Total pages in book: 96
Estimated words: 94313 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 472(@200wpm)___ 377(@250wpm)___ 314(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 94313 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 472(@200wpm)___ 377(@250wpm)___ 314(@300wpm)
“All set,” she announced, coming back into the kitchen a few moments later. She’d untwisted her hair so it fell in a long ponytail down her back. “I’m incognito.”
“You’re what now?” I asked in confusion.
“New clothes, new hair,” she explained. “Hiding in plain sight until we’re ready to let my parents know.”
“Esther, no one who knows you would ever be fooled by a different hairstyle.”
“Obviously,” she said with a scoff. “But anyone who doesn’t know me wouldn’t think I’m a fundamentalist Christian who’s run away from home, right?”
“There’s a lot to unpack in that last sentence,” I muttered, putting my boots back on. “But let’s do that in the car.”
“Aren’t you going to wear a coat?”
“In the car?” I ushered her out the door and locked it behind us. “No. Only when I’m on the bike.”
“You don’t wear a coat unless you’re riding the motorcycle?”
“I guess if it was snowin’, I would.”
“Why?”
“Don’t need one.”
“But it’s cold.”
“Not that cold.”
“It’s the middle of winter.”
“And?”
“Fine,” she huffed as I opened her door. I held back a smile as I closed her into the car. “But I’m wearing a coat. I don’t like to be cold.” She continued as soon as my ass hit the driver’s seat.
“I wouldn’t let you leave the house without one,” I assured her.
“I thought you wanted me to do whatever I wanted?” she countered.
I laughed. I couldn’t help it. I really fucking liked my wife. “Now, you’re just tryin’ to start shit.”
“I would never.”
“Bullshit.”
“I’m amiable!”
“Vocabulary words have no currency in the Mustang,” I teased, glancing at her as I backed out of the garage.
“Amiable means agreeable and friendly.”
“I know what it means.”
“Okay,” she sang like she didn’t believe me.
“Let’s go get you a phone first,” I said as we headed toward town. “You have any idea what you want?”
“Something that makes phone calls,” she replied slowly.
“Do phones even make calls anymore?”
“Very funny.”
“We’ll get you a nice one.”
“I don’t need anything fancy,” she argued.
“Nice doesn’t mean fancy.”
“Nice means expensive. I don’t need anything expensive either.”
“You need somethin’ that takes good pictures,” I said, glancing at her. “Can we agree on that?”
“What the heck am I going to take pictures of?”
I didn’t even bother replying, just reached out and put my hand on her belly.
“Oh,” she said, snorting. “Right. Yeah, that would be good.”
We were quiet the rest of the way, but I shouldn’t have expected her complacency to last. The minute we parked in front of the phone store, she started shaking her head. “Why aren’t we just getting a phone from a mini-mart like normal people?”
“Baby, this is where I have my plan.”
“Phone plans are a waste of money.”
“Not they’re not.”
“They are. They have all of those extra secret add-on charges. I don’t need something like that.”
I started laughing. I couldn’t help it. And the angrier she got, the harder I laughed.
“Esther, they take my bill out of my bank account without me havin’ to remember or fuck with it. My phone always works. I have service every-fuckin’-where. Unlimited data so I can get online without thinkin’ about it. I’m not gettin’ you some track phone from a mini-mart. It ain’t happenin’.”
“Fine,” she grumbled.
“What’s that?” I was teasing, but she wasn’t in the mood for it.
“I said, fine. Okay. We can get an overpriced phone on an overpriced plan so you don’t have to actually physically pay your bill every month.”
“That’s what you took away from my comment?”
She just stared at me. It was so fucking cute that I leaned in and planted one on her. Fortunately, we seemed to catch fire whenever we were touching and a few minutes later, the windows were beginning to fog up and Esther was in a much better mood.
“Let me get you a good one, yeah?” I asked, rubbing her cheek with my thumb. “We can buy generic shit at the grocery store to make up the difference.”
“Why in the world would you buy name brand at the grocery store?” she asked incredulously, unbuckling her seat belt. “Do you really think peas taste any different because they have a pretty logo?”
I chuckled as I got out and went around to open her door. “I don’t even like peas.”
“You’re exasperating.”
“It’s part of my charm.”
Buying a phone from an actual company store always takes forever. Swear to God, it’s like buying a car when you go in there. Even if you know what you want, the salespeople are still going to take an hour and a half fucking around with shit before you can actually pay them and get the hell out. By the time we were done, Esther was looking at me smugly and I was practically vibrating with impatience.
“I’m not going to say that I told you so,” she said conversationally as I put my hand on her back and led her toward the Mustang.