Total pages in book: 144
Estimated words: 133531 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 668(@200wpm)___ 534(@250wpm)___ 445(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 133531 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 668(@200wpm)___ 534(@250wpm)___ 445(@300wpm)
“You can use my shower,” Lydia offered immediately. “Do you have clean clothes?”
Rory made a face. “I threw clothes into the washing machine a little while ago. The alarm hasn’t gone off yet. I’ll shove them in the dryer when it does.”
Come now if possible.
That made her even happier. He was as eager to see her as she was to see him. She loved that. A part of her was a little afraid he wouldn’t still be quite as interested. She didn’t want to be a clingy, needy girlfriend. Girlfriend? She’d never been anyone’s girlfriend. She’d never let herself trust anyone to get that close to her.
I can’t make it for a couple of hours, but if you’re hungry, I can bring us takeout when I come.
“I’ll take a shower as soon as I transfer my clothes to the dryer,” Rory announced to the others. “That way, I’ll cut down on the time it will be before I can get over to see him.”
None of your homemade dinners?
Alas, without kitchen. It’s takeout or nothing. She added laughing emojis in the hopes that he would think she was teasing him.
It took him longer than normal to get back to her. At once, an uneasy feeling crept in. Maybe she shouldn’t have teased him. Gideon was uncannily perceptive, especially when it came to her.
Is everything okay? Javier mentioned you had a run-in with someone the other night.
She was right. He was much too discerning when it came to her. The alarm on her watch went off. “My clothes are ready, and I’ve got to claim the dryer before someone else tosses my clothes from the washing machine and all the dryers are taken.”
“It would be a war if that happened,” Pam declared. “No one’s ever done that to me. Has it happened to you, Rory?”
“Not here. At another place I lived, there was a woman who did it on a regular basis. She would stop washing machines and take other people’s clothing out so she could use the quarters they’d already put in the machines. Someone took all her clothes out of the dryers when they were nearly dry and put them back in the washing machines and then put all kinds of money in the machines. She was so angry. She kept trying to find out who did it.” Rory grinned at them. “She never did.”
“Didn’t they have cameras?” Lydia asked.
“Yep. She even demanded security check the footage, but it was the strangest thing. No one was on there, just white snow. She claimed it was a conspiracy and wanted to sue the owner of the apartment building.” Rory stood up and stretched. She was stiff from trying to sleep on the couch. “You really don’t mind if I use your shower, Lydia?”
“Nope. Here. Take the spare key to my apartment. That way, if you come in late tonight, you’ll still be able to get in.” Lydia tried winking, but she wasn’t very good at it.
Ellen held out her arms. Rory took the key and then turned around. “You want a piggyback ride, Miss Ellie May Rider?”
Ellen giggled and nodded her head.
“If you want to ride the horsey, you have to answer yes or no,” she persisted.
Ellen ducked her head against her mother. “Yes.”
Rory’s heart fluttered. More and more, Ellen was talking to her and the others when they implemented the tools they were given.
“I’m headed down to the laundry room. I’ll be galloping down the stairs. You’ll have to hold on tight.”
Lydia lifted Ellen onto Rory’s back, and the child wrapped her arms around Rory’s neck and clamped her knees against her ribs. Ellen giggled again and then let out a loud whoop, presumably to get Rory to gallop toward the door. She did so, making Ellen squeal with joy. Lydia started to trail after them, but Sally caught her arm.
“You stay here. She can’t always be with you. Remember, we talked about this. You don’t want her to have separation anxiety on top of everything else. I’ll go with them. Let Rory and me look after her. We’ll be right back up.”
“I think I have separation anxiety,” Lydia confessed.
Cindy had risen to her feet, and she put her arm around Lydia. “Rory and Sally have this. We’ve all been watching the videos on selective mutism and the tools for working with Ellen to help her to talk to us. You have to let us help you, Lydia. We want to help.”
Rory didn’t wait to see if Lydia was going to hang back this time. The moment Sally opened the door, she galloped through, doing her best to sound like a horse as she approached the stairs, hitting them with her shoes, clattering loudly on each tread. Sally added to the noise with her own feet, in an effort to sound more like they could be part of a herd.