Total pages in book: 30
Estimated words: 28111 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 141(@200wpm)___ 112(@250wpm)___ 94(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 28111 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 141(@200wpm)___ 112(@250wpm)___ 94(@300wpm)
“Excuse me?”
I shrug. “This is the right call. I’m sorry that you don’t see it that way, but it’s the truth. I called to pull the permits an hour ago. You couldn’t go ahead without my okay anyway.”
“You’re fucking pulling rank right now? Jesus, Keenan. What kind of stick do you have up your fucking ass?” Brandon yells, standing up from behind his desk. “This project is one of the most profitable ROIs we’ve ever had at the company, and you’re going to throw it away over a few old people?”
I stare him down, putting ice in my glare. “This company is doing better than ever, and we have plenty of other projects to work on. Pick another one. Any one. And we’ll revisit this project when it’s appropriate.”
Brandon shakes his head. “I heard you fucked one of those activist sluts, but I never thought that she’d actually get to you.” He looks a little guilty when he sees my face, but he doesn’t back down.
If I didn’t need him to actually go along with what I’m saying, I would have a hard time not punching him in the face right now. As it is, I’m struggling to keep my hands in my pockets from folding into fists.
“Get your head out of your ass by Monday, Brandon.”
I don’t wait to hear his response. Whatever it is, I’m not interested.
The field looks exactly the same as I remember it. Justine agreed to come away with me for a weekend, and this is a stop on the way to the coast where I plan to keep her in bed the entire weekend. But this is a nice reminder, given that I was just thinking about this the other night.
“I used to come here all the time,” I say. “I would lay in the middle of the field and just watch the stars and try to find new constellations that no one had ever found before.”
“Really?” Justine says. “How did you get here?”
I take her hand and pull her further into the field. “I’ll show you. In the evening this whole field is absolutely swarming with fireflies. Or at least it used to be. I haven’t been down here in years.”
We follow the path that I used to walk, to the tiny isolated house on the outskirts of one of the local farms. “This is it,” I say.
“What is?”
I smile. “This is where I grew up.”
Justine gazes at the small house in wonder. “You lived here? No wonder you asked if I missed the stars.”
“This was my aunt’s house,” he says. “She worked on the nearby farm and she took me in for a while when my parents weren’t able to care for me anymore. They were far more interested in their drugs and fighting each other for every cent of drug money than they were in being parents.”
“Oh my god,” she says, leaning on my arm. “I’m so sorry.”
“Don’t be,” I say. “Coming here is probably the best thing that could have happened to me. I learned what it meant to be normal and healthy. What hard work meant, and that what I had always known wasn’t the way the world had to be.
“Here, I figured out how to take control of my life. And I became determined to make it so no one could take anything from me by force again. That’s why I do what I do. The money was never about…making other people feel less. I just wanted to make sure that I never had to worry.” I smile. “It worked better than I could have hoped.”
Justine rises up on her toes and captures my mouth with hers. I kiss her back—a kiss of understanding and consolation.
“Thank you for showing me this,” she says. “It’s beautiful. I’m sorry about your aunt.”
I laugh. “Oh she’s not dead, she’s just too old to do farm work. I bought her a place in the city so it was easier for me to visit. I should go more than I do, but half the time I go she’s busier than I ever imagined she would be. I swear she’s the life of the party.”
“I think I would like her,” she says.
“I’m pretty sure that you would. I actually pay for a similar service to the one you work for to help her with her groceries. She’s still independent, and loves to do her own thing. But her eyes aren’t good enough to drive anymore, and she likes the glamour of having someone deliver her groceries. She tells me that it makes her feel like a queen.”
Justine laughs. “Which service? I probably know it. There aren’t that many of us.”
“Delovery,” I say, and I watch her face transform into shock. “What?”
“That’s where I work. What’s your aunt’s name?”
“Ellen Bassa.”
“Oh my god.” She’s laughing now. “I’ve never met her, but I’ve heard stories. You’re right, she really is the life of the party. I think that she would be best friends with my client Rose. They seem like they’d be two peas in a pod.”