Total pages in book: 80
Estimated words: 75723 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 379(@200wpm)___ 303(@250wpm)___ 252(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 75723 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 379(@200wpm)___ 303(@250wpm)___ 252(@300wpm)
“Just please keep out of your office so we don’t mess with your work stuff?”
“Yeah, something like that,” I respond with a small grin.
“Everleigh already told us that you’re a shut-in.”
“Oh my god, Heather!” Everleigh blanches and sinks down deeper on the sofa. “I didn’t say he was a shut-in.” She’s scarlet as she suddenly leaps up and paces across the room to the nearest shelf of books. “I said he worked from home. There’s a difference. That does not mean shut-in.”
“Oh, I’m sorry.” Yeah, she’s clearly not.
Everleigh spins around, grabs a book, and holds it out. “Oh, look at this!”
Her mom coughs into her hand. “Sweetheart, I didn’t know you had an interest in that.”
Everleigh turns the book around, sees what we all see, which is that it’s a book on hemorrhoid treatment from like nineteen fifty-two, lets out a yelp, and shoves it back on the bookcase.
Her mom pats her knee. “Come and sit back down.” She smiles at me. “She didn’t say you were a shut-in. Heather just has a habit of blurting out things that aren’t true.”
“I can’t ride in vehicles,” I admit, even though it was like some painful dark secret before I told Everleigh. Might as well get it out there now.
“Yeah, she might have mentioned that,” her mom admits. “But we weren’t supposed to bring it up.” She shoots Heather a mom look of recrimination, which Heather wilts under.
“Are you agoraphobic? You can’t leave your house?” Heather asks.
I shake my head. “Nah. Just messed up from a car accident a long time ago, and I can’t stand them now. It’s like being claustrophobic, but way worse.”
“Ugh, small spaces. Barf.”
“Count me out, mate,” Hans agrees.
“The private jet ride was amazing, though,” Everleigh’s mom goes on, sparing me. “Thank you for letting us use it. And for letting us bring our cat. He really is a sweetheart, I’m sure.”
“At the heart of all that aggression is a marshmallow soul,” Heather confirms. “He’s just misunderstood. He doesn’t know people very well yet, and this is a lot of change for him.”
“I’m sure he won’t slash the drapes, wreck the bedroom, or poop on your rug.” Heather is vastly hopeful, and I can also see her trying not to laugh.
“My sister takes after her cat,” Everleigh says as she sits back down beside Heather. She loops her arm over Heather’s shoulders and pulls her in against her. Heather looks affectionately back at her sister, and they share some special sisterly moment that, honestly, I would endure any amount of telling my secrets, being called a shut-in, having my house ripped apart by feral devil cats, and other embarrassments to let them have that.
“I’ll poop on the rug and bite the hand that feeds me?”
Everleigh laughs. “You’re a brat. That’s what I was going to say. Like cat like owner.”
“Technically, I think cats can’t be owned,” Heather argues.
“I’m starved,” Hans announces all of a sudden. “Should we move into the living room and get ready for lunch?”
It’s not nearly lunchtime yet, but I’m glad for this. It’s hard to talk when you have a mouthful of food. Hans is a smart guy.
“After lunch, swimming!” Heather says with a fist bump to the air. “Unless there happens to be a home theatre or a bowling alley or a mall in this place?” She looks so hopeful that I’m sorry to disappoint.
“No. Just a gym and a pool and a whole bunch of big rooms that no one uses.”
“That’s sad,” Heather says genuinely. “Regardless, I’m really glad my sister met you. At least we can take up some of those rooms, and the place won’t be so lonely. But you should really start on the plans to add a bowling alley. Bowling is awesome. And a home theatre too. I know a big TV is adequate for most people, but you have lots and lots of cash, so you can afford to be a little bit extra.”
“Extra?”
“Do you have social media? Please tell me you have social media.”
“Not a chance.”
“Ahh, that’s why you don’t know what extra means.”
“I know what extra means,” Hans declares. With a proud grin, he stands and holds out his arm, which Everleigh’s mom takes, looking delighted and flushed. I want to do the same for Everleigh, but that would be too much. I don’t have Hans’ easy charm. And then, if I do that, who would escort Heather?
It’s much easier to let them link arms and do their sisterly thing and enjoy that while I take up the rear. It’s really not a bad place to be.
Also? Heather’s right. There are two fewer rooms that are empty now, and it makes my chest feel a heck of a lot fuller than it did before.
Chapter ten
Everleigh
It’s a universal fact that you can’t sleep on an empty stomach. We had dinner at a normal time, six in the evening, but I was too busy talking and laughing and catching up with Darius and Hans to actually eat much. Excitement makes for the worst appetite, and I was excited. I have to say, it was good being back in Philly with my family. Really, really good. The amazing kind of good. But being back here? Well, it shouldn’t feel like I’m coming home, but I was excited, and the excitement bubble still hasn’t burst yet. I know I was only gone for a few days, but there was this strange sensation I kept feeling the whole time I was away, and it felt kind of like loneliness. For Darius. Because I was missing him.