Total pages in book: 58
Estimated words: 72401 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 362(@200wpm)___ 290(@250wpm)___ 241(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 72401 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 362(@200wpm)___ 290(@250wpm)___ 241(@300wpm)
I froze, stopping two tables down and listening.
“That’s funny. A year ago she did that to me, too. She’d called looking for Mikhail, and I’d told her he was gone,” Meredith said around her straw.
I’d always wondered about that.
I’d gotten two calls from Rue after I’d left her. If I’d gotten anymore, I’d probably have caved and gone back to her.
At the time, I thought it was weird that she hadn’t tried just a little bit harder to get me to come back.
Really, that’d probably been what kept me from her the most. I hadn’t felt like she tried hard enough to get me to come back.
Call me selfish, but I wanted someone to fight for me.
“She called me a few times too,” Mikayla said. “He’d actually been gone those times, though.”
I gritted my teeth.
“What the fuck gives y’all the right to think I don’t deserve to hear my own goddamned phone messages?” I snapped. “If anyone called for you, I’d have at least told you.”
They all jumped at the tone of my voice, none of them looking in the least bit guilty.
“Sorry,” they said.
They didn’t sound sorry.
“What do y’all have against Rue?” I asked as I took the empty seat at their table.
“Nothing,” they said quickly.
“Nothing? Then why does she think y’all hate her?” I asked suspiciously.
“Probably ‘cause we do,” Molly muttered.
I turned to her sharply. “Why do you?”
“We just don’t think she’s good enough for you,” Meredith answered reluctantly.
“You know,” I said. “I didn’t tell any of you who to date. When you married,” I looked at Mikayla. “I didn’t say a word about your choice of husband, even though I wanted to. Who was I to say anything if he was what you wanted?”
Mikayla had the decency to look sheepish.
“And you,” I said turning towards Meredith. “I didn’t say a word to you when you started dating that low-life. And when he left you pregnant and alone, who took care of you instead of saying ‘I told you so?’ I think it’s time y’all let me make my own decisions.”
They didn’t have anything to say about that.
“She’s a part of my life. She’s going to be mine, whether you, or her, like it or not. Time to stop acting so selfish and be happy for me,” I snapped.
They didn’t have anything to say about that, either.
“She’s going to be the mother of your nieces and nephews. She’s also going to be my wife and old lady. Try not to be so bitchy about everything and think about somebody other than yourselves,” I said as I stood.
“Hey, what about lunch?” Molly whined.
I looked at them, each of them getting a look before I focused in on Molly. “It’s time to pay for your own lunch from now on.”
***
Cleo
I found her at her Nonnie’s place.
“But Nonnie, I don’t understand why you’re doing this. I’m not even pregnant,” Rue said to her Nonnie as she held up four blankets and what looked to be baby socks.
“You are,” Nonnie said.
“I’m not,” Rue argued.
Surprisingly, it didn’t bother me to think about Rue being pregnant.
Although it’d be helpful if she waited until we got married first.
I knocked on the door, interrupting the women. They both looked up, Nonnie smiling widely, and Rue glaring.
“What are you doing here? Aren’t you supposed to be at lunch?” She snarled.
She spit the word lunch out so hotly that I barely contained the urge to laugh.
It wouldn’t do to make her think I was making fun of her.
“So…it turns out you’re right and I’m wrong. My sisters are bitches,” I explained reluctantly.
I still loved them, but it made me disappointed that they’d act like that. They weren’t raised to be mean.
Rue physically wilted when I said that and her head hung. “I’m sorry.”
I blinked, surprised that she’d be apologizing when she clearly wasn’t in the wrong.
“What are you sorry about?” I wondered.
Nonnie stood and folded the blanket in her arms. “Brianne was just leaving. Would you be a sweetheart and walk my daughter out to her car?”
I smiled sadly at Rue before turning to her Nonnie. “Sure thing, Nonnie. I’ll walk her out. You have a good night now, okay?”
“Yes, dear boy. Have a good night now. I love you!” Nonnie said loudly as we were walking out the door.
“I love you too, Nonnie!” I yelled over my shoulder.
We walked in silence down the hall of the nursing home and, for once in my life, I didn’t know what to say.
“You’re quiet,” Rue said as we pushed out of the front doors to the parking lot.
“I feel like I had my head in the clouds. It doesn’t sit well with me. And I’ve had a pretty exciting day,” I sighed.
She stopped and turned to me. “What happened?”
“I don’t really want to talk about it right now,” I tried.
She looked at me incredulously. “You’re kidding, right?”
I closed my eyes. “I quit my job.”
Her mouth dropped open comically, and I lifted my hand to touch the bottom of her chin, closing it.
“What the fuck, Mikhail? Why’d you quit the job you just got?” She yelled loudly and waved her hands in the air.
I took a deep breath and then explained.
She sat down heavily on the bench outside the front doors. “I just don’t believe it. What the hell is wrong with this case? First last night and now this.”
“I tried to get into contact with Loki, but he never got back to me. He’s working a case that’s hot right now, and I didn’t want to keep bothering him. Can you tell me about it?” I asked as I took a seat at her side.
She leaned into my shoulder, and I lifted my arm to wrap it around her shoulders, pulling her in close.
“I’m sure you can get the information yourself just as easily, but I’ll tell you anyway,” she said quietly, and then started to explain.
I closed my eyes as I listened.
The entire situation sounded fucked, and I told her so. “That’s fucked.”
She snorted. “Eloquently put, but right on, nonetheless. The whole situation is screwy, and has been since I did the rape kit.”