Total pages in book: 74
Estimated words: 73398 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 367(@200wpm)___ 294(@250wpm)___ 245(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 73398 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 367(@200wpm)___ 294(@250wpm)___ 245(@300wpm)
At least she walked in more hesitantly than the first two.
I stood there awkwardly, the door open, hoping that they’d leave.
They didn’t.
Then again, I knew they wouldn’t.
Janie was a force of nature. Janie and Kayla together were a natural disaster.
They had gotten me into more trouble when I was younger than I cared to admit—and not one single incident had been my fault.
“There we were,” Janie said. “Visiting June, who was picking up a change of clothes for her boss because there was a chemical spill at work when I spotted a familiar yellow and blue van through the trees.”
I winced.
My van was familiar. Then again, it was hard for it not to be, seeing as it was a 1960 Volkswagen van that was painted yellow and blue. It was one of a kind. There really was no mistaking it. Especially when you were there to help choose the paint colors.
Which had been why I’d started driving a nondescript black sedan around town whenever I needed to leave the house. Just for this very reason.
“I cannot believe that you didn’t tell us that you were here, Fire Crotch!” Kayla cried, throwing her hands in the air like I’d committed the ultimate sin.
I’d made it a week, which was pitiful. This town was roughly the same size as my hometown, Kilgore, and I really expected that my privacy would last a little bit longer. I was somewhat disappointed that it hadn’t.
“I didn’t tell you that I was here because I didn’t want you to know. When y’all are around me, I tend to get into trouble,” I admitted, ignoring the ‘fire crotch’ nickname that they’d been calling me since I was fourteen.
See, here’s the thing, my carpet didn’t match the drapes for one single day because of a coloring mishap gone wrong, so to speak, and since it was so obvious, it was no surprise that it caught their attention, especially since I’d been so god awful at pruning the bush in my younger years.
Let me tell you something, though. I’d gotten better about it. I had to, thanks to Janie and Kayla being complete douche bags.
Since I was sixteen, I’d learned to conceal and not feel…at least when they were around.
It wasn’t done maliciously by any means, but I was also what one would call an introvert. To the extreme.
I didn’t particularly want to do the things that they’d wanted to do. But, they were experts at executing coercive maneuvers, and I found myself being dragged into their debauchery on many an occasion.
“Listen,” I said, sounding just as tired as I felt. “I’m working. I can’t do this right now.”
Janie looked like she didn’t believe me one bit, which was only partially true.
“Maybe we should go,” the stranger suggested. “I do have to go back to work and bring Coke his clothes.”
I looked at the stranger. “Which direction did you come from?”
The neighbor pointed in the direction of my male neighbor. The man that I couldn’t stop drawing.
The same one who had to practically run away from his ex-wife yesterday when I’d seen him at the Taco Shop.
I’d gotten a lot of good gossip just by being my usual quiet self—and listening to those in the restaurant talk about the two of them. I’d learned that not very many people liked this ‘Coke’ man’s ex-wife. Interestingly, though, they also didn’t particularly care about Coke either.
But it seemed that was only because he wasn’t a nice person—or so they said.
“Oh,” I paused. “Would you mind giving your boss a note from me?”
She frowned. “Sure…”
I gifted her with a thumb up, then rushed to my drawing room where I’d left the comic that I’d drawn for him.
After seeing him with his ex-wife yesterday, I decided that I really needed to make him smile.
I’d drawn him a short, funny cartoon, and then I’d slipped it into an envelope.
I had intended to take a walk later and drop it in his mailbox, but this would work just as well, too.
It’d also gave me the excuse not to go since I didn’t particularly want to go on said walk.
I’d already taken a short walk earlier that morning down the driveway and back. That was at least a quarter of a mile each way—meaning I got a half a mile in. That was more than I usually got…
“What the hell, Cora?” Janie asked. “You didn’t tell us anything. You just thought it’d be okay to show up and hide?”
I picked the envelope up and handed it to the stranger. June? Was that what I’d heard Kayla call her?
“I’ll be sure to give him this,” June promised, sounding sincere.
“Thank you,” I paused, then stared at the two women that I knew wouldn’t leave until I at least gave them a short explanation.
“I didn’t call you because I didn’t want you to make a big deal out of the fact that I was here,” I admitted. “I’m working. I was just hired on to animate a character for an upcoming kid’s movie, so I need you to leave. I have a team meeting in about ten minutes, and I can’t miss it. It was one of the stipulations for them to allow me to live remotely and work from home.”