Total pages in book: 73
Estimated words: 67465 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 337(@200wpm)___ 270(@250wpm)___ 225(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 67465 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 337(@200wpm)___ 270(@250wpm)___ 225(@300wpm)
I like storms.
Just not so much when I have a fifteen-mile walk back to Nanny’s house and a few miles to go in the other direction.
The first drops hit my head a few minutes later, gentle when they come down, almost reluctant, but then the clouds give an ominous rumble and let loose with a what the fuck ever downpour that drenches me on contact. I hate the feel of wet clothes, specifically wet jeans, but wet sneakers might top that one. I’m soaked through, glad that my phone is at least water-resistant and is still telling me that I have less than a mile to go.
I break into a run, letting it guide me to make rights and lefts off of sidewalks as I bolt through the worst of the downpour. It’s not a warm rain, and with the combination of the stiff wind gusting, my teeth are chattering as I crest the last block.
My phone tells me that the destination is two hundred meters ahead on my right. I know that by now, since not much has changed in the mid-sized split level since I last saw it. None of the lights are on, which makes sense given that it’s now three in the morning. I race around to the back, bypassing yellow siding and stucco. There’s no fence, and I know exactly where Remi’s room is, compliments of having to literally go into the house on more than one occasion to convince Kimmy it was time to go when I picked her up. Or at least I did know where it was. Hopefully, it hasn’t changed.
The backyard is exactly the way it used to be, so that gives me hope that there hasn’t been a switch-up. The bushes are thicker and the trees taller, but the deck, the location of the barbeque, and the sprawling rock garden that Remi and Kimmy never understood are still the same. I kind of like it. It’s charming, with different sizes of rocks surrounding a small angel statue.
I choose a pebble and turn to face Remi’s window. This always works in the movies, and I’m so drenched that I’m not above giving it a go.
I let the tiny little stone fly. It hits the window with a bang that sounds more like a boulder was just hurled at the house, and it promptly cracks the window in four different directions.
“Shit!” Yup. That’s just about the sum of my luck right there, laid out all neat and clear.
I can’t very well run off since I have to at least offer to pay for the damage. I’m considering ringing the doorbell to explain myself and apologize when a light clicks on. A set of big, wide, fearful blue eyes peek over the frame, and then Remi’s whole head appears. She slides the window open carefully, dubious of the damage.
“Van? What on earth are you doing out there?” She blinks sleepily, and her eyes shift to the sky, then back to my sodden figure. “It’s pouring, you know?” Her hair is tousled all over the place. Sleep looks good on her. Almost as good as the loose-fitting cami top she’s wearing that outlines her…never mind. Not going there right now.
“I can see that.” I can feel it too. At the last mile, my shoes decided to make the worst squishy farting noises back at me as I pounded over the pavement. “I’m sorry about the window. I sure as shit didn’t expect to wreck it. I’ll pay for it. I’m an idiot.”
Remi folds her arms on the sill. Her bedroom’s on the main floor, so not very high up. Only about a six-foot distance from the ground. “Why didn’t you just ring the bell?” She leans a little further out, and the way her arms are folded pushes up her breasts in the top. I have to force myself to look away before I get caught staring there.
“It’s the middle of the night.”
“Oh, right. I guess it is.” She pauses. “Do you want to come in? You must if you were throwing stones at my window. Why are you here anyway?” Her eyes widen. “Did you walk all this way in the rain?”
“Well, technically, it only started raining at the end of the walk.”
“That’s fifteen miles! How on earth did you come all this way? Why did you come all this way?” A bolt of lightning blazes across the sky, illuminating the dark storm clouds overhead and pretty much the whole backyard along with it. The crack of thunder is so loud that I throw my hands over my ears. Remi lets out a soft scream and ducks down, then pops back up, looking embarrassed. “You need to get in here before you get fried on the spot.”
“I…” Why did I come all this way? Was it to talk to her? To thank her for that hug? To say something, anything, because there is so much I need to get out, and I feel like maybe she’s the one who I can tell it to?