidity. It’s crazy how milk is touted for helping build strong bones when really—”
His jaw tenses.
I bite my tongue and shrug. “Sorry. I’m … sure you don’t really care.”