Total pages in book: 76
Estimated words: 71110 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 356(@200wpm)___ 284(@250wpm)___ 237(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 71110 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 356(@200wpm)___ 284(@250wpm)___ 237(@300wpm)
“Sometimes it’s like someone turned a page and oops, it’s seven years later,” she agreed. “I feel like Lou was five yesterday, and now she’s twelve, and I’m not even sure how we got here.” She shook off the feeling. She would rather know something about him. Going to bed would be the safer option, but she didn’t want to. She was enjoying talking to this man, and when she thought about it, he was safe. He had a girlfriend. He was way out of her league looks-wise. Would it hurt to be friendly with her neighbor? “So what do you do for McKay-Taggart? Are you really a bodyguard?”
“No, I’m actually on an investigative team,” Boomer replied. “That sounds cooler than it is though. Mostly it’s looking through records and asking questions. I sleep in a lot of cars and sometimes in trees. I’m good at napping in weird places.”
“Okay, I have to ask how you ended up with that job.” She was a bit fascinated with the man. He seemed like this walking bit of sunshine, and that had to be a façade.
“I fell into it. I got kicked out of my house at eighteen because that was my dad for you,” he said with a chuckle. “So I did the only thing I thought I could do and went into the military.”
“He kicked you out?”
“Yeah. I got an eviction notice as an eighteenth birthday present. I didn’t understand the paperwork. My sister had to explain it to me, but the upshot was I had to pack a bag and be out by five. And that was mean because Mom didn’t serve dinner until five thirty,” Boomer said.
“Holy shit.” She rarely cursed, but her outrage made her reach for harsh words. “He evicted you? And your mom let him?”
“Well, I had gotten into some fights with him. He didn’t like that I called him on stuff. Like cheating on my mom and cheating his employees. He liked cheating a lot. So when he could legally evict me, he did. I still had a couple of months of high school to go, and I thought about dropping out, but an old teacher of mine heard what happened, and she and her husband offered to let me stay with them. I managed to somehow graduate by the skin of my teeth and did the only thing I could. I joined the Army.”
“I can’t imagine kicking my own kid out.” Her whole life revolved around her daughter.
Big shoulders shrugged. “Well, I was probably more difficult to deal with than Lou.”
“You would be surprised. She can be a handful at times. So you left the Army and ended up working security?”
“Well, before that I went into Special Forces, in particular a Delta Force team. Turned out I was really good at shooting things from long distances,” he explained.
“You were a sniper?”
“Yup,” he admitted. “Now I work for a security company. I’m on an investigative team, but I’m mostly muscle. I’m also a firearms expert, and the big boss uses me as a babysitter from time to time, but I think that was mostly because I proved I could take an arrow.”
“I’m sorry, what?” Sometimes she wasn’t sure when he was joking.
“An arrow. See, my friend Mike lost a bet and so we had to watch the twins, and one of them decided to play with a crossbow and that’s how I got this.” He lifted his leg, pulling up the leg of his pants and showing off a circular scar. “But I also got a really good pizza out of it.”
“A kid shot you with an arrow?”
“She didn’t mean to.” He brought his super-muscular leg back down. “She was just a kid. I got the fire out, too. So now I watch the kids from time to time, and when any of the day care workers are out, I like to help in there. We only have a couple of little kids now. It was more fun when there were a bunch of them. Now we mostly use the space for after-school care.”
That was something interesting. “After-school care? Like the workers can bring their kids in and they stay there?”
“Yeah, the younger school kids. Like my boss’s sons come in, but his daughters are older teens, so they don’t have to come up there unless they’re in trouble. Kala’s there a lot,” Boomer said. “I was wondering if you wouldn’t want Lou to hang out up there for a couple of days until you can find a replacement for Mrs. Callahan. I’m going to be honest. She’s not the nicest lady in the world.”
Ah, yes. There was the heavy press of guilt every mom felt. “She seemed nice to me.”
Boomer shrugged. “Yeah, she’s nice as long as you’re doing something for her.”
“Then why did you help her?”