Total pages in book: 87
Estimated words: 86158 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 431(@200wpm)___ 345(@250wpm)___ 287(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 86158 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 431(@200wpm)___ 345(@250wpm)___ 287(@300wpm)
“Message received,” I said. I moved over to the tools I’d set by the door.
“Are you mad at me?” she asked in confusion.
“Hell no,” I replied. “Just disappointed.”
“Yeah, me too,” she said with a sigh.
“I’m gonna head out. I gotta work tomorrow and I’m beat.” I lifted the tools and my boots and gave a little wave with my full hands.
I was a few steps down the hallway when she called my name. When I turned to look at her, she was standing in the doorway of her room, her arms crossed over her chest.
“You understand what I’m saying, right?” she called softly. “We’d be fantastic together. It’s just the wrong time.”
I nodded and kept moving. She was right, we’d be fucking great together—but it didn’t really matter if she wasn’t willing to give it a chance.
Chapter 3
Charlie
We’d been in our new place for two weeks and I’d slept like shit every single night. I couldn’t get the thermostat set to a comfortable degree, I didn’t have time to get blinds on the windows yet so the sun woke me up early as hell on the days I wasn’t working, and there were too many sounds all the time. Creaking and groaning happened all through the night as the stupid house settled. If I accidentally left the bathroom door open, it would swing open with the hinges squealing, startling the hell out of me right as I was about to fall asleep. Plus, I felt so fucking alone upstairs. After living in such close quarters with Kara, having her so far away was weird.
Don’t get me wrong, I loved the extra space and privacy—most of the time. It was just late at night when I’d finally finished my schoolwork and was climbing into bed when shit started to feel dodgy. Even going out to my car in the dark on my random early days at work creeped me out.
Thankfully, everything else in my life seemed to be going forward as planned. I was barreling toward graduation, getting shit done early so the last few weeks would be a breeze, and Mal had finally agreed to sell me the coffee shop. If I thought she’d give me some kind of a deal, I’d been sadly mistaken. She wasn’t stupid and it was making good money—but we’d finally come to an agreement and I was completely stoked. By the time I graduated, all the paperwork would be done and I’d be able to jump into my venture with both feet.
Well, I could jump in with both feet once I got today’s conversation over with. What I really wanted to be doing was sleep all day, but instead, I was driving over to my parents’ property. They’d been living in a trailer since their house burned down in the wildfires we’d had last fall, but from what I could see when I turned into their long driveway—they wouldn’t have to be there much longer.
“Look at my house!” my mom yelled, walking toward my car as I parked behind a white truck with some kind of logo on it. “It’s gorgeous!”
“It is,” I agreed as I climbed out.
Where once there had been a beautiful old two-story house there was now a brand spanking new ranch with workers doing their thing all around it. Smaller, but just as gorgeous in its own way. I had no doubt that they would’ve lived in the old place until they died, but fate had other plans and they’d decided if they were building something new they were going to have a new place that fit them as they got older. There were no stairs for them to climb, only two bedrooms since all their kids were out of the house, and eventually, my mom would have the wraparound porch she wanted.
“Come see,” Mom said excitedly. “There’s still a lot to do—”
“Really?” I asked sarcastically.
“Yeah,” she said with a laugh. “It’s all framed in, though, so we can see where all the rooms are.”
“Are you sure it’s cool that we go in there?” I asked as a man strode by carrying a window. “We won’t be in the way?”
“We’re old friends by now,” she replied, waving me off. “I come in every day to see how far they’ve gotten.”
“I’m sure they love that,” I muttered.
“Please,” she said, scoffing. “Everyone digs me.”
“Harry,” my mom called, waving at a guy in a hardhat a few feet away. “We’re gonna take a look around!”
“Put a hard hat on,” he ordered, pointing at the floor near our feet. “You know the rules.”
“I look like a goober with it on.”
“You look gorgeous as ever and you know it,” he replied, still pointing. “Hardhats. Both of you.”
“Oh, all right,” Mom said with a sigh.
She handed me a hardhat and gave me a wink.
“Dad know you’re in here flirting with the builders every day?” I asked dryly.