Total pages in book: 73
Estimated words: 73311 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 367(@200wpm)___ 293(@250wpm)___ 244(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 73311 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 367(@200wpm)___ 293(@250wpm)___ 244(@300wpm)
Imogen grinned and pushed me lightly on the arm, urging me toward the door.
Before I could unlock it, though, Imogen’s sister came out from across the hall looking frazzled.
“Does this look okay for my date with Dennie?”
I blinked in surprise.
“Don’t you have a husband?” I asked Imogen’s sister, Sunny.
Sunny’s smile widened.
“I do.”
“Then…why are you going out with another guy?”
Imogen started to snicker, then turned back to her sister.
At Imogen’s nod, Sunny fist pumped and started walking away.
Without answering my question.
Imogen followed her inside their apartment, and I followed Imogen after quickly letting Tank into my place, closing the door lightly behind me.
It wasn’t seconds later, and there was a knock on the door.
“Later, Sun,” Imogen called. “I’ll make sure to leave the door open for you.”
“Don’t bother. I won’t be home,” Sunny smiled as she opened the door and pushed the man that was about to knock again out further into the hallway.
“I’m so confused,” I told her. “What the hell was that?”
“How much do you know about Sunny and Raymond’s relationship?” Imogen asked from her perch on the kitchen counter.
“I know that they were getting married the last time I came home, before my accident, about two years ago. My mom was making her a wedding cake,” I told her.
Imogen’s lips twitched.
“That’s right,” she confirmed. “Have you ever heard of an open relationship?”
I blinked.
“You’re telling me that Raymond lets his wife sleep with other people?” I confirmed.
She nodded. “And she lets him do the same,” she shrugged. “I can’t say that I totally agree with what they’re doing. Hell, they don’t even live with each other half the time. The only time they stay together is when they’re playing husband and wife again.”
My grin widened.
“That’s kind of fucked up.”
She nodded her head.
“They don’t share bank accounts. They don’t live together. They don’t even see each other all that much. Yes, I can agree that it definitely is weird.” She paused. “Though Raymond does work in the oilfield. He’s actually living in, I think, South Dakota right now. It’s different when he’s home.”
“Seems like it shouldn’t make a difference whether he lives here or not. Being married means there were promises made.”
She nodded.
“When he’s home, they don’t have an open relationship,” she continued explaining. “They still don’t live with each other, but they spend a whole lot more time together.”
“Hmm,” I hummed. “I think we’ll just have to quit discussing it. It weirds me out.”
She gave me an agreeing smile.
“Yeah,” she agreed. “I decided a long time ago not to analyze what they have going on. Though I didn’t live with her at the time.”
“You don’t always live with her?”
She shook her head and headed back out to the hallway, and I followed her.
I got to my door and wondered if I really wanted to see the mess that Imogen had described to me.
I blew out a breath, and then twisted the knob.
My gut clenching at what I saw inside.
She patted me on the shoulder as she started to gather up large pieces of trash that’d been shredded. Papers that’d been on my side table being most of them.
“Do you have a big black trash bag I could use?”
I walked to the kitchen sink and pulled the cabinet underneath of it open.
Reaching down, I dragged a bag out of the box that was holding them and opened it, the bag making a loud snapping sound as I unfurled it.
She jumped, then started to laugh.
“Gets me every time,” she told me as she held out some trash.
We worked like that for a few minutes before she answered my earlier question.
“I used to live in my own apartment,” she informed me. “It was over the laundromat, actually.”
“The one that burned down?”
She nodded.
“Though I wasn’t responsible for it burning down. That happened after I left,” she promised. “Rod went to prison the week before Clarabelle was set to deploy. So my mom, Sunny, and I all moved into Clarabelle’s place. A, because it had the most bedrooms, and B, because between the three of us we would always have someone home with Davis.”
“Oh,” I muttered. “That makes a hell of a lot of sense now.”
She grinned.
“When Clarabelle gets home, I’ll be looking for somewhere else to stay,” I promised. “Clarabelle’s not re-enlisting with the Marines, but she does have to stay a little longer since they extended her tour. I love my nephew, but I like walking around with no pants on. Something that I can’t do with my nine-year-old nephew in the same house.”
I snorted.
“Pants aren’t that uncomfortable.”
Then she went and surprised me again.
By unbuttoning her pants.
“Look at this,” she said, ripping the buttons open with a pop-pop-pop-pop-pop. “Tell me this doesn’t look like it’s uncomfortable.”
I couldn’t stop myself from looking.
Literally, she was exposing half her belly, as well as the top of her underwear to me.