Total pages in book: 132
Estimated words: 125213 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 626(@200wpm)___ 501(@250wpm)___ 417(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 125213 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 626(@200wpm)___ 501(@250wpm)___ 417(@300wpm)
I met Otis at an Ospreys game last year when he was honored as our season ticket holder of the game. He’d been one ever since the organization was founded, and we hit it off quickly when he came to the locker room for pictures and to get autographs from the team.
When I was leaving the stadium that night, walking over to my condo, I noticed him as I approached the building. Stubborn old man had walked from the arena after the game, too, and it’d taken him so long to walk that I’d had time to have our game debrief, shower, and answer interviews and still caught up to him.
I’d walked him the rest of the way home, pleasantly surprised to find that he was my neighbor just a few doors down. Since then, he’d sort of… stuck. It was like I’d fed a stray cat and now he’d just show up on my doorstep from time to time wondering what was for dinner.
I’d never admit it to him or anyone else, but I liked his company.
And I forced him to let me help him, whether he liked it or not.
I listened to him charming Mia with a smile on my face as I moved his outdoor chairs and couch inside, pushing the furniture as much out of the way as I could. He had a few plants on his balcony, too, and I made sure to collect them before I shut the sliding glass door. It wasn’t raining too hard just yet, but the wind was already picking up, and the last thing anyone needed was this old man’s furniture or plants becoming projectiles in this storm.
I shook off the bit of rain that had gathered on me, taking off my shoes and setting them aside as I made my way toward where Otis and Mia were in the kitchen. Otis was regaling Mia with a story of his sailing days.
But Mia’s eyes were on me.
I thought she looked even less likely to stab me in my sleep now, her gaze soft and curious, head tilted just a bit to the side. I offered a small tilt of my lips, and as soon as I did, she blinked, her expression hardening as she turned back to Otis and dutifully ignored me as I approached them.
So much for progress.
“What are you doing now, you rascal?” Otis asked as I opened his pantry.
“Making sure you have enough food and water should we lose power for a few days and be trapped by flood waters.”
“Oh, I’ve been in Florida for most my life,” he said, batting the air with both hands. “We’ll be just fine.”
“Maybe. But just in case, always best to be prepared. Right, boy scout?” I patted him on the head as I passed, Mia chuckling a bit as the old man growled at me and swung too slow to actually hit me.
“Impossible, this one,” he muttered to Mia. I noticed he’d poured them each a glass of brandy, and a tumbler of scotch waited for me beside them. “Doesn’t know how to leave this old man alone.”
“Like you don’t show up at my place like a lost puppy nearly every other night during the offseason.”
“I’m bored without hockey. You’re a last resort to cure that boredom.”
“It’s okay to say you love me, Otis.”
“Love you like a thorn in my backside.”
But he smiled as he said it before he was back to charming Mia with more tales of his worldly travels.
On inspection, I found Otis did have a pretty decent amount of nonperishable food to get by, as well as a case of water. He did not, however, have a lantern or any kind of flashlight. After a quick jog down the hall to my place, I supplied him with a couple of mine, filled his bathtub with water just in case, and only then did I accept the liquor with my name on it.
“Cheers, old sport,” I said, tapping his glass with mine. “M’lady,” I said to Mia as I tapped hers.
She was still watching me with equal parts suspicion and curiosity in her eyes.
“So, now that you’ve heard how I met this brute,” Otis said, nodding toward me. “How do you two know each other?”
His bony finger waved between us, and I took a sip of my glass, raising a brow at Mia to let her answer.
“We grew up together,” she said simply.
“Mmm, and he hasn’t annoyed you enough to drop him yet, eh?”
“You’re brutal tonight, Otis,” I teased. “Really hurting my feelings here.”
“You don’t have feelings any more than I have real teeth.”
I chuckled, but my smile slipped a bit when I looked at Mia, who was watching me in a way I couldn’t quite decipher.
“He’s not so bad,” she said, her voice soft. “If you really know him.”