Total pages in book: 119
Estimated words: 117494 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 587(@200wpm)___ 470(@250wpm)___ 392(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 117494 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 587(@200wpm)___ 470(@250wpm)___ 392(@300wpm)
And goddamn, seriously, fuckitity fuck fuck fuck.
I sighed. “Where is she?”
She fixed her eyes on me again. They were clearing. I could almost see the hope coming back.
“Some place called Frisco, California. And I don’t mean San Fran,” she clarified.
Otis came down the aisle, hitching up his pants. “Now, Ruby, I could hear you all the way in my office—”
My mom whirled on him. “That was a good ten minutes ago. Took you that long to grow a pair and face me? After how you’re putting my daughter to work? My daughter who is more educated and just got a whole fuckton more common sense than you—”
I decided to cut through any more bullshit. “Otis.”
He looked. She looked.
“I quit.”
Now where is Frisco, California? And not San Francisco.
It was that night when it happened.
Harper and Aly came to my room, saw me packing, and wanted to know what was going on. I filled them in.
“We’re going where?” was Harper’s first question.
I frowned. “Huh?”
He was no longer paying attention to me. He was looking around, his skinny arm bent back as his hand gripped the back of his neck.
“Oh, dear.” He held his hands out in front of him, palms toward me and Aly. “This is going to take some coordination. I need to pack. I need new suitcases. I can’t use the normal stuff, not for this trip. This is a life-changing trip. I can feel it in my bones.” He breezed past us, hollering over his shoulder, “I have to prepare for this. Big things will happen. My grandmama was a psychic. I can feel her telling me to prepare. I gotta prepare! Aly, go and prepare too. Don’t forget Billy.”
Aly growled. “Why did he have to name my vibrator? You’d think if someone’s going to name a vibrator, it would be the person who uses it.” She raised her voice. “HIS NAME IS GABRIEL! Because he makes me feel heaven every time.” She gave me a lopsided grin. “Right? Get it?”
I groaned and held a hand up. “Don’t elaborate any more. Please.”
She snorted. “Yolo. Fomo. All the omos.”
“That makes no sense.”
She was out the door.
I called after her, “Where are you going?”
She turned back. “Gonna need to pack Gabriel and maybe a few others—Michael, Uriel.”
I grunted. “Why do you have to name them after archangels?”
Her eyes went wide. “You know your archangels. I’m impressed.”
I went back to packing. “Don’t test me about Jesus.”
She laughed. “I’m not testing Harper either. His grandmother is saying to prepare. No way am I missing out. I’ve got six months of vacation. It’s time I call some of it in.”
It took me a second to digest what had just happened.
I was packing, preparing to go on this trip alone. My roommates came home, and just hearing the story, they were going. No questions. No discussion. No trying to talk me out of it. Nothing. Just instant, “We’re going with you. I gotta go and pack my vibrators because a dead grandmother told me to.” Those were my friends.
Damn.
I reached up and flicked a tear away.
Damn.
Moving back after what Foley did, I hadn’t—no. That wasn’t true. I was going to say I hadn’t taken the time to appreciate my friends, but that wasn’t the truth. I had. I was so seriously appreciative of them that sometimes, I worried I was too appreciative. I depended on them too much. Was that fair to them? For them to deal with me, to come “bring me home,” as Harper had put it, and now this?
Oh yeah.
My throat swelled with emotion.
Life was not easy. It wasn’t easy at all, but with the right friends, it got a little less hard.
I hit call on my phone.
“Daughter! How are you? How’ve you been? The Old Gents started a YouTube channel. We’re uploading our first dance routine this weekend.”
“I–what?”
“Oh yeah. I told you about that, didn’t I? We got a name. Old Gents. It’s catchy, right? Stevie thinks it’ll bring in a bunch of the young crowd. You know. All those gals who go crazy over rich millionaires. He’s thinking ‘gents’ will come up as ‘gentlemen’ and boom. There you go. Our dance video will show up.”
Harper and Aly started laughing, and I had to clear my throat because I’d dissolve as well. “Dad.”
“Yeah? Who’s that? Who are you with?”
“Uh. I’m with Aly and Harper.”
“Oh, hey everyone! Kali, tell them hi from me. Did you do it? Say hi. I want to hear you say hi for me.”
“Dad.”
“What?”
“We’re going to California. We’re going on a road trip.”
Silence for a moment.
He cleared his throat, and got all serious. “You know, Kali. You know you don’t have to go all the way to California for your road trip. You can come here! Harper and Aly can join in on the next dance routine.”
“I’m so down for that, Mr. Michaels,” Harper yelled from the front seat.