Total pages in book: 51
Estimated words: 51122 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 256(@200wpm)___ 204(@250wpm)___ 170(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 51122 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 256(@200wpm)___ 204(@250wpm)___ 170(@300wpm)
My daughter, knowing the protocol, patiently waited for me to get my prosthetics into place before stepping back.
“You gotta go get your running shoes on if you’re coming,” I ordered.
She dashed out of the room to do just that, and I looked toward my wife who was smiling sleepily at me. “Love you. I’m sorry you didn’t get to run your marathon today.”
My marathon had been canceled thanks to the Corona asshole. But we’d be making it up in the fall.
“It’s okay,” I said. “It’s only gonna be a short run today. Probably just an hour.”
Her eyes smiled as she sat up and offered me her lips for a kiss.
“See you soon, gorgeous.”
She fell back onto the bed. “I’ll join you for the last thirty minutes.”
And she did. Along with Viddy on her bicycle, and Trance on his Onewheel.
“You’re going to die on that,” I told Trance.
Trance shrugged. “We all gotta die of something, loser.”
Book: I’d Rather Not
CHAPTER 21
I’ll see your hot mess and raise you a walking disaster.
-Dante to Finley
DANTE
“Are you ever going to get married?” I asked my brother. “Find a good woman who’ll keep you in line?”
Finley looked at me from the passenger side seat of the tow truck and shrugged. “When I’m ready.”
Finley had quite a few loves of his life over the last five years, but none of them had stuck. He’d actually been more inclined to wait until his daughter was out of the house to start anything serious, but the way Finley treated his girl, it was likely that she’d never move out after she graduated high school.
They were like two peas in a pod.
“Where are we going, anyway?” Finley asked. “Damn, this sucks big balls. I hate that I was laid off.”
With the price of oil and gas going so heartbreakingly high, Finley had, unfortunately, lost his job.
One good thing for him that most other oil field workers didn’t have? He had a couple of brothers who owned a company that had the openings for him to slide right into.
“There’s a repo I have to make,” I grumbled as I pulled off onto the side of the street behind a red Viper.
“This it?” Finley asked as he sat forward with excitement.
“This is it,” I said.
“You’re still doing repossessions even with all this Corona virus shit going on?” Fin asked.
“Yes and no,” I admitted as I got out and walked to the back of the car.
As I looked inside it, then confirmed the VIN numbers with the ones I’d received from the bank , I began to explain.
“I don’t do any that were just delinquent in the last sixty days since I think that’s horse shit,” I said. “This one has been delinquent for six months, so I know it’s not just because he lost his job and couldn’t pay his car note. And, the fucker’s been hiding. I just now got word he was back in town.”
Finley backed the tow truck into place, and together we loaded it onto the back of the truck.
It was only as we were strapping it down that the man came running out of the nail salon.
The nail salon.
With his nails half done.
“Wait!” he cried. “That’s my car!”
“Your car will be at the impound lot,” I said. “If you want it, make up the payments.”
“But, but, but…” He got this mean look on his face. “I couldn’t pay because of this virus! I lost my job.”
Finley snorted. “Listen, buddy. We all have bad luck. You don’t look like yours is that bad yet seeing as you’re getting your nails did. Sorry for your bad luck. Luck that has nothing to do with this virus.”
Just as Finley finished that sentence, a woman came walking down the street with four dogs. All of them were walking beautifully next to her side. But they all were staring at us as if they were waiting for us to attack their owner at any second.
“Syble!” the man cried. “They’re trying to steal my car! Call the cops!”
Syble, obviously the dog owner, shook her head as if she couldn’t quite believe what she was hearing.
“How about, Mr. Mayor, you stop being a hypocritical asshole,” Syble suggested. “While the rest of us are following stay at home orders that you set forth, we’re all slowly dying inside. Fuck off.”
With that she walked away, not sparing any of us a backwards glance.
Finley, though?
He watched her until she turned the corner.
“Maybe getting laid off isn’t such a bad thing,” Finley teased.
Book: Hail Mary
CHAPTER 22
I’m the wrong bitch to lie to because I investigate.
-Ember to Cheyenne
EMBER
“What are you doing?”
I looked up at my husband.
“I was trying to chop some wood, but then I decided that we should probably leave that to a man. Because I don’t think it’s possible for a woman to do.” I paused. “Then I decided that I needed a long drink after trying to find the axe. After that, I lay down in the grass and accidentally fell asleep.”