Total pages in book: 80
Estimated words: 78364 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 392(@200wpm)___ 313(@250wpm)___ 261(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 78364 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 392(@200wpm)___ 313(@250wpm)___ 261(@300wpm)
“Oh, I know. That first winter you gave up and lay down on the sidewalk.”
“Are you kidding? Do you not remember what happened?”
I remembered it like it was yesterday.
“I spent four fucking hours digging that car out of the goddamn snow, and that motherfucking piece-of-shit snowplow driver comes along and buries me and the fuckin’ car all over again! It was the end of the world.”
I was laughing again. I couldn’t help it.
“And I hated that car too!”
“Because it was a Gremlin.”
“Because it was a fuckin’ Gremlin!”
The vision of him, throwing up his arms, saying game over, doing his best Bill Paxton impression from Aliens, and then lying down on the newly snow-covered sidewalk, making angels, made me smile like an idiot. “You remember? People kept stepping around and over you,” I reminded him, chuckling. “And I had to tell the concerned police officer that came by that, ‘yes, sir, he is okay.’”
He had to walk away from me for a moment, and while I adjusted my T-shirt, only then did I notice we were alone.
“Hiccups are gone,” I pointed out.
“If I were a cop in Chicago, I would ticket the shit out of those snowplow guys.”
“I’m sure you would,” I agreed as he helped me with the brace, then the sling, and finally tied the cardigan around my waist and passed me my Apple watch. “Okay, let’s go.”
I noted that he said nothing about Hayden being gone.
It was Josette and her two kids, Angie and her three, Shae and her three, Keith, Meredith, and Stella, and me and Bodhi going to Pike Place Market. Hayden was going to go, but I heard Bodhi stress to him that he would have a crappy time with us, and Bodhi would have a crappy time golfing. It was best for everyone to do what they wanted. That was what vacations were supposedly about. In the end, I could only assume Hayden found his logic sound.
We were there before noon on a cloudy day, and it wasn’t cold at all, but there were so many more people than I anticipated. And that was dumb, I should have known better, it was a world-famous indoor/outdoor market, but still. It was crazy. Since my idea of fun was not to get my shoulder bumped every five seconds, Bodhi took my bad side, and Stella got my good one and my hand. Honestly, I thought people wouldn’t care and would simply mow the little girl down, and I was ready to yell, a lot, but everyone was careful of the seven-year-old, just as we were of other kids. The jostling was endless, but it wasn’t like Chicago, where I wanted to turn and deck someone. It didn’t hurt that Angie, walking with her kids in front of me, Stella, and Bodhi, sort of plowed the road. She didn’t move for anyone.
“I’m from Boston,” she informed me. “I’m not screwin’ around.”
The first thing we saw—that Angie had seen once and proclaimed being one too many, plus she didn’t feel like carrying her four-year-old down the stairs—was The Gum Wall.
“What?” I asked, a bit horrified.
“You’ll see,” she assured me with a shudder.
It turned out to be precisely what it sounded like: a brick wall with gum stuck to it in every color imaginable. All I could think about was the germs, and that kind of stuff normally didn’t cross my mind.
Thomas, who had come with me, wanted to touch it, and I strictly forbade that. Stella, like me, thought it was disgusting. Bodhi gave us the facts, because he did that, and explained that it had been cleaned off once in 2015.
“Can we be done?” I asked, and apparently I was amusing the hell out of everyone, not just those in our party, as others around us laughed along.
Upstairs, Angie called me over and told me to call her phone.
“Why?”
“I want your number so I can call and talk to you when I get home or send you stuff on TikTok.” She stared at me, waiting, as if daring me to do anything but answer in the affirmative. “Is that all right?”
“Yeah, that’s all right.” I couldn’t help smiling at her as I dialed her number.
“Okay, excellent,” she said, lifting her phone to snap a picture of me scowling at her. “And look at that, I’ve captured your true essence with this shot.”
“You’re an ass,” I made known.
Cackling, she stepped closer. “And even if my brother and Bodhi don’t work out, we’re going to stay friends. Yes?”
“Oh, it’ll work out.”
She tipped her head slightly. “We’ll see. Either way, I’m keeping you. I haven’t met anyone I’ve liked this much in years.”
I grunted.
“And you?” she prodded.
“Yeah, fine. Whatever.”
She laughed, and I put my arm around her shoulders and squeezed.
“Oh, Jed,” she said with a sigh. “I love this long-suffering thing you’ve got going, but you’re not fooling anyone.”