Total pages in book: 39
Estimated words: 36476 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 182(@200wpm)___ 146(@250wpm)___ 122(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 36476 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 182(@200wpm)___ 146(@250wpm)___ 122(@300wpm)
“Yes.” Now is not the time for his short answers that I normally find a bit endearing.
“What the hell? This is weird,” I say, still trying to put the timeline together. JJ doesn't seem mad. She’s more confused than anything. She has a puzzled look on her face. I bet she’s trying to put the pieces together too.
“I think you should go, dude,” Travis tells him.
“Dude.” JJ snorts. “Ivan Lawson is no dude. I can’t. This is so weird.” She starts to laugh. “Is this real? I was sure he was either asexual or he was one of those rich people that go to the very private sex clubs or something.”
“That’s really a thing?” I ask.
“Yes.”
“No more one-word responses from you.” I point my finger at Ivan. He needs to start explaining himself.
“Sorry, Sunshine.” He gives me two words this time. Ones that JJ repeats and then bursts into laughter.
“Dude, really. You should go.” Travis tries again as my phone starts to go off on the counter.
I grab it and see that it’s someone calling from the diner. “Hey.”
“Rae, I’m in a jam. I know it’s your day off, but I could really use you. Any way you can come in?” Henry, the owner of Griddle Diner, asks.
“Yeah, I’ll be there as soon as I can.”
“Thank you. I’ll owe you big time.” I think I might owe him. He just gave me the out I needed.
11
Ivan
The irony isn’t lost on me. For so long, I’ve enjoyed the silence. I’ve watched men squirm when it would bleed out into a room. It’s the first time I’m the one squirming. For three days, she’s ignored me. Even when I’d come into the diner and sat in her section, she’d have one of the other girls serve me.
I wondered if she always made sure it was Roxy to annoy me more. Her perfume alone gives me a headache but not enough that I stopped coming. In fact, it’s only made me spend more time there. I would linger at the table, watching my sunshine flutter around the diner.
I’ve been sensing that she is off too. Her laughs are a little higher. Those smiles she usually doles out are not meeting her eyes. It gives me some hope that I’m not the only one affected. I even googled how to handle a fight with your partner, and that was the least helpful bullshit I’ve ever read. Some said to face the conflict head on while others said give them time.
I can’t promise how much more time I’ll be able to give her. I think I’m starting to lose my mind. I’m already sitting outside the diner waiting for her shift to begin. I try to go through some work emails, and I know my deal with the Stone brothers is fucked at this point. I can’t find the will to give a shit. My assistant Eva is losing her mind over it.
Whenever she calls to ask about something or when I might be back, I can hear the tightness in her voice. She wants to scream at me. I don’t understand why she would care so much. It’s not as though her salary will change. My mind can’t focus on much these days. When I was on those calls with Eva, all I could think about was how Rae wouldn’t have held back. She’d even tell me to shut up while pointing one of her tiny, adorable fingers in my face.
That’s what she’d done before she all but kicked me out of her apartment telling me we would talk later and that she needed to get to work. I tried to give her a ride, but of course JJ’s driver was outside and gave her one. I would have followed them, but I had to go back to the place I’ve been renting to at least get a shirt.
Marco: Incoming to your window.
The text pops up a second before a tap sounds at my window. I roll it down. “Is there something you need, Mrs. Castillo?” I ask my former employee.
“Cut the crap. You’re not my boss anymore, Ivan.” She folds her arms over her chest, glaring at me before she rolls her eyes. “You're going to do this silent shit now?”
“I asked a question, and you never responded,” I point out.
“I need you to stop stalking my best friend.”
I could argue that it’s not stalking, but honestly, I don't care what they want to call it. “No.” I want it to be clear that I’m not giving up on Rae.
“You know this is weird, Ivan?” She puts her hands on the windowsill.
“This is weird? I think you forgot about the circumstance in which you met your own husband.”
“No, I didn’t. I believe in things like love at first sight and whirlwind relationships. I understand those. I’ve lived it, but I also know you. This isn’t like you.”