Total pages in book: 131
Estimated words: 130255 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 651(@200wpm)___ 521(@250wpm)___ 434(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 130255 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 651(@200wpm)___ 521(@250wpm)___ 434(@300wpm)
“I’m sure they’d find a reason to either way,” I replied. “Thank you for the tea.”
He nodded his head in my direction. “You’re welcome. What’s she like? Ellie.”
I shrugged. “She’s nice enough, I suppose. Her cat is irritating, though.”
“Do you think she’d sign Sam’s books for her?”
“Are you asking me if I’d take them to her to sign?”
“I’m not asking you. Sam is asking you. Via me.”
I sighed, but I couldn’t entirely fight my smile. “Tell her to bring them over next time she comes to the house. I’ll ask Ellie for her.”
“Thank you. You do know I’m going to tell her that you offered, don’t you?”
“Edward, stop. You’re going to make people think I’m a decent human being.”
“You are a decent man, Max.”
“We’ll agree to disagree.”
“Well, Ellie didn’t seem too put out by your company yesterday.”
“It was rather forced upon her. Don’t kid yourself into thinking that either of us wanted to be there.” I sipped my tea and looked at him pointedly. “Grandma has already gone there, and you know better than to do that.”
He held up his hands and took a step back. “I was merely remarking that you seemed to be getting along handsomely, from what I could see.”
“Handsomely is a strong word,” I replied slowly. “I’d say we tolerate each other, but that’s about it. We barely know one another, and I have no desire to know her any more than I already do.”
Edward held my gaze for a moment before he turned away, shaking his head. “It wouldn’t hurt you to broaden your horizons, you know. Your closest friends all live miles away and you barely see each other.”
“That’s not true. Fred’s coming down this weekend.”
“And I’d bet you it’s for work, isn’t it?”
“We’re busy people.”
“Yes, Max. You’re so busy that you can help her find her cat.” He shot me a look. “I’m going to prune the roses if you need me.”
I sipped my tea and looked away from him. I didn’t want to hear it. He was right that I spent quite a lot of time alone, but that was by choice. Partly because the majority of my friends were also in the upper class and we were all dotted about the country, but partly because I liked it that way.
I was happy to be alone.
It was easier to be alone sometimes. You couldn’t get hurt, but you couldn’t hurt anyone, either. Don’t get too close, and don’t let anyone else get closer to you.
Fleeting entanglements were preferable, as far as I was concerned.
Nobody around me felt the same way, although they claimed to understand why I was so reluctant to form what they described as a “meaningful relationship.”
My parents had had a meaningful relationship once.
I finished my tea and put the cup and saucer in the sink.
No.
I had better things to do than go down that line of thought.
And if I didn’t, I would find something to do.
• • •
“Has it ever occurred to you to simply be nice to people?”
I stared at my cousin across the bar. “Has it ever occurred to you to mind your own business?”
“Absolutely not,” Penny said. “Why would I do something as silly as not stick my nose in your entire life?”
“Because you have better things to do than that? Like, oh, I don’t know. Serve Harry down there?”
She shot me a look. “What’s up, Harry?”
The older man leant against the bar and pushed his empty glass towards her. “’Nother one, please, Pen, love.” His words were thick and slurred, and he was almost hanging onto the edge of the old wooden bar for dear life.
Penny pressed her lips together. “Sorry, Harry. No can do.”
He looked up at her, glassy-eyed. “’Nother whiskey, love.”
“Nope.” She took his glass and put it in the sink beneath the bar. “I’m cutting you off and calling—”
“Harry! There you are!”
I turned at the sound of Darlene Brown’s voice. She shuffled through the bar and grabbed her brother’s arm, then glared at Penny.
“You’re not supposed to let him get like this!”
Her high-pitched outbreak split the pub in two; the locals, who were used to it, continued on their conversations, albeit a little quieter so they could still listen in, and the tourists who all stilled and stared unabashedly.
“Hey.” Penny cocked her hip and put her hand on it. “I’ve served him two drinks, and I made sure they were small ones. It wouldn’t surprise me if he had something in his pocket given the state he’s in.”
Darlene’s jaw clenched. “You shouldn’t have served him at all.”
“He wasn’t like this when he came in or I’d have called you.”
“You shouldn’t have served him!” the older woman repeated.
Penny’s mask of tolerance dropped. “You should be getting him help instead of leaving him so you can shag your married toyboy at three o’clock in the afternoon, don’t you think?”