Total pages in book: 135
Estimated words: 131916 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 660(@200wpm)___ 528(@250wpm)___ 440(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 131916 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 660(@200wpm)___ 528(@250wpm)___ 440(@300wpm)
“Really great. I’m sure he’s offering Dad the promotion as we speak.”
“God, I hope so. We need this. You’re going to be going to college soon, and the raise would definitely help.”
She playfully rolled her eyes as she set the pile of dishes into the sink. “You realize I will get a full ride, don’t you?”
Her mother squeezed her shoulder. “I know, my smarty pants, I just want to make sure you have options.”
“It’s going to be great, Mom. Whatever happens. Why don’t you take dessert out to them, and I’ll do the dishes?”
A frown marred her mother’s brow. “You don’t have to do that.”
“I want to.”
“I don’t know what I did to deserve you.”
“I guess I’m just a gift,” she teased.
Her mother swatted at her before her smile softened in sincerity, and she reached out and touched her cheek. “That’s exactly what you are. A gift, my Sweet Pea.”
Her parents had called her that since she could remember, and she doubted she would ever outgrow the nickname.
Her mother grabbed the cake she’d placed on a stemmed crystal platter and drifted back out the swinging doors, and she turned her focus on the dishes, loading them into the dishwasher and wiping down the counters, before she took the exit out into the hall that would wind her back to the stairs.
Only she stalled in the hall when Frederick Winston stepped out from the guest restroom. A casual smile was on his face when he saw her, though there was something about it that left her uneasy.
Boxed in the hallway with him like this.
“Where have you been hiding?” He gave her one of his big smiles, his teeth white and straight.
She swallowed around the nerves that suddenly thickened her throat. “I just finished the dishes, and I have some studying I need to do, so I was going to head upstairs.”
His blue eyes appraised, and disquiet skittered through her nerves as his gaze drifted down her front. “That doesn’t surprise me. You seem to have your future laid out in front of you. Quite the goal to go pre-med.”
She nodded as a ripple of unrest flitted through her body. “I’m going to explore it, at least.”
His head angled, a little too deeply. “I admire that, but it’s people like you my company needs. Young adults who are smart and talented and driven. Why don’t you come intern for me over the summer and explore that as an option?”
A frown pulled tight across her brow. “I don’t—”
“I’m sure it would look good for your father to have his daughter be such an asset to the company.”
She felt his words like a trap.
An indirect threat because she knew exactly what he was implying. As if her interning should have any bearing on her father receiving the promotion.
Still, the refusal got stuck in her throat, and at her silence, he nonchalantly stuffed his hands into his suit pockets.
“What could it hurt?” He took a step back, not waiting for her answer when he said, “I’ll let your father know the good news.” He paused for one moment as he rocked back on his heels, his smile shifting to a smirk as he winked. “Sweet Pea.”
SEVEN
RIVER
“Dad, Dad, over here! Over here!” Nolan was jumping in the air, hands thrown high, his flop of dark brown curls bouncing around his adorable head. Skin pale with a dusting of freckles all over his chubby cheeks.
We were in the fenced-in backyard that was a huge expanse of green grass. Towering trees sprouted up throughout, their branches stretching wide to offer shade.
I’d put in a ton of shit for Nolan to play on, a fort, a jungle gym, and slides, but I’d left a wide section in the middle to ensure he had plenty of space to run.
I cocked back the small football, playing like I didn’t know whether to throw the pass to him or to Otto.
Otto was currently acting the fool, dancing around Nolan in a bogus bid to block him, jumping right in front of the kid and waving his meaty arms in the sky. “Pass it to me. Pass it to me.”
Nolan giggled like mad, and he gave Otto a big shove to get the brute out of his way. “No way, Uncle Otto! It’s my turn, and I’m way more faster than you! Tell him how really fast I am, Dad!”
“Hold up. Did you just have the audacity to call me slow?” Otto rasped out the faked offense, pressing a tatted hand to his massive chest. “I’ll show you just how fast I am. You’d better watch out.”
A riot of giggles poured out of Nolan as he took off running, knowing Otto was about to give chase, and immediately my little dude was coming my way, tiny feet clad in his favorite blue cowboy boots eating up the lawn.