Total pages in book: 59
Estimated words: 59671 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 298(@200wpm)___ 239(@250wpm)___ 199(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 59671 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 298(@200wpm)___ 239(@250wpm)___ 199(@300wpm)
Elliot thinks for a minute. “You need to think like a fourteen-year-old boy.”
I frown. “What do you mean?”
“What would have motivated you when you were fourteen?”
I think for a moment, a new plan comes into mind and I smirk. “That’s it.” I slap him hard on the back. “That’s fucking it.”
Elliot chuckles. “Are you thinking what I’m thinking?”
“You bet I am.”
I drive up the long winding driveway toward our house and I catch sight of something magnificent in the field, I pull the car to a stop as I stare on in awe.
The sun is slowly setting over the mountain, the meadows are dancing with colors of gold. Eddie is driving the tractor and Hayden is sitting up on the back behind him with the two puppies. They are laughing and talking and having the absolute time of their lives. Every now and then the puppies will bark and Hayden and Eddie roar in laughter at what must be the funniest joke of all time.
They don’t see me, but every cell in my body sees them.
I can feel the happiness as it oozes from their souls.
This farm, these people, this life.
It’s perfect, where the three of us belong.
Together.
I couldn’t ask for a happier place to live…for Eddie to call home.
I know it’s not Spain and I know we have so many more hurdles to cross but between the three of us, there is so much love.
I watch them until they disappear over the hill, they still haven’t seen me and probably won’t be back to the house for hours. This is what they do here, disappear into god knows where.
I make my way up to the house and walk in to see Sylvester and Minnie, our cats, lying in front of the fire, stretched out and sleeping like logs.
I stare at them all relaxed like. “Dare I ask if you two wild beasts caught any mouses today?”
I frown as I mouth the word.
Mouses.
“Mice, did you two catch any mice today?”
They keep sleeping.
“Everybody is working in this house to keep the wheels running except you two,” I tell them as I kick off my shoes and take off my jacket. “You better start pulling your weight around here or that’s it. No more fire and no more free meals.”
I drop a cushion off the couch onto the floor beside them.
“Because if we get lice and we have to burn the house down then I’m leaving you two inside it.” I lie down on the floor beside them in front of the fire with my head on the cushion.
Sylvester looks up as if just realizing I’m home and gets up and walks over and sits on me. “I’m not a chair you know?” I tell him.
I scratch his chin and he purrs and closes his eyes, relaxed and living the life of a king.
It brings a smile to my face; these cats couldn’t catch a mouse if their lives depended on it.
“Maybe you’ll have to start cooking instead.”
Hayden
Knock, knock, sounds at the door.
Eddie’s new tutor is here, I bound down the stairs and stop on the spot when I see who is at the door.
A Spanish bombshell, curvy and gorgeous and in her late twenties, she’s wearing a long black pencil skirt and tight-fitting sweater blouse, her long dark hair is out and full and she has a real Sofía Vergara vibe.
A walking sex bomb.
“Hello, my name is Lucia. I’m here to see Eddie. I’m his new teacher.”
I stare at her, shocked to my core…
What are you going to teach him?
Eddie’s eyes widen as he stares at her. “I’m…I ’m…I’m…Eddie,” he stammers as he points to his chest.
I roll my lips to hide my smile at his reaction to her.
Christopher Miles…you snake.
“Come in.” I smile.
“Do you…do you want a drink or something?” Eddie offers her at a million miles per minute.
“That would be lovely. Thank you, Eduardo.” She smiles calmly, it’s obvious that every male she meets would have this reaction to her.
Eddie smiles goofily up at her and then his eyes flick to me to make sure I’m seeing this too.
Diabolical.
“Let’s just get to know each other today, Eddie,” she says. “Maybe you could show me around your farm.”
Eddie’s eyes widen with excitement. “Su…sure,” he gasps, his eyes flick to me and then back to her and then back to me, he’s so excited that he doesn’t know where to look.
Over the next two hours I watch on as Eddie hangs off every word that comes out of Lucia’s mouth. He took her for a drive on the tractor and has been explaining everything about our farm and animals to her in great detail. Which I’m really pleased about because she can now see how switched on he is.
She’s kind and thoughtful and he is already so much more engaged than he was with his last teacher.