Total pages in book: 102
Estimated words: 95393 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 477(@200wpm)___ 382(@250wpm)___ 318(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 95393 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 477(@200wpm)___ 382(@250wpm)___ 318(@300wpm)
“Did I not answer my phone twice?”
“That you did.” His voice is smooth. “Okay, he has an opening from six to seven.” I look over and see that it’s just a little after five. “I can be at your place in thirty-seven seconds.”
“Thirty-seven?” I shake my head.
“Thirty-five if I don’t have to do the last stop sign.” I hear the door slam on his end. “Then we can get the girls and go skating.”
“I can take them.” I look over, knowing Rain will love this.
“Already in the car and halfway there,” he states. “See you soon.”
He hangs up before I can say anything, and he wasn’t lying when he said it takes him thirty-seven seconds to get here. The doorbell rings as soon as I take the plates out of the cupboard. “Go get the door,” I tell the girls, who run to the door, and then I hear the squeals from both of them.
“Uncle Chrissy!” Luna screeches at the top of her lungs. “Mommy, Uncle Chrissy is here!” She runs into the room to tell me before running back out. I smile as I plate the girls’ dinner and then look over to see the three of them walking back into the room with Luna in Christopher’s arms. He’s wearing a black jogging suit. “Look, Mom.”
“I see.” I smile at him as he puts Luna down. “Go wash up for dinner,” I tell them, and they run into the bathroom.
“You were not lying about thirty-seven seconds.” I stay in the kitchen and watch him walk toward me.
“Smells good in here,” he compliments. “Did you tell the girls yet?”
“How much do you think I can get done in thirty seconds?” I tilt my head to the side. “I didn’t even have a chance to plate dinner.”
“I can do a lot in thirty seconds,” he states, looking at the food.
“I don’t know if you should boast about something like that.” I bite my lower lip to stop myself from laughing when his head whips up.
“Wow, walked right into that one.” The smirk fills his face.
“That you did.” I shake my head and prepare him a plate, then hand it to him.
“For the record, longer than thirty seconds,” he boasts, and I can’t help but giggle at him. He takes the plate. “What did you do today?” he asks, walking to the stool and taking it out.
“I attended a meeting with recovering addicts,” I report, and his head flies up so fast it’s shocking he doesn’t give himself whiplash. He’s about to ask me something when the girls run back into the room.
“Let’s eat,” I say, looking at the clock, “because Uncle Christopher has a surprise for you.” I look over at him, and he looks at the girls.
“You have to eat all your food.” He points at their plates. “Then I’ll tell you.” He smiles at them, his eyes lightening. He then looks at me. “You too.”
“So bossy,” I mumble, making the girls laugh as I look over and realize that he’s the only one who really expects nothing from me. Eddie expects me not to talk bad about his son. He expects me to protect his reputation. Everyone expects me to be okay and be my old self. But Christopher doesn’t expect me to be anything or say anything. He just wants to know if I need help and what he can do to help me. I then look at my flowers and put something on my list for myself.
CHAPTER NINE
christopher
“Did I do good?” Rain asks as we get off the ice. The doors to the Zamboni open for it to take the ice, and I see a couple of kids waiting to get on the ice. “I didn’t fall a lot,” she says, proud of herself.
“You didn’t,” I agree with her. “You were born to skate,” I mumble as I help Luna step up to go to the changing rooms.
“Me too?” Luna asks as she walks to where Koda sits.
“You too,” I answer her.
“Mommy, I was born to skate,” Luna repeats to her as she smiles at her. She sat behind the bench the whole time while we were on the ice. It took Luna about twenty minutes before she felt confident enough to release the metal bar. Then she fell four times in a row and took it back, but Rain got better every single time she got back up.
“I know,” she says, getting up, “the both of you did so good.”
“Next time, you could come with us,” Luna invites as we walk toward the changing room.
“Umm,” Koda hesitates, “I don’t know.”
“Can we come back,” Rain asks when she takes off her helmet, “tomorrow?”
“Whenever your mom says it’s okay.” I throw it back to Koda, who stares at me, and it looks a little like a glare.
“Let’s check our schedule,” she deflects before she squats down in front of Luna, helping her untie her skates. Rain already has hers off and is drinking the Gatorade I got them as soon as I got into the rink.