Total pages in book: 79
Estimated words: 76713 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 384(@200wpm)___ 307(@250wpm)___ 256(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 76713 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 384(@200wpm)___ 307(@250wpm)___ 256(@300wpm)
“I wouldn’t say insufferable,” August said. “You’re… passionate.”
“Then why call me a pain in the ass?”
“Because you are,” he said, smiling. “Two things can be true at the same time.”
“Right. Like you being halfway decent but also a dick.”
“Exactly,” he agreed, still smiling. Which was irritating. “Oh, snickerdoodle, you’re gonna have to do better than that if you want to get a rise out of me. I grew up with four brothers; I’ve heard a lot worse.
“I mean, they have so much material to work with,” I teased, but this time, I was smiling too.
Do you ever consider that you’re just prickly in an attempt to keep people away who are too sensitive to be in your inner circle?
My father said that to me once.
And, you know, it was valid. Even if I, yes, prickled at the suggestion.
“That they do,” he agreed. And, damn him, you had to appreciate a man who was capable of owning up to his flaws.
“Angel, your phone keeps lighting up,” Aurelio called, making me jump to my feet, thinking it was the hospital. That my father was awake.
Hope swelled, a weightless, easily deflated thing.
I learned this when I reached for my phone and saw Sheryl’s number there.
“I’m okay,” I answered, knowing she would have seen the store when she came by for her usual morning coffee after she fiddled in the garden for a few hours.
“Oh, my God!” Sheryl exhaled. “What happened?”
“The shop was closed for the night. I was in the back getting ready to do some baking. And… they broke in.”
“Did they… are you okay?”
“I’m fine.”
“Physically,” she clarified.
“Yeah,” I agreed, aware of eyes on me and ears tuned to me.
“Emotionally…”
“Hanging in. My father—“ I started, but got a head shake from Aurelio and a cut-it-out motion from August.
“He’s got to be furious!” Sheryl said, saving me from having to backpedal.
“Yeah, we don’t know what is going on,” I said.
“Are you safe? Are you home?” she asked.
“Yes and no,” I said. “We figured that, for the time being, it might not be smart for me to be at my house.”
“I get that. So long as you’re safe. What about your cameras? Didn’t you catch them?”
To that, I sighed. “No. They were tampered with.”
“Those bastards,” Sheryl grumbled.
“Yeah. I’ll figure it out and get back on my feet, though,” I assured her. I wasn’t exactly rolling in money, but I could get by with the shop being closed for a week or two.
“Of course you will. No one can keep your stubborn ass down.”
“Exactly,” I agreed, but I suddenly had the urge to crawl into bed, and not come out again for several weeks. “You should make other plans for your berries, though,” I told her.
“I hate that, but we can’t let them go to waste.”
“No,” I agreed. “Hey, you be safe out there, okay? These guys… they… you don’t want to fuck with them, okay?”
“Okay,” she agreed. “I promise.”
“If she’d seen or heard anything, she would have mentioned it,” I said, turning my ringer back on in case the hospital called. “So, what’s the plan for today?” I asked, looking between them.
“Depends on you,” August said. “What are some of your local haunts or places you go to talk to people?”
“The farmer’s market, but it’s not open today. Ah, the soup kitchen. The halfway house…”
“Angel, you really are making the rest of us seem like slackers with all the do-gooding,” Aurelio said, shaking his head at me.
“Just doing my part,” I said, shrugging it off.
Though, honestly, I wasn’t just doing my part. I was doing my father’s part too. Some part of me felt guilt about him taking bribes from the very people who were tearing our community apart. I kind of did what I could to try to… undo some of that damage.
“Why don’t you and August hit one of your places?” Aurelio suggested. “I am going to see someone our Family knows about the local crews,” he said. It clearly came as a surprise to August too, judging by the way his brows were pinched.
“Yeah. Let me just change into clean clothes,” I said, getting up, and making my way into the bedroom, knowing the boys wanted to do some super secret mafia dude talking.
Maybe I should have felt left out, but I had to accept that there were parts of their life that I wasn’t going to be able to know about, even if this whole situation had to do with me.
I changed into some yoga pants and a fresh tee, then made my way back out to find Aurelio gone, and August waiting for me.
“Where to first?” he asked.
“The grocery store.”
“The… why?” he asked.
“Because there’s no reason for me to show up at the soup kitchen or the halfway house randomly in the middle of the day unless I am bringing something to drop off.”