Total pages in book: 112
Estimated words: 106839 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 534(@200wpm)___ 427(@250wpm)___ 356(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 106839 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 534(@200wpm)___ 427(@250wpm)___ 356(@300wpm)
She looks hot as hell.
Rosie Harlow has always been cute, even pregnant. And for some reason, that’s my image of her when she pops up in my memories. Probably because she went into labor at school—at lunchtime, in the cafeteria—and I was standing like ten feet away when her water broke. I will never forget that look on her face. It was… terror.
Normally I’m a jump-into-action kind of guy. And I was about to do that—not sure what exactly I had planned, but I was gonna at least go over to her and see if she was OK—but that look on her face stopped me in my tracks. I couldn’t move. And by the time I snapped out of it, other people had rushed in—all the girls, actually. And I wasn’t needed or necessary.
Then there was a crowd, and a commotion, and that was the last time I saw Rosie Harlow until the morning I bumped into her at the Rise and Shine coffee shop the day Collin bought the Edge compound.
I buzz my window down and call out, “Hey, Rosie!”
Collin’s street isn’t directly on the highway. It’s one street up. But there are no houses here to block the view and when she looks down, she smiles and waves. “Hey, Amon. What’s up?”
“Oh, I just wanted to tell ya that you look real nice in that dress.”
She blushes. Actually fuckin’ blushes. Which I really like and ups her hotness by a factor of eleven. “Well, thank you. You look pretty nice in that truck yourself.”
The traffic starts moving a little, so I’m easing forward, but she skips down the gently sloping grass, passes right by the sidewalk, and comes out into the street holding out a newspaper. When she gets to my truck, she pushes it towards me and I take it.
“What’s this?” I ask.
“Tomorrow’s Revival paper, of course.”
“I can see that, Rosie. But why are you giving it to me?”
“Because Jim Bob said I could put the Bishop Busybody inside as an insert. And since you took an interest in it, I thought you might like a copy.”
I place the newspaper on the passenger seat and Rosie walks forward with me as we inch along the highway, waiting for people to turn into the Revival parking lot just up ahead. “Do you wanna go bowling with me tonight?”
Rosie smiles at me. And I’ve been turned down enough to recognize the smile. It’s a no. “Well, I’m real busy right now, so I can’t. But maybe some other time.” She makes her smile bigger. “You have a nice night now, Amon. I’ve got to go. I’ll see you around.”
Then she leaves the highway and gets herself back on the sidewalk, heading towards the Revival grounds.
Of course she’s busy. She’s in costume. So this asking out thing I just did was a waste and I suddenly feel stupid. But also disappointed.
I like my sisters. I like bowling with the family—who doesn’t? But Rosie Harlow has got my interest up and I think I would like to have a date with her.
I’ve got one strike now, though. So next time, I will plan it better.
The traffic clears and suddenly time speeds up again, the lag gone now. And a couple minutes later I’m pulling into the driveway where three of my sisters live.
I’m the oldest of five and all four of my siblings are girls. My mother was very young when she had me so there’s an age gap between Eden and I. She was only twelve when I left for the marines. Angel was ten, Vangie was seven, and little Halo was only four. So when I first got back, I was expecting a sort of adjustment time.
And it was kind of a rude awakening. For me at least, not for them. Because in my head they were all still small and when I walked into my parents’ house what I found was a bunch of grown women. Or nearly, in the case of Halo, since she’s only sixteen.
It hit me then just how much I had missed. And there’s a part of me that kinda wants to take all that time back.
I mean, not really. If I had stayed in West Virginia after high school I’d have ended up in Revenant. And I know we say it’s all fake, but it’s not. Not really. Just like the Revival is fake, but not. And Bishop is fake, but not.
How could anyone grow up in these places—these towns with such… personality and identity—and not be influenced by them?
So I would’ve ended up a biker. I would’ve ended up spending my days sleeping and my nights partying. I’d be playing a role in the Revival, but it wouldn’t have been security. I’d have been in that gang that Lucas is running. Hell, if I was in Revenant all those years, maybe I would’ve been running that gang. Lucas is kinda young, after all.