Total pages in book: 105
Estimated words: 100202 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 501(@200wpm)___ 401(@250wpm)___ 334(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 100202 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 501(@200wpm)___ 401(@250wpm)___ 334(@300wpm)
“It’s fine,” he assured me, smoothing back my hair. “I can handle it. It’s six little girls. How much damage can they do?”
“You have no idea,” I groaned. “We have to send them home. And there should be seven.”
“No, we don’t,” he argued. “You have to sleep. I already warned the parents just in case it was contagious. Five of the girls stayed. I’ve got this.”
I pried my eyes open and found his brown and gold ones staring back at me. “You said you didn’t do the parent thing, remember? It’s rule number three. Besides, what parent in their right mind would leave their kids with someone they’ve never met?” I blinked. “Not that you’re not trustworthy. I’d trust you with Sutton’s life.”
“Good, because you’re going to. And you forget, just because I’ve been gone ten years doesn’t mean I don’t know the parents of every single child in this house. Small towns have long memories, Callie.” Another stroke of my hair, and my eyes closed. “Just sleep. I promise the house will still be standing when you wake up tomorrow.”
“You don’t have to do this,” I protested, guilt swamping me worse than the nausea.
“No, but Sutton needs me to,” he replied. “Sleep.”
I faded off, but not before I heard his footsteps retreat down the stairs.
“Okay, so how many of you have never seen a helicopter?”
The sound of excited cheering carried me right off to sleep.
10
Weston
* * *
My fingernails were purple, and it was going to take at least three showers to scrub the glitter out of my scalp from the insanity of the evening. I’m not sure what I’d expected from a group of eleven-year-old girls, but it definitely hadn’t been an all-nighter.
I cracked a yawn and navigated the maze of sleeping bags in our living room, making my way to the kitchen on all three hours of sleep I’d managed to snag between the end of their movie and my alarm clock blaring in my ear.
My thumbs flew over the keyboard of my phone, typing out a text to the only other skier I knew in town who could handle guiding a group of tourists through the backcountry.
“Hey,” Callie whispered, and my gaze shot up. She was in the kitchen, dumping bags of pancake mix into a giant mixing bowl.
“What are you doing out of bed?” I skirted the last sleeping girl and strode through the dining room and into the kitchen. She should be sleeping off her night.
“I woke up about a half hour ago, and I’m okay,” she said softly.
“But—”
“It’s out of my system. No puking since about nine last night, and I slept a good ten hours.” She gave me a shy smile and looked away. “I even managed a shower.”
“I can tell.” Her hair was wet. “You look better.”
“I feel better,” she promised, taking the eggs out of the refrigerator. “And you need to get to the hangar. I know weekends are busiest for you.”
My brow furrowed, because she was right.
“Don’t deny it,” she challenged, her voice strong but her cheeks pale.
“I was just texting someone to take over for the morning.” My thumb hovered over the send button. “Theo will have to fly, anyway. There’s no way I’m getting behind the controls on a few hours of sleep.”
“I’m so sorry about last night.” Guilt sagged her shoulders.
“Don’t be.” I shrugged. “It was…an experience.”
“I bet.” She glanced toward the sleeping girls. “Looks like everyone lived. I really can’t thank you enough.”
“They did. I probably could have gone to sleep once they settled in on a movie, but I didn’t want to be the guy who lost one of them because they decided to run amok in the dark or something. I don’t have a lot of experience with eleven-year-old girls.”
She scoffed, then tilted her head like she was thinking about it. “Yeah, that was probably a good idea. And did I hear something about helicopters last night? I was pretty out of it.”
I nodded. “I called up Theo and he brought the minivan over. Sutton thought it was the coolest thing, and between you and me, I think it got Max a few cool points too. The kids had a blast.”
Her eyes widened. “Wait. You didn’t take them flying, did you? Because I can’t even imagine the liability—”
I laughed. “I’m not exactly a parent, but I do have some common sense, Callie. It was dark by the time we got there anyway, and I’m not about to fly instruments around a place with a bunch of lifts just for a joyride.”
“Oh, thank God. I’m already the weird single mom in the PTA.”
“Your standing is safe,” I assured her.
She glanced at her phone on the counter. “It’s already seven fifteen. You’d better get down there.”
“You’re sure you’ll be okay?” Leaving her felt wrong. Necessary, but totally and completely wrong.