Total pages in book: 75
Estimated words: 71647 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 358(@200wpm)___ 287(@250wpm)___ 239(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 71647 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 358(@200wpm)___ 287(@250wpm)___ 239(@300wpm)
For the next hour or so, Ezra charmed and delighted everyone with his over-the-top posturing and his hip-hop-style Renaissance lingo. He peppered words like “alas, thine, thee, thou, and me thinkest” with Shakespearean quotes. I was stumped when he quoted, “Uneasy lies the head that wears the crown,” or “Heat not a furnace for your foe so hot that it do singe yourself.”
A few of my fellow HRS enthusiasts clapped at his impromptu performance. Winston’s high five was too low, Val’s pat on the back was a tad aggressive, and Presley’s squeal of delight almost split my eardrums. Ezra wasn’t even in costume and he was a star.
He was, dare I say…perfect.
And he genuinely seemed to enjoy himself. He didn’t have to show up at all and he could have left at any time, but he helped assemble a set, read lines with Queen Elizabeth, and pitched in to clean up the pizza debris. And when Val called the meeting to an end, he insisted on staying to help me take the trash out and lock up.
Val handed over the keys and ushered the rest of the crew through the main exit. I waved, feeling self-conscious and more aware of Ezra now that we were alone.
“You really don’t have to stay. I’ve done this dozens of times,” I said, tying a knot on the trash bag.
“Alone? That’s not smart, genius. I’ve listened to too many murder podcasts lately and let me tell you, there are sick-ass fucks out there. They solved a cold case from the seventies recently where a nineteen-year-old girl was taking out the garbage from the store she worked at in the mall…never to be heard from again. Her body was found five miles away and it wasn’t pretty. The killer had—”
“Okay. That’s enough,” I scowled, kicking him in the shin when he snickered like a fool.
“Sorry. I listen to too many true-crime podcasts.” He picked up the trash bag and followed me to the exit. “People really do suck. I love the cold case files where the bad guys get nabbed after thinking they’d gotten off scot-free.”
“Is that why you want to be a lawyer? To have a hand in putting crooks away?”
“Abso-fucking-lutely. But I’ll be dealing with corporate crooks, not murderers. I don’t think I could deal with that kind of evil. There’s plenty of malice in corporate law, but usually no blood and guts.”
“Why corporate law?”
“Cha-ching, baby. The money is good and I’m a greedy bastard.” He gave a wry smile as he tossed the garbage into the large bin next to a cinder block wall covered in ivy.
“You don’t seem like the greedy type to me.”
“Everyone is a little greedy, Holden. I don’t care about fancy cars or owning a big house on the beach, but I’d like some freedom and peace of mind. And I want to right some wrongs. I can do that practicing law.” He nudged my arm. “What about you? I know you love science, but why teach when you could make money looking for micro bugs and combatting diseases?”
I gazed up at the night sky thoughtfully. “Because education is the key to discovery. I want to learn as many secrets of the universe as possible and pass them along. In a university setting, I have the best of both worlds…I explore and share.”
Ezra glanced to the heavens. “If I took your class, would I learn how to tell the difference between a planet and a star?”
I grinned. “Hopefully, you’d know the difference beforehand, but…sure.”
“Oh, let’s see…I might know a couple.” He pointed at a bright dot above us. “That’s Uranus, right?”
“You had to go straight for Uranus,” I sighed.
Ezra howled. “Of course I did.”
“Well, if you’re actually curious, that’s Saturn. You can’t see Uranus with the naked eye.”
“I have definitely seen your anus with my naked eye,” he quipped, throwing his hands in the air in surrender before draping an arm over my shoulders. “I can’t help it. You’re the one lobbin’ softballs, baby.”
I chuckled, too enamored with the feel of his warmth, the deep rumble of his voice, and the way he called me baby to chide his silliness. “I should know better.”
“Mmhmm.” He squeezed me affectionately. “I give up. How can you tell the difference between a planet or a star?”
“Stars twinkle, planets don’t,” I replied. “Planets don’t emit light, they reflect it. But stars are balls of gas, like the sun. The light from a star bounces and bends as it moves to us through the atmosphere, so it appears twinkly or wobbly.”
“Huh. That’s interesting.”
“It is.” I opened my arm in a wide arc. “Everything out there is moving, changing, shifting. Nothing is stagnant. Same as on Earth. It’s tempting to think of ourselves as observers of a greater picture, but the truth is…we’re part of the picture. We’re a microcosm of something far bigger than we can comprehend.”