Total pages in book: 76
Estimated words: 76609 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 383(@200wpm)___ 306(@250wpm)___ 255(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 76609 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 383(@200wpm)___ 306(@250wpm)___ 255(@300wpm)
“That’s convenient,” I murmured.
My cell phone vibrated, and I pulled it out without looking at the display.
“Hey do you want…” I held up my finger and then put the phone to my ear.
“Hello?” I answered.
“Who was that?” My daughter asked rudely.
I rolled my eyes to the ceiling and raised my hand so I could pinch the bridge of my nose.
“That would be my neighbor,” I said. “How are you, baby?”
“There isn’t any school tomorrow, and I was wondering if you could give me a ride to the mall,” Attie said snottily.
I looked out the kitchen window, saw that the snow was still coming down, and promptly said, “No.”
“Why not?” She challenged.
“Because you don’t need to be going out in this. Nobody knows how to drive in it, and I don’t see any reason to risk your life so you can go shop at the mall.”
“Mom said I could,” Attie snapped.
“Well, your mom,” I said patiently. “Doesn’t work in the emergency services field. She’s a checker at the grocery store two doors down from your house. She doesn’t see what I see when the roads get bad and people unnecessarily travel on them.”
My daughter, my sweet baby girl, had developed a deep seated hate for me, and I didn’t know why.
And this rude, mean thing wasn’t my kid.
This was Constance’s doing.
Constance was a pain in my fucking ass, as well as being very high maintenance. She also had that poor, pitiful me attitude.
There were times, like right now, that I wanted to point to this person she’d turned our daughter into so I could show her how stupid she was.
Still is.
When I’d been there, Attie had been a wonderful, sweet, caring little girl.
Now she was…whatever the hell she was.
Annoying was what I liked to call it.
“I hate you,” Attie promptly hung up.
“Well, that went well,” I muttered darkly.
I looked up to find Aspen’s eyes on me.
They didn’t look sad or even sympathetic. They looked almost aggravated. Angry.
“Was that your ex?” She asked.
I shook my head.
“No,” I pushed my phone back into my pocket. “That was my daughter.”
“Your daughter said she hated you?” She gasped.
“Yep.”
Chapter 7
To really get to know a person, you should get them to use a computer with dial-up internet to get a good judge on their character.
-Aspen’s secret thoughts
Aspen
Dinner had been nice.
I’d burned it a little bit, but as long as you didn’t scoop too deep, it was fine.
What wasn’t fine, however, was the way Drew was still…sad.
He looked almost defeated since his daughter had phoned.
“Do you want to play cards?” I wiggled my brows.
He looked at me strangely.
“What kind?” He held out his hand.
I handed him the deck, and he grinned at the picture of my cat that was on the front of it.
“Those are cute,” he grinned.
I nodded.
“They are. I got them for free,” I informed him. “I’m a product tester. My blog is a women’s lifestyle blog. I discuss everything from romance novels to consumer products aimed at women. I have a pretty large following, and I kind of got into product testing, now, too.”
“Like what?” He wondered. “What was the weirdest thing you ever tested?”
I pursed my lips.
“I get weird things all the time,” I pursed my lips. “But the most recent one was this little device that allows women to pee standing up.”
His mouth twitched.
“How’d that work out?” He wanted to know.
I shrugged.
“I read some previous reviews, luckily, and tried mine out in the shower the first time. However, the first time I tried to use it while wearing pants, I ended up peeing all over myself,” I admitted. “Which was one of the things I mentioned in my review.”
“Do you still use it?” He asked, shuffling the cards loudly.
I shook my head. “No,” I admitted. “I don’t have much use for it. I’ve never gone anywhere that didn’t have a restroom.”
“Never?” He asked.
I shook my head. “Never.”
“Not hunting?” He wondered.
Another shake of my head.
“Nope,” I said. “Dad was a little busy with his empire, and I didn’t rate on his scale of people that he wanted to spend time with.”
“When’s the day you get out of your prison?” He indicated the walls of my house.
“I have two more months before they’ll review my case for early release. It’s kind of like being on a probationary period for probation,” I sighed. “Then I get re-evaluated, and if I’m a good girl, I might get released. I was told that early release rarely ever happens, though. So it’s likely that I will have five more months.”
I nodded. “I sometimes want to put one of those on my daughter.”
I shot him a look.
“Don’t,” I blurted. “This is the best time of her life and she doesn’t even realize it. She’ll forever have these memories to fall back on…to wish that this time in her life was still her present instead of her past.” I continued. “When I was sixteen, I had the best of all worlds. My brothers loved me. My parents loved me. I was sheltered from everything that could ever do me harm. All my bills were paid, and the only thing I had to worry about was what to wear to school the next day that would make my boyfriend want to kiss me.”