Total pages in book: 74
Estimated words: 71290 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 356(@200wpm)___ 285(@250wpm)___ 238(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 71290 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 356(@200wpm)___ 285(@250wpm)___ 238(@300wpm)
Isobel finished chopping the cucumbers. I had tuned out from her story completely. I nodded at her as I finished scrubbing the potatoes pristine-clean.
“Rock sure seemed concerned about you, though,” she said, and my ears perked up.
I glanced at her. “What?”
“He kept looking back toward the kitchen like he was afraid you’d disappear or something.”
“He did?”
She nodded, scrunching up her face and making her voice deep. “I’ve seen too many kitchen fires not to worry about a drunken chef next to open flames,” she said.
“That’s a terrible impression of Rock.”
She giggled. “I thought it was pretty good.”
A small smile spread over my lips. “I’m always safe when I work with alcohol in the kitchen,” I said.
“Tell him that. He was flipping out over you.”
I turned away, my head swimming. Rock had been thinking about me, even while I was back here in the kitchen?
My phone buzzed in my back pocket.
“One sec,” I said, walking over toward the freezers and opening the message from my brother.
>>Cameron: Okay. Don’t flip out, but… yeah. Big news.
My fingers flew over the screen as I tapped out a response.
>>Perry: Spit it out, already, Cam. What’s going on?
>>Cameron: Rachel and I are getting a divorce. You’re the first person I’ve told. Please don’t tell Mom.
>>Perry: Very funny. Just tell me what it really is.
>>Cameron: I wouldn’t joke about this, Perry.
I stared at my phone for a minute, the words on the screen forming a jumble that didn’t make sense. Was I too tipsy to realize my brother was playing some elaborate prank on me?
Cameron had been married to Rachel for sixteen years. They hadn’t just been high school sweethearts—they’d been elementary school sweethearts, inseparable since third grade.
Rachel hadn’t just been a sister-in-law to me. She’d been family forever. She and Cameron had gotten married when they were just eighteen. They had three kids, my beautiful nieces and nephew who meant the whole world to me. I didn’t have a family of my own, but I was always there for Cam and Rachel and the kids.
>>Perry: This is a step too far, Cam.
>>Cameron: It’s real. Rachel’s already hired a lawyer. We’re still friendly, obviously, but… it’s happening. We’re telling the kids tomorrow.
The room was truly spinning now.
We were having an Erickson family reunion in just over a week. For God’s sake, Rachel and Cameron and I had been planning a camping excursion for this summer.
It couldn’t be real.
>>Perry: Why?
>>Cameron: We’ll talk more. Please don’t tell Mom. That’s all I’m asking. At least for this reunion, I want her to be happy. We’ll wait until afterward to tell her.
“Um… Perry?!” came Isobel’s voice from around the corner. My heart was already slamming in my chest, and a surge of adrenaline shot through me when I heard her shout.
“What is it?” I asked, rounding the corner quick to find her leaning against the sink, clutching it for dear life.
The kitchen door was still swinging shut, and there was a giant Great Dane staring up at Isobel, tongue lolling out of her mouth.
“God, you almost gave me a heart attack,” I said, letting out a long breath. I walked over toward Elsa, giving her head a big scratch.
“I know this bar is… quirky, but, um, we don’t usually have Great Danes in the kitchen, right?” Isobel asked, panic in her eyes.
“This is Elsa,” I said. “She’s one of Red’s dogs. Liam probably stopped by with the dogs while they were on a walk.”
“She’s… big,” Isobel said.
“Are you afraid of dogs?”
Her eyes were wide. “Not usually. But my dog is a pomeranian who weighs seven pounds,” she said.
Red and his boyfriend Liam popped their heads in a moment later, smiling as they saw Elsa.
“You can’t be back here, baby girl,” Red said, and Elsa immediately turned around and followed out the open door. “Sorry about that, Perry.”
“It’s okay. She didn’t grab anything back here.”
“She’s a sweetheart, Isobel,” Red told her. “But she isn’t allowed in the kitchen, usually, I promise.”
Isobel was unable to hide the terror in her eyes. “I was just surprised, not scared. Elsa seems like... a sweetie.”
“You watch horror movies over breakfast and you have skull tattoos, but you’re afraid of dogs, huh?”
“Oh, shut up,” she said. “Maybe. A little.”
Red and Liam disappeared back down the hallway.
“I need to go make a quick phone call outside,” I said. “You’ll be okay back here, right?”
“I should be.”
“Elsa wouldn’t hurt a fly. She won’t come back here again. I promise that isn’t a usual occurrence.”
Before I went outside, I took a deep breath in, letting it out slowly.
Divorce. How could it possibly be true?
One more tequila shot. I would take one more before I called Cameron. Because tonight, I freaking needed it.
Just as I was making my way out of the kitchen, my phone rang in my pocket.
“Mom?” I said, picking up the call and holding it to my ear.