Total pages in book: 206
Estimated words: 192184 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 961(@200wpm)___ 769(@250wpm)___ 641(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 192184 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 961(@200wpm)___ 769(@250wpm)___ 641(@300wpm)
Wearing his shirt with his scent on it felt so intimate; it was almost like he was beside me and that scent was Ice Cream Parlor Hottie to me. Not the gangster, the abusive jerk, but the guy who’d kissed me like I’d never been kissed in my life, who’d smiled at me, who’d laughed at the puppy, held my hand while we walked down the beach, carried my shoes.
I fell asleep probably just before dawn, so slept late. I glanced at the small clock on Tommy’s nightstand and it was 11:30. I sat up and stretched. I got up, used the bathroom, took a shower, and put on his bathrobe, which was hanging up on the back of the bathroom door. It was just the tiniest bit damp around the collar, telling me he must’ve used it today. He must’ve showered in here while I slept. It felt too intimate wearing it. I changed my mind and got out of it, staying in just the towel while I brushed my teeth. I then dressed in more of Sarah’s clothes and made my way downstairs, finding Sarah on a stool at the kitchen island doing something on her phone, laughing.
“Hi,” I said, hesitantly.
She waved me over and showed me a picture of a bunch of old men in Speedo bathing suits with some silly caption below it. I didn’t even read what it said; I just scrunched up my nose at the image and backed away.
She cackled all the way to the coffee maker and brewed a cup for me. I watched her put in two full and then three quarters of a spoonful of sugar. Yep, the weaning off had begun. She stirred it and passed it to me.
“Today I’m going grocery shopping. Anything you fancy, let me know and I’ll add it to my list. Tell me what you like to eat. What do you want for breakfast today?”
“Nothing, I’m not hungry. And um…” I so did not want to have this conversation. It would mean I was settling in here.
“I’ll get you cereal, at least, so you have something in your stomach. I’ll get you some more clothes to wear. What do you like to eat in the mornings? What are your favorite foods? What do you like to drink?”
I was about to tell her that Tommy said my belongings were downstairs, so I didn’t need any more clothes, but her phone rang and she picked it up.
“Yes, Sir?” She mouthed the name Tommy at me.
I backed away from her and walked through the kitchen to the dining room where there were more patio doors. I took my coffee outside to the patio.
A moment later she came out. “He says I should bring you grocery shopping. We’ll go after your coffee and breakfast. He had this delivered for you.”
She passed me an Apple iPhone box. The shrink-wrap was loose. I put it on the table and held my lips tight together.
“What do you want to eat? I’ll make you something. At least have some cereal? Open it. There’s a message.”
“Cereal’s fine; thanks.”
She disappeared into the house.
There was a black iPhone and when I turned it on, there was a text message alert. I opened the text, which said it was from “T”.
“Keep this phone with you at all times in case I need to reach you. It only dials to me and won’t make any other calls. I’ll be home @10-11. Behave.”
I said ‘whatever’ aloud then I put it down. I liked my phone. I didn’t know where my phone even was. Why did I have to use this phone? I wanted to throw it in the pool accidentally-on-purpose.
Sarah came out with a bowl of cereal for me.
“Sugar Crisp?” I asked.
She smiled. “Is that okay?”
I hadn’t had a bowl of Sugar Crisp since my mom walked the earth. I started to bawl. Hard. Ugly cry. She sat down and wrapped her arms around me and let me howl it out. Damn, but it felt good to wail. I think I went on for fifteen minutes until I was doing that stuttered breathing thing. She just let me. She just sat with me and patted my back and stroked my hair and let me cry it out. She was about the age Mom would’ve been if she hadn’t died. God, I missed having a mother.
Rose was amazing and I’d had some other amazing women help raise me, but I really, really wanted my mom. Mom wouldn’t have let Dad sell me to the mafia. If that’s what he’d done.
By the time I let her go, my cereal had gone soggy. She got me another bowl, telling me that she always kept it on hand because it was Tommy’s favorite. I told her through the last of the tears that I wouldn’t hold that against the Sugar Crisp and she laughed at me and rubbed big circles around my back with her palm. Mom used to rub my back like that.