Total pages in book: 110
Estimated words: 106798 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 534(@200wpm)___ 427(@250wpm)___ 356(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 106798 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 534(@200wpm)___ 427(@250wpm)___ 356(@300wpm)
“Useful.” Suzanne laughs. “Fair enough. Just promise me you’ll never settle when it comes to love.”
Emersyn nods slowly, but she doesn’t look at us.
“Maybe you’ll find a younger man like I did.”
I smirk, standing with my empty plate.
Emersyn grins, her gaze ping-ponging between us. “Maybe. Thank you so much for breakfast. It was too generous … really.” She carries her dishes to the sink and rinses them off. “I better get to work.”
I take Emersyn’s dishes and load them into the dishwasher. “You’re welcome.”
She leans down as I’m bent over the open door. “Don’t worry. I’m going to vacuum everything … thoroughly.”
Amusement hijacks my twisted lips, and I lift my gaze to meet hers. Something changes between us, and I can’t find the right words because this shift throws me off-kilter. She can read my mind like my wife can. Great. Two women reading my mind. Busting my balls. I’m doomed.
As soon as she disappears down the hallway, I saunter toward Suzanne, her full glass of orange juice, and nearly untouched eggs Benedict. “How are you going to take your pills without food in your stomach?” I say softly as I pull my chair closer to hers.
“She’s beautiful. Isn’t she?”
“What?” Did I really hear her correctly?
“Em. She’s beautiful … and refreshing.” Suzanne’s knee playfully nudges mine.
“Should I be worried? Are you going to leave me for the maid?”
My wife giggles and shakes her head. “No, but maybe you should leave me for the maid. Her breasts are delightfully perky.”
“Fuck you,” I whisper with a manufactured smile. I’m not mad, but that hurt. She knows I don’t care about perky tits, and she knows I love her with every fiber of my soul.
“I wish you would. I wish you would fuck me, and if not me … maybe someone like Em.”
“Jesus, Suz …” I run my hands through my hair. “Where the hell is this coming from? Just…” my hands drop to her lap “…take your pills.”
“Maybe I don’t need the pills.”
I frown, scooping up a bite of food and holding it at her mouth. “Maybe you do.”
She pleads with desperate eyes as I maintain my challenging expression for several seconds. With a sigh, she succumbs to my request by opening her mouth barely enough to fit the food into it. Chewing in slow motion, her beautiful face sours into a painful grimace. She’s not hungry, and it’s all she can do to swallow it, no matter how much she used to love my eggs Benedict. Days have passed since she’s taken more than one or two bites of her meals. And if I force her to down the pills with so little food, she’ll throw them up.
“Babe … if you don’t eat …” I say the words slowly, just above a whisper.
“I’m tired.” She rests her hand on my cheek and tilts her head to the side, giving me that loving smile that I can’t refuse. She can get me to do anything with this one look.
“Want me to take a nap with you?”
She nods. “Yeah, that would be perfect.”
I have a million things to do around the house: furnace filter to change, leaks to fix, a garage to clean, and grass to mow. But all those things will be here later. They are not going anywhere.
The only thing these hands and arms need to do right now are hold my wife.
CHAPTER FOUR
Emersyn
When I’m not cleaning houses, browsing thrift stores, peering through the lens of my camera, or working to build my following on social media, I search online for … something. Anything to get me out of this rut. It’s not that cleaning houses doesn’t pay well; it’s just not my dream. Every day I lose a little more focus of that dream.
Tossing my phone into my gently used Hammitt handbag, I release a long, exasperated breath and climb out of my temporary housing on wheels. When I knock on the glass door, Zach appears within seconds. After last week’s awkward breakfast, his welcoming smile is exactly what I need this morning. It took forever to clean their house that day. Zach may have hired me as their maid, but I think Suzie would rather I be her Tuesday friend. And if I could get paid to be her friend in good conscience, it would be a great job.
“Good morning,” Zach says. “I’m leaving in a few minutes. I wasn’t supposed to work today, but things changed. I’ll be back late this evening, and Suzie’s sister will be here by three.” He talks without taking a breath while I step inside and remove my shoes. “I’m not asking you to watch her. She doesn’t think she needs anyone, but if you wouldn’t mind checking on her a few times—”
“Zach.” I cut off his rambling, feeling every ounce of anxiety radiating from his body. “I’ve got this.” Surprising myself with a high level of fake confidence, I add a big, reassuring smile to sell it. In reality, I’m not sure I have anything. Hanging out with Suzie while Zach is here, or at least within twenty miles running errands, is a more trivial responsibility than what he’s asking me now. Even if he’s trying to downplay it, I know he’s panicking.