Total pages in book: 196
Estimated words: 186555 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 933(@200wpm)___ 746(@250wpm)___ 622(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 186555 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 933(@200wpm)___ 746(@250wpm)___ 622(@300wpm)
“For what?”
“To get a net so I don’t have to hear you hollering at the top of your lungs when I’m trying to get some sleep.”
My heart stopped. “You’re going to get it out?”
“Are you going to keep screaming if I leave it?” he asked over his shoulder as he rooted around his back seat. A second later, he was out, slamming the door closed and crossing the gravel like it wasn’t digging into his feet like glass.
I grimaced but told him the truth. “Yes.”
He opened the back of his work truck and started fiddling around in the bed.
“Have you caught them before?”
There was a pause then, “Yeah.”
“You did?”
He grunted. “Once or twice.”
“Once or twice? Where? Here?”
Rhodes grunted again. “They come in from time to time.”
I almost passed out. “How often?”
“Mostly during the summer and fall.”
I didn’t mean to choke, but it happened.
“Mice are the real problem during a drought year.”
The hairs on the back of my neck stood up, and my whole body went stiff as I stared at him tinkering around the bed of his truck, moving things as he stood there in sleep pants and a white tank top.
“You scared of those too?” he asked in a huff. He was pissed.
Some people got really quiet when they were mad. I was starting to see Mr. Rhodes wasn’t one of those people.
“Umm… yes?”
“Yes?”
“How often do you get those?”
“Spring. Summer. Fall.” Yeah, he was angry.
Too bad for him, I was always down to talk. I choked again. “Is this a drought year?”
“Yes.”
I was never going to sleep again.
I needed to go buy traps.
But then imagining having to pick up the traps made me want to puke.
“Finally,” he muttered to himself, standing up straight, holding a medium-sized net in one hand and what looked like thick gloves in another, before slamming the tailgate closed.
I shivered and watched him head toward the door of the garage apartment.
“Want me to wait out here? You know, so I can open the door for you?” I was such a chickenshit and it embarrassed me, but not enough to suck it up and be backup.
I would if he yelled.
I just hoped he didn’t.
His stiff, angry body went right by mine. “Do whatever you want.”
It was that or lock myself in my car until he was done but screaming my head off had been enough. He was already irritated having to come over and deal with this. Deal with me.
And yeah, that was embarrassing too. I needed to get it together. Suck it up.
Do my mom proud.
I’d done some research during the day of how to remove them but hadn’t figured out what the best plan of action was yet. I was well aware that bats were wonderful for a whole lot of different reasons. I understood that they weren’t trying to attack me even when they swooped. I got that bats were just as scared of me as I was of them. But fear wasn’t rational.
I rushed forward, opened the door, and left it cracked after he went in. Then I crouched there and waited. I might have been out there five minutes, or maybe thirty, before I heard him on the stairs.
I opened the door more just as he was a couple steps away from reaching the bottom. He was holding the net in one hand and taking the steps fast on big, bare feet. My God, what were those things? Size twelve? Thirteen?
Tearing my gaze away, I threw the door open as wide as possible, waited for him to cross the doorway, and slammed it closed so the Mistress of the Night couldn’t come back in and pay me another visit.
And I tried my best to be quiet as I moved to stand behind Mr. Rhodes. He stopped by a shrub, did something to the net, and stepped away.
I only caught a glimpse of the bat hanging from a branch before she took off, and I let out a squeak that I was going to kick myself in the ass for later. Mr. Rhodes didn’t wait or stay to watch where she went, he just started moving toward the main house without another word.
I scrambled after him as he tossed the net in the back of his truck, then made his way up the deck as I stopped and stared up at the sky to make sure another one wasn’t dropping out of nowhere.
He was at the door of his house when I yelled after him, “Thank you! You’re my hero! I’ll give you a ten-star review if you ever want it!”
He didn’t say anything as he closed the door behind him, but that didn’t mean he wasn’t still my hero.
I owed him. I owed him big-time.
Chapter 11
I was off a week later, so part of me had expected to get to sleep in, take it easy, maybe go do one of the touristy things in the area. Or maybe do one of my mom’s easier hikes. Since I was going to be around for the near future, I wasn’t in as big of a rush to get them all done. My lungs needed more conditioning anyway. I figured I had at least until October.