Total pages in book: 91
Estimated words: 84250 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 421(@200wpm)___ 337(@250wpm)___ 281(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 84250 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 421(@200wpm)___ 337(@250wpm)___ 281(@300wpm)
I know Walker would walk out to his truck and come back with a battery. I know the man is telling the truth, especially after Adalynn confirmed it, but she never should've put her nose in my business.
My eyes burn with the same angry tears they always do when I'm frustrated and see no resolution.
"I'm not a creep, Claire. I can see the error of what I've done. I should've knocked on your door rather than sneaking back here, but I saw…"
"Saw what?" I snap when his words drop off.
"I wanted it to be a surprise. Adalynn insisted it was a surprise."
"You know what?" I growl. "Go get the damn battery and put it in there. Make sure you tell the whole town what a horrible mother I am."
I swallow down my disgrace, but even now I can't manage to hold my head up.
There's a certain kind of pain that comes along with realizing the battles you've fought have been the wrong ones. That you've wasted so much time on pride that maybe if you'd just swallowed it a long time ago, things might already be better.
"Claire," Walker says, walking toward me. "That was never anyone's intention. We're just—"
"Trying to help," I interrupt. "I get it. You get the battery. I'll grab the money to pay for it."
I step back inside, needing a little time to get myself put back together, but I know what will happen. Every time I shatter, I lose another piece of myself. One can break only so many times before the pieces no longer fit together. I feel like I'm so close to that point already.
It's fifteen minutes of deep breaths in my bathroom before I step back outside. I expected everyone to be gone, but Cash and Adalynn have joined the party.
"Claire, I—"
"Who bought the battery?" I ask before she can once again apologize.
No one speaks up, but I know it had to be her.
I wave the cash I grabbed from my purse on my way back here in front of me.
Walker holds his hands up when I try to hand him the money.
"Take it," I insist.
"I didn't buy it."
I turn to Adalynn, holding out the money to her. "If you could stay out of my life that would be great."
She looks like she's on the verge of tears when Cash reaches out and takes the cash for her.
She swallows as she nods. Cash and Chandler follow her through the side gate of my little yard.
"Make sure you call Maggie to cover my shift," I tell Walker when he starts to walk away.
He turns back to face me, and I swear I see a side of him I've never seen before, but I'm too disappointed in nearly every aspect of my life to question it.
"You don't plan on coming to work?"
I glare at the man. First, he comes here and causes this mess, and then he expects me to quit my job too. I could never face him after tonight.
"I still have a job?"
He huffs, shaking his head.
"I'm not firing you."
"I almost had you arrested."
“But you didn't," he argues. "I'll see you in half an hour."
He doesn't give me a chance to argue before he disappears around the side of the house.
Chapter 9
Walker
Claire has every right to be as angry as she is, but I hate that the majority of it is aimed in my direction. I can take credit for my part in all this, but at the same time, it wasn't my idea.
No, that doesn't feel right. I'm responsible for my own actions. It was irritation and anger that Corbin might've been inside with her that had me in her backyard and peeking through her glass door.
I met the man on the sidewalk when I walked around to my truck. As it turns out, his grandmother lives in the little duplex community. Had I not jumped to conclusions, I would've remembered that.
When an hour goes by and Claire still hasn’t arrived at the bar, I start to think that maybe she won't show up at all. Then the door opens and she appears, a smile I don't expect on her pretty face.
It changes the second her back is to the customers as she grabs her waist apron. She's a professional at hiding how she's really feeling, I realize, when the smile she gives to everyone including me is back in place once the thing is tied around her slender hips.
"Hey," I say, stepping in front of her before she can start work. "We need to talk."
I walk around the corner, legitimately surprised that she follows me.
"Everything is fine," she says, her face stonelike as she locks her eyes over my shoulder instead of looking at me directly.
"You have every right to be mad."
"Now you get to tell me how I'm supposed to feel?"