Total pages in book: 131
Estimated words: 130255 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 651(@200wpm)___ 521(@250wpm)___ 434(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 130255 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 651(@200wpm)___ 521(@250wpm)___ 434(@300wpm)
Ellie took a moment to say goodbye to Sasha before she was pulled back to the side of the set with me, and she collapsed into my arms as her publicist approached us. “No,” she mumbled. “Go away, Erica.”
Erica laughed, touching my arm. “She’s done. I know.”
“Until tomorrow,” Ellie muttered.
“Two book signings.”
“One at three and another at seven,” I replied. “I have it down. I’ll make sure she’s alive and ready to go at the store forty-five minutes before.”
Erica patted my arm. “You’re a good egg, Max. Thanks. Go get her some food before she collapses. You did great, Ellie. Only a few days left, okay? Then you’re going home on Sunday afternoon, so no more four a.m. wake up calls.”
“That’s how I know you don’t have a cat,” Ellie retorted. “There most certainly will be.”
She laughed and bid us both goodbye, and after returning to the dressing room to get Ellie’s stuff, we were escorted to the lifts to make our way out of the studio by ourselves.
Ellie was dead on her feet, and I took her bags from her so she didn’t have to carry them.
“Thank you.” She yawned and covered her mouth with her hand. “Ooh. I’m tired.”
“Well, you’re done for today, like Erica said. Want to go home and do nothing until tomorrow afternoon?”
“That’s music to my ears.” She wrapped her hands around my arm and leant against me. “Don’t you have an appointment this afternoon?”
I nodded, unlocking the car. “Four o’clock.”
“Do you mind if I skip it?”
She’d attended a few sessions with me over the past several months. It hadn’t been couple’s counselling, per se, but as I’d come to terms with my father’s actions that night, it’d sometimes been easier to only say things once. She’d mentioned being in the room for today’s meeting, but I’d already assumed she wouldn’t be there.
I didn’t mind.
I was happy for her to be with me or not.
“Of course not. Shall I order food or cook?”
She frowned, opening the car door. “I think Kevin wanted us to all have dinner. Something about the wedding. His, not ours.”
Right. Of course.
I shut her door and got in the other side, popping the key into the ignition. “I’ll call him when we get back. You can shower and take a nap and I’ll sort it all out.”
She reached over the car and squeezed my arm. “Thank you.”
I would call Kevin, tell him to bring food, then give him our share when he arrived or when we got to his place.
I knew that. She knew that. Kevin would know that as soon as I called him.
“Can you call your grandma and see how Winston is, too?” she asked, resting her head against the window as I pulled out of the extortionately overpriced underground parking garage.
“Right after I call your brother,” I confirmed, glancing over at her. “You should sleep.”
“No, I’m fine. I’m not tired,” she said right as she yawned.
“Oh, yes. You’re a real bundle of energy.”
“Oh, shut up.”
Her eyes were closed by the time I reached the first set of traffic lights.
I laughed silently to myself and set off on the drive back home. It felt weird referring to Ellie’s old house as home, mostly because I’d never known anything other than Greygarth House as being such a thing. Although her house had become a home away from home for me, and I was happy to be in London with her while she promoted her book.
Heck, I was even missing Winston. I’d become quite fond of the little bugger, although I really could do without the paw on my face at four a.m. because he could see the very bottom of his food bowl.
After an hour of London traffic, I finally pulled into the small driveway and looked over at Ellie. She was still fast asleep, and I hated that I had to reach over and wake her up.
“Ellie,” I said softly, gently shaking her knee.
“No.”
“Yes. We’re home.”
She pouted. “I wasn’t asleep,” she said right as she turned to me and looked at me with sleepy eyes.
“Come on.” I got out and walked around to her side where I opened her door and hauled her half-hearted arse out. She just about managed to sleepily rummage through her bag and pull out her keys before she looked up at me.
“Really have to get another one cut for you.” She sighed, opening the door, while I laughed.
She’d been saying it for six months.
She was never going to get around it.
I wasn’t mad. I didn’t care. If it came to it, I’d just ask Kevin to copy his key because his sister was the scatter-brained love of my life and kept muttering about that ‘goddamn fucking earl who just won’t co-operate.’
The Earl of Vanhorn existed entirely inside her brain, so I was sure she was right. He probably wasn’t co-operating.