Total pages in book: 45
Estimated words: 43920 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 220(@200wpm)___ 176(@250wpm)___ 146(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 43920 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 220(@200wpm)___ 176(@250wpm)___ 146(@300wpm)
“You trusted me and had faith in me,” she’d always say. “Plus, you love my kid. If you were straight, I’d have married you years ago.”
I smiled when I remembered that.
“Are you listening to me?” Simone snapped.
Back from my trip down memory lane, I smiled big at Simone.
“Okay, could you listen now?”
“Absolutely.”
“What I’m trying to tell you is that we could change over to a restaurant completely, still keep everyone on, showcase Georgine even more, plus Darcy and Xola, and with some small cosmetic alterations to the interior, have a brand-new place.”
I nodded.
“I prefer us as we are now, sitting on the same street with Bamboula’s and the Spotted Cat and Blue Nile, and no, we’re not a jazz club, but I like that too.”
“I agree.”
“I love that I can just walk out our front door and over to the Frenchmen Art Bazaar at ten at night and that every year those wacky old women with the book bus—”
“The Hook’s Traveling Book Nook,” I said, chuckling. “How old are Cybil and Jane?”
“They’re in their seventies, aren’t they?”
I grinned at her. “They’ve been together a long time, and yet, when I saw them on the street getting daiquiris, I saw Cybil pinch Jane’s ass.”
“Aww, that’s cute.”
“Is it? I was a bit horrified.”
She laughed. “Don’t be such a prude.”
“That whole bus is filled with romance novels and fairy tales.”
“It’s adorable. Jane said she and Cybil always know when someone is about to fall in love.”
I squinted at her.
“They do. Both of them told me at different times that Michael was quite smitten and was going to ask me to move in. That’s pretty good.”
“You probably told them you had a boyfriend.”
“I don’t think I did.”
“Please. All someone has to do is look at you to know you’re not single.”
“What are you talking about?”
I gestured at her.
“You lost me.”
Even as she glared at me, I was struck, as always, by her pale-gray eyes, deep bronze skin, and auburn curls that fell in wild, tumbling waves to her shoulders. It could never be said that Simone Howard was not a stunning woman. Last week, I’d seen a man step right into traffic, and only her yelling at him to stop had saved his life.
“Chris?”
“You’re beautiful and funny and a little mean—”
“What did you—I’m a little what?”
“In a good way,” I rushed out. “And you’re super smart. Any man would be crazy not to be into you, and Michael is a doctor for crissakes, so he’s more on the ball than most guys. He got it the first time he came in here with… What was her name?”
She rolled her eyes. “Brynn.”
“All I remember is very big hair.”
“His parents liked her. She was a socialite. Really good old-money family.”
“Sure. But who do they like now?”
I watched her try very hard not to smile. “Me.”
“Yep. The judge and his wife, the cardiac surgeon, are very enamored by their son’s girlfriend of two years.”
“Are you done?”
“I’m just saying you’re a catch, so it’s no big jump that the nice ladies in the traveling book bus were certain you were going to be moving in with your man.”
“Whatever you say, but I think those two ladies are psychic.”
The last time I was on the bus was a week ago, and when I was looking around, I noticed the short shelves toward the back where the seating was. When the rainbow painted bus was moved, they were lifted in front of the windows, and lowered whenever it was stopped. The rest of the high shelves that were there when you climbed the stairs to enter, were unmovable.
“You’re impressed with the sitting area shelves,” Jane said to me, waggling her eyebrows. “I made those you know.”
It was always jolting whenever I looked at her because the colors the woman wore were assaulting. So vibrant, so very many. “I am,” I agreed. “I like how you can crank the shelves up and then down when you move the bus.”
“The books on those still have to be packed and unpacked whenever we move this baby,” she said slowly. “And you know, my back isn’t what it used to be.”
I shook my head at her. Subtle she was not. “Do you want me to help you put the books on those shelves?”
“Oh well now, Christopher, that would be so kind of you.”
As I worked, something occurred to me. “Why did you move the bus, anyway? You have a permit to park here. Why were you driving it?”
Jane’s eyes narrowed as she regarded me. “I know what you’re really thinking.”
“I have no idea what you mean,” I replied innocently.
“You’re wondering, at my age, why I’m driving anything at all, let alone a bus.”
Yes, I was.
“I’ll have you know, I’ve never gotten a ticket in my life. Can you say the same?”
I could not. “Fine. But really, why move it?”