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)
“You like my what?” he calls.
“It’s too long,” I say without glancing back at him. “The list is too long.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
Leah’s been in Oahu a few days, so by the time I make it to the hostel, she’s already settled into the dorm room, waiting for me in her bikini. “Hey, how was your flight?” She jumps down from the top bunk bed.
I survey the room.
“I know. It’s small but affordable. We’re not here to sit in a fancy rental or hotel room. It’s all about the adventure and the landscape.”
After a tiny shrug, I heave my suitcase onto the lower bunkbed. “Full disclosure?”
Leah pulls her straight black hair into a ponytail. The last time I saw her it was naturally curly. I know from her social media accounts that she never has the same look two days in a row; she might find me a tad boring.
“It’s a little late for full disclosure. I already hired you, but sure … what do you need to disclose?”
“I’ve lived out of my car more than once, so hostels will feel like five-star resorts.”
“And they’re cheap.” Leah winks, sliding her arms into a pink and orange floral kimono cover-up. “Twenty-five dollars a night. Now get out of those boring jeans, put on your cutest bikini, and meet me out front. We have a car waiting for us and a full afternoon of work. You will never be homeless again, babe.”
Work.
I grin while nodding. Is this really work?
Oahu has the most picturesque jungles and mountains, a volcano with deep craters down the side of it that look like claw marks, swirly textured rock formations at Lanai Lookout that are any photographer’s dream, and the most vibrant blue and aqua water the Pacific has to offer.
How did this become my life? In less than a year, I’ve been homeless, stuck in a terrible relationship, buried in debt, hired by a couple who have changed my life forever, lost a dear friend, married, and now I’m traveling the world … the freaking world … taking photographs with a woman who is my spirit animal.
“So you never told me…” Leah clicks through the photos on her camera as we’re driven back to the hostel just after sunset “…who are you leaving behind? I mean, when we met in New York, you casually said nobody, and I let it slide at the time. But everyone has someone they leave behind if they move, travel the world…” she glances over at me with a wrinkled nose, one nostril pierced with a small gold loop “…or die.”
On a tiny laugh, I nod several times. “True. I suppose. I left behind a cat named Harry Pawter and …” And what? Or who? Zach. My husband. Can I tell her that?
“And?”
I shake my head and stare out my window at the fading shoreline. “I have a mom who I haven’t seen in years. No other family that I know of.”
“Who’s taking care of Harry Pawter?”
“A friend. Uh … a roommate, I suppose.”
“Whoa, whoa, whoa …” Leah sets her camera on her lap and shifts her body, giving me her full attention. “A friend? A roommate you suppose? That’s the story I want. Spill. I want every detail. I deserve every detail. We are spending the next year together. No secrets. When I hook up with someone, you’ll know about it. When I’m having my period, you’ll know about it. No personal boundaries. Sorry.”
I give her a long look for several seconds, but she’s right. A year is a long time in any relationship. “I’ve been staying with a couple who hired me to clean their house. They discovered I was living out of my car and insisted I stay with them. Suzie, the wife, died of cancer at the end of summer and…” I bite my lips together for a breath “…now I’m living with Zach, her husband. Ex. Whatever. He’s taking care of Harry Pawter for me.”
Leah’s lips twist to the side for a second. “An older couple?”
“Older than me.”
“You’re twenty-four, so technically twenty-five—my age—is older than you.”
“They’re in their thirties. Well, were, I mean … she was. She died. He’s obviously still alive and watching my cat.”
After a few slow blinks, her head cocks to the side. “You’re living with a man in his thirties? His wife died, and you’re still living in their house?” When she says it, it sounds weird.
It doesn’t feel weird. Okay, maybe a little weird.
“Just temporarily. I became good friends with his wife. She wanted me to look after him.”
With a slow raise of her eyebrows, she gives me several exaggerated blinks. “She found her replacement before she died.”
“What?” I shake my head. “No. That’s not it at all.”
“Did they have children?”
I shake my head.
“Em … wake up! Suzie chose you to replace her, to give her husband a new life and lots of babies. You are the healthy, fertile, young chosen one.”