Total pages in book: 111
Estimated words: 105846 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 529(@200wpm)___ 423(@250wpm)___ 353(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 105846 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 529(@200wpm)___ 423(@250wpm)___ 353(@300wpm)
Slowly, oh-so slowly, I get out and make my way to the front porch. It’s not that I’m intentionally being slow. It’s more that I’m hoping by the time I get there, the moving truck will be gone, and Josie won’t look so pissed off.
Obviously, it doesn’t work.
“So, there’s a moving company here,” Josie announces the obvious. “And they’re unloading boxes for a Miss Norah Ellis. Evidently, this is her final destination.”
“That’s pretty wild,” I respond with a nervous laugh and avert my eyes from my sister and to the two men moving the boxes. Every dang box has Norah Ellis written on it, so it’s not like I can pretend there’s been a big mix-up.
“It is wild,” Josie retorts. “Because it looks like they’re moving a three-bedroom house for a family of five.”
“Um…”
“Norah.”
I force myself to meet her eyes. “See…uh…my best friend Lillian was able to get my stuff out of Thomas’s apartment, plus some of his, if I’m honest, and she had to send everything somewhere, and since I’m here…”
“You had her send it all to my house.”
“Precisely.” I cringe again. “I didn’t think it would be this much, but Lil wanted me to have options. For selling, bartering, whatever. I had no idea she was including the sofa!”
Josie shakes her head on a sigh. “There are already two others inside.”
“You’re kidding me!”
Josie’s expression says that she is very much not kidding me. Desperate, I search for a reason to flip the switch from hopeless to hopeful.
“Is now the right time to tell you that I got a job?” I question. “I mean, I can’t be sure, but that feels like good news right about now…”
She tilts her head to the side. “You got a job?”
“And it pays really well,” I explain through several nods of my head. “So, you know, me being your roomie might not have to be such a permanent thing.”
“Call me crazy, but I don’t remember ever agreeing to it being a permanent thing,” she comments on a laugh that is equal parts exasperated and amused. “So, what is it? I have a hard time believing Earl is giving more than minimum wage, and I know Melba Danser wasn’t even offering seven bucks an hour to work at her bakery. The only other opening I saw was shearing sheep with Tad, and he’s a tightwad if I’ve ever known one.”
“It’s a position I interviewed for last week.”
“What position?”
“An artist’s assistant position.”
“An artist’s assistant?” She looks puzzled at first, but then, she puts those puzzle pieces together. “Wait a minute!” she shouts so loud it startles one of the moving guys. “You’re going to work for Bennett Bishop?” she questions, and her eyes dance with too much information.
Clearly, I was the only Ellis who didn’t know who the artist in town was.
“Don’t even start.” I point one index finger at her. “Don’t say a damn thing. It’s just a job. That’s it.”
Her smile is mischievous. “I didn’t say anything.”
“Well, you were thinking it. It’s written all over your face.”
“How much is he paying you?” she challenges with a little slant of her head.
“Enough that I can save up money to rent an apartment and get out of your hair.”
“How much, Nore?”
“Eighty thousand a year,” I whisper. She hears me anyway.
“What. The. Hell? Eighty G’s?” Her jaw goes slack. “What exactly does Bennett plan to have you doing?”
“I don’t really know. But, like, assistant things, I assume.”
“Wow. You got a job working for Bennett Bishop.” Her smirk is aggravating. And she doesn’t even know about the stupid kiss! Somehow, everyone in town managed to be somewhere other than Earl’s parking lot that day.
“Josie, it’s just a job.”
She nods. “Uh-huh. Just a job. With the guy who rescues you from scary exes and—”
“It is just a job.”
“Yeah. I know.”
I frown. “You implied differently.”
She laughs. “Can I assume you’ll start contributing to groceries while you’re living here since you’re a billionaire now?”
I snort. “Shut up.”
She grins, but then her mouth straightens in a slightly serious way. “Listen, I don’t want to ruin the mood, but there’s something else I think I need to tell you.”
Immediate dread settles in my stomach. “What?”
“Mom called me today,” she states bluntly, her gaze holding steady on mine.
“Mom called you?”
“She called CAFFEINE, actually. She wanted to know where you were.”
Oh hell.
“What did you tell her?”
“I told her I didn’t know,” Josie answers without hesitation. “From where I stand, it’s none of her business where you are or what you’re doing.”
Instantly, my breaths start to get easier.
“Did she say anything else?”
“It’s Eleanor. Of course she said other shit.” Josie shrugs. “Doesn’t mean I listened or believe her.”
“Did she mention anything about Thomas coming to Red Bridge and Bennett hitting him?”
Josie just nods but doesn’t give me anything else.
I can only imagine my mother’s point of view on the whole Thomas debacle. Surely it’s all my fault, and the golden boy didn’t do anything wrong. He might not be her biological child, but they’re two peas in a self-involved, narcissistic pod.