Total pages in book: 91
Estimated words: 87155 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 436(@200wpm)___ 349(@250wpm)___ 291(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 87155 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 436(@200wpm)___ 349(@250wpm)___ 291(@300wpm)
Only then would I go home.
“How did you get up there?” I asked.
“I climbed.”
“Wow, okay. Awesome. Thanks for the details.”
“What kind of details do you need with that?”
“Uh, maybe how you did it. There are no branches.”
He grinned again—big, toothy, and smacking his gum. “I know, right? I didn’t think I was going to be able to do it at first. It took me a solid twenty minutes of scrambling before I remembered I was wearing a belt.”
I blinked at him like he was an idiot because I was starting to think maybe he was. Who the heck smiled that much anyway? Not me. At least, not anymore.
“What the heck does a belt have to do with anything?”
“Have you ever seen one of those lumberjack competitions on TV? They use this belt thing to hook their way up. I didn’t think it was going to work without the spiky shoes. But here I am.”
Another grin.
Another chew.
Another head twitch to keep his hair out of his eyes.
“Any plans on how you’re going to get down?”
He shrugged. “None yet. You got any ideas?”
Considering I still couldn’t wrap my mind around how he had gotten up there, it was safe to say I had no flipping idea how he was going to get down. Not to mention, I wasn’t sure I should help him figure it out. What kind of creeper hid in a tree and watched a person at the bottom for… I looked at my watch.
Sixty minutes. One hour.
I could finally stop counting the minutes and move on to counting the hours. Those were longer. There were only twenty-four in a day and I could sleep through at least eight of them. Then there would be days. Months. Years. Before I knew it, I’d barely remember her at all.
Those were the days I longed for. I loved my mother. I didn’t want her to be dead. I just wanted to stop hurting.
One hour and one minute.
I wondered if my dad had noticed I’d taken off yet or if he was still doubled over her bed, holding her as if he could bring her back. Secretly, I was glad he couldn’t.
“Oh, good. You’re thinking,” he prodded when I didn’t reply.
I should have left. Leaving the peeping Tom hung out to dry. But where would I have gone? My mother was dead, my father was destroyed, and the world kept turning as people continued on with their lives as if nothing had happened at all. Well, everyone except for that boy in the tree. Because, in a different way, he was just as stuck as I was.
“Well, I’ve got a few ideas. Though most of them are about how you shouldn’t spy on people or trespass on private property.”
His thick eyebrows shot up. “Trespassing? Are you kidding me? There’s no fence or signs or anything. It’s a dang tree in the middle of an empty field.”
“Yeah. A field owned by the Wynns.”
“Oh, please. The Wynns don’t care if I climb their tree.”
“You have no idea who they are, do you?”
“Of course, I do.” His grin had faded into something that I assumed was supposed to be a scowl, but his face was too gentle to pack any heat.
“So, what are their names then?”
“Psh.” He cut his gaze off to the side. “George and…um, Betty. Duh.”
“Errr!” I made the sound of an obnoxious buzzer. “Wrong! It’s Mason and Lacey.”
He gave me back his chocolaty-brown eyes. “Well, those are their nicknames. Everybody knows their real names are George and Betty Lynn.”
“Wynn,” I corrected.
His voice rose, but the sides of his mouth hiked into a wide smile. “That’s what I said!”
I rolled my eyes. “Whatever. You’re probably safe. Mason only carries his gun out to the field on Sundays. Oh, wait, that’s today.”
“Shut up. That’s not true.”
“You sure about that?”
Panic hit his face, and if I’d been able to feel anything over the ache in my chest, I would have laughed. Mason Wynn would have built a playground around that tree if the neighborhood kids asked for it. He didn’t care if people were hanging out in his field. But Tree Boy didn’t need to know that.
“Back up. I’m coming down.”
Using my hand to shield the sun from my eyes, I watched as he swept his leg, trying and failing to make purchase on the bark with the tip of his toe. He crouched lower and tried again. Then again. And then one last time before he rose to his full height.
“Crap. You gotta help me get down. If I get shot my first week in town, my dad will ground me for the rest of my life.”
“Just to be clear, you’re more worried about being grounded than you are getting shot?”
“Grounded means I have to sit in my room with nothing but stupid books. Not all of us are lucky enough to have a Tetris watch. Now back up. I’m gonna jump.”