Total pages in book: 31
Estimated words: 29192 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 146(@200wpm)___ 117(@250wpm)___ 97(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 29192 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 146(@200wpm)___ 117(@250wpm)___ 97(@300wpm)
But my efforts to be a better son and my lack of focus on anything but helping Mom beat cancer resulted in gaining a girlfriend, losing my desire to practice law, and picking up a hobby my mother loves.
Julie seemed nice, and she’d explained over one of our dinners that she was coming off a bad breakup with a guy who cheated on her. They’d lived together for two years, and the whole time, he was sleeping with his married coworker. She dumped him, found a new place to live, and a new love.
It took me the whole dinner to realize that “I” was the new love. How we arrived at love when we hadn’t held hands, kissed, or been anything more than people breaking bread together, I’m not sure, and I also wasn’t sure how to break up with someone who thought a few meals meant happily ever after was right over the horizon.
It was with great relief that she broke up with me saying that turtles had more ambition than me. That’s probably an insult to turtles.
I had spent years chasing the best degrees, best internships, best jobs, best cases, and I missed that the person I loved the most in the world was growing sick. Mom kept her cancer diagnosis from me because she didn’t want to interfere, she said. And I, so busy with my career, didn’t even notice that she was thinner and more pale with each passing week until it was nearly too late.
She’s on the mend now, but her heart is broken that she’s too weak to knit, not to mention her eyesight is screwed up from all the chemo and radiation. So I knit for her. It didn’t seem like a big deal, but Julie was appalled when I told her the stash next to my living room sofa was mine and not my mom’s. She said that knitting was unmanly, as if somehow holding metal sticks in my hands that were sharp enough to pierce someone’s jugular actually made my dick fall off.
My sizeable dick still hangs between my legs despite the fact that I’ve made a scarf, a hat, and a sweater. Damned proud of the latter one, but it’s too warm for sweaters, so it’s tucked away until the snow comes.
Maybe my dick will fall off when I put it on, like the swan’s wings in the old Grimms’ fairy tale about the sister and the seven brothers. Hopefully Julie won’t be around for that. At some point, she has to stop crashing here. Right?
I contemplate pouring the glass of water on her face and forcing her out into the street, but that would actually make my mom cry if she heard I did that, so reluctantly, I leave the passed-out drunk on my living room sofa and go to bed myself.
Julie is the perfect example of why I hardly ever date. Once a woman latches on to you, it’s almost impossible to get rid of them.
Chapter Four
NATALIE
“This case is actually horrible. The defense lawyer is dumb as hell. The judge is biased, and the client keeps trying to stick his hand up my skirt.” I thump my head against the desk a few times.
“Yikes.” Frankie drops down into the chair in front of my desk. “Sounds like you need a happy hour too.”
I lift my head. “Too?”
“Yeah. Luna called. Her new friend needs another girls' night.”
“That bad?” Julie had been throwing back those drinks the other night. I wasn’t judging her or anything because everyone deals with their stuff differently.
Then, I overheard her discussing with Luna the possibility of going to her ex's place. That sounded like a horrible idea. I’m sure Luna tried to talk her out of it, but sometimes when you’ve had a few too many, things tend to get out of hand.
Luna, Frankie, and I could get into some shenanigans back in college. The three of us always stuck together. We’d never been big into the dating scene. We kept our heads down and plowed through law school together. In rare moments, we’d have a girls’ night out to let loose a little.
“Actually, I think it's good.”
“Really?” That’s a bit shocking. “I didn’t think it was ever good to show up at your ex’s drunk.” I mean not that I would know from experience. I’ve never had a boyfriend, which means I’ve never had an ex and have no clue how these things go, but I read a romance novel here and there. Okay, maybe one every night before bed.
“I guess he took care of her or something. Probably had crazy hot make up sex. I didn’t get all the details. I’m sure we’ll hear them tonight.” Frankie rubs her hands together, ready for gossip, not caring where it comes from. She says the one big plus side to having to be in an office filled with men all day is they are bigger gossips than women. That they love them some drama.