Total pages in book: 196
Estimated words: 186555 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 933(@200wpm)___ 746(@250wpm)___ 622(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 186555 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 933(@200wpm)___ 746(@250wpm)___ 622(@300wpm)
I answered the call and went right into it. “Mrs. Jones, it’s seven in the morning, and this is—”
“I’m in town, Aurora. Please meet me.”
And that’s why the number was local. Son of a bitch. I was still tired enough I hadn’t put two and two together. I was lucky I didn’t have anything in my mouth because I would’ve spit it out. “You’re in town where?” I pretty much demanded.
“In this… town. At the resort with the springs,” she replied, sounding totally put out by the nicest hotel in town. “I need to speak to you. Clear some things up that I think may have gotten… out of hand,” she said way too carefully compared to how she used to speak to me.
I glanced at Amos to find him staring blearily at his phone, but I knew this sneaky kid was listening.
“Please,” the older woman said, “for old times’ sake.”
“The ‘old times’ sake’ thing won’t work on me, ma’am,” I told her honestly.
Yeah, I knew that was going to go down real well with her. She was probably shooting me the middle finger in her head because she thought she was way too classy to actually do it. And to me, that just made it a hell of a lot worse.
“Please,” she insisted. “I will never contact you again if you don’t want me to.”
Liar.
The urge to hang up was still there, pulsing and pounding and telling me to move on with my life. There was nothing I wanted to hear from her mouth. But… there were things I wanted to tell her. Specific things that needed to be said so I would never have to go through this again. Speaking to them, I meant. Because ultimately, that was what I needed more than anything now. To fucking move on. To not have the Joneses hanging over my head anymore.
What I wanted was my current life. The man in bed upstairs. And I couldn’t have those things with these damn ghosts still haunting me when they felt like it.
I thought about what I knew about this woman, which was just about everything, and cursed. “Fine. There’s a restaurant on the main street that’s in walking distance. I’ll meet you there in an hour.”
“Which restaurant?”
“There’s only one open this early. The front desk can give you directions.” And it was usually busy with tourists and retired locals, so I figured it was the best place for us to meet so that she wouldn’t throw a fit. I hadn’t eaten breakfast there yet, but I drove by it every morning and knew what kind of traffic they got. It would be perfect.
“I’ll meet you there,” she said after a moment, her voice strained, and I knew this was costing her.
I rolled my eyes so well, Amos would have been proud. And the fact that he snickered cheered me up even though I didn’t look at him. He didn’t need to know I knew what he was doing.
“See you in an hour,” I said before hanging up, not bothering to wait for her to make another comment. I let out a deep breath to release the tension in my stomach. Once and for all, I told myself.
“You okay?” Amos asked.
“Yeah,” I told him. “My old mother-in-law is in town and wants to meet up.”
He yawned.
“I’m going to get ready in your bathroom and then head out,” I said. “Need anything? Why are you awake this early?”
“After Dad woke us up, I stayed up and haven’t gone to sleep yet.” He paused. “What does she want?”
“The Antichrist? I’m not sure. Either to get me to go back to work for them or….” I shrugged, not willing to say it out loud, not even thinking about what I’d admitted. That I had worked for my ex. Of all the things we’d talked about, neither father nor son had asked about what I used to do for a living. I’d told them I’d been an assistant when we’d first met, but they’d never asked for more information.
And he either didn’t care or was too tired to notice or pay attention because all he did was nod, his gaze bleary.
I cursed under my breath at what the hell I was about to do. “I won’t take too long in the bathroom, Mini Eric Clapton. If you fall asleep before I get out, I’ll see you later. Tell your dad I’ll be back.”
* * *
I got to the diner early. It was a cute, very small restaurant wedged between a retail store that had been around for over a hundred years and a real estate company. It was tourist central, even though the only people visiting this time of year were hunters from Texas and California mostly.
But I knew that everything with Mrs. Jones was a power play, and that would include getting to the diner ahead of time and picking out her seat.