Total pages in book: 94
Estimated words: 89224 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 446(@200wpm)___ 357(@250wpm)___ 297(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 89224 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 446(@200wpm)___ 357(@250wpm)___ 297(@300wpm)
As I finish the lasagna and salad, I wait for Emma to message, but after forty-five minutes with no word from her, I grab my cell and call her number.
“Miles?” she answers on the second ring. “Is everything okay?”
“Are you home?” I ask, and the call goes quiet.
“Umm… yes,” she answers, sounding confused.
“You didn’t message.”
“Oh,” she mumbles. “I know it’s late, and I didn’t want to bother you.”
“I’m the one who told you to message me, Em,” I remind her, unable to hide my frustration, and the phone goes quiet once more. “Em?”
“Sorry, you’re right. I’m home.”
Jesus. I grit my teeth in annoyance, but not because I’m annoyed with her. Actually, I’m annoyed with myself for wanting to figure out what the fuck all that is about.
“Um, was there anything else?” she whispers after a long moment.
“No, that’s it. Get some sleep.”
“You too. ‘Night, Miles.” She hangs up, and I carry my cell with me to my room, lock my gun away in the safe bolted in the drawer of the nightstand, get undressed, and then head for the shower. Lying in bed sometime later, I stare at the ceiling, my mind going over that phone call with Emma and attempting to figure out why it’s bothering me so much. But I come up with no answer before I fall asleep.
“Dad, I have to call Emma!” Winter yells, running out of her room where she just disappeared two minutes ago to go brush her teeth and get dressed for the day.
“I’m sure she’s sleeping, Win. You can call her later,” I say, distracted by the message I just got from my sergeant. It states that tomorrow, Martinez and I need to get in touch with Officer Ceding from the state police, that he will fill us in on the status of Grace and Anna’s case, and we will go from there.
“But she forgot her watch.” She drops a watch with a digital screen on top of my cell in my hand. Picking up the watch, the screen lights up. The photo on the front is one of Emma alone on a beach with her legs tucked up to her chest and her eyes on the sun that is setting. There is something profoundly sad about the photo, even with how beautiful she is.
Exiting out of the message I was reading, I dial Emma’s number as Winter watches, and it rings three times before she picks up, sounding breathless.
“Miles?”
“Em.”
“Emma!” Winter shouts, grabbing my arm, bringing the phone down to her level, and hitting the Speaker button. “You forgot your watch.”
“Oh, darn. I must have forgotten to put it back on last night after helping you with the water for your bath.” She sighs, then adds, “Can you hold onto it for me, and I’ll get it the next time I see you guys?”
“What are you doing today?” I ask, figuring we can drop it off to her while we’re out running errands this afternoon.
“Um, I’m….” She pauses, then says softly, “Eli messaged early this morning and asked if he could have the apartment back, so I’m packing. Do you need me to keep Winter? She can hang out here with me, and I’ll—”
“He wants you to move out of your apartment?” I ask slowly, cutting her off, because I’m sure I heard her wrong.
“Well, I moved in with him, so it’s his apartment.”
“That’s fucked up, Emma.”
“Bad word coin, Dad,” Winter tells me, and I look down at my daughter and take the call off speaker, putting it to my ear.
“Why can’t he find a new place?” I ask.
“I told him I would move out if he wanted the apartment back.”
“Of course you did.”
“Pardon?”
“Where are you gonna stay?” I ask instead of clarifying.
“I talked with Miranda, and since she’s not staying at her place even though she still has her lease, I’m going to stay there for now.”
“Winter and I will come over and help you pack,” I decide.
“Miles, that’s not necessary.”
Of course it’s not. I’m understanding pretty quickly that nothing with her is necessary, and she doesn’t expect shit from anyone but will bend over backward to make sure everyone else is okay.
“Message your address. We’ll be over in forty-five minutes.”
“Miles—”
“See you soon.” I hang up before she can argue, then look down at Winter. “Go—” Before I can finish saying “get ready,” she’s skipping to her room.
CHAPTER 10
emma
“Yours or his?” Miles asks, and I lift my head and look across the room to the kitchen, where he’s been packing since we finished the coffee and doughnuts, he and Winter brought with them.
My gaze moves from his face to the blender he’s holding. “It can stay.”
“Is it yours, or is it his?” he asks, sounding frustrated, and I focus on him once more.
“It was mine. I bought it for blending up tomatoes for sauce, but Eli is the one who used it most often, because he didn’t like Italian food. Or more accurately, he didn’t like having indigestion from the tomato sauce, so I never really used it,” I ramble, then flinch when he chucks it unceremoniously into the box of my stuff on the floor.