Total pages in book: 131
Estimated words: 122609 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 613(@200wpm)___ 490(@250wpm)___ 409(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 122609 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 613(@200wpm)___ 490(@250wpm)___ 409(@300wpm)
“Up to something?” she finally stated when Chasity had settled down.
“Yes! You can stop avoiding me now. I know why you’ve been acting strange. My question is, how in the hell did you pull this off? I mean, don’t get me wrong, your salary is nothin’ to sneeze at, but… Oh, God… thank you! I’m still in shock.”
“Thank me for what, Chasity?”
“Honey, would you stop it! You’re so silly. You paid off my mortgage and my hospital bills. Stop acting like it wasn’t you!” Honey could have sworn the blood drained from her body. “The bank already told me that my friend, Honey Brooks, paid my mortgage clean and clear, and the lender sent the notice saying such. I got it in the mail today! Paid in full! I then went to make another online hospital payment, and when I logged in this morning, it said balance zero! I about coughed myself to death. I called the hospital, and they stated that Honey Brooks took care of the remaining balance, and also gave a generous donation to the Cancer society! I am not looking a gift horse in the mouth, but where did you get all of this money from?! Your job is in jeopardy, and you still put your neck on the line for me. You must’ve won the lottery. All in all, you spent over $172,000!”
The phone slipped from Honey’s hand onto her lap. She glared into the camera where she knew James would sometimes watch her and wondered if he was doing that right then. Could he see her surprised face? Could he see her reacting in real time, raw and uncut? She could still hear Chasity talking on and on, her exuberance palpable.
She brought the phone back up to her ear, took a deep breath, and interrupted. “Wait, wait, wait!” She waved her hand about. “Can you tell me the date the mortgage was paid, Chasity?”
“Yeah, hold on.” She could hear Chasity rummaging around, coughing, then she came back to the phone. “The 9th. So that was over a week ago, but it just went through this morning.”
Her chest warmed and she ran her fingers along the area where her heart resided. The thing was beating painfully fast, and a fresh headache was underway. He paid for this before he set me free… Oh my God, I was right about him. I’ve BEEN right about him. Let me go on and put on a performance so I can get through the rest of this phone call…
“Uh, well, Chasity, you deserved it, okay? Don’t worry about where I got the money. Let’s just say I had a blessing come through. I have a question for you though, not related to any of that.”
“I can’t pay this money back, Honey, but I am going to give you as much back as I can.” The woman was sobbing again.
“Chasity, please stop. It was a gift, okay? Not a loan. Now, here’s what I wanted to ask you. I’m working on a story and wanted your input.”
“Shoot. Yeah, of course. Ask me anything. What is it?”
Honey took a deep breath, glanced at the camera, then walked into the bathroom with the phone, closing the door behind her. “While I’ve been out here, in Denver, I’ve met some really interesting people, and I kind of stumbled on some information, you could say. Things have definitely gone in an unexpected direction. You know I was dreading coming here.”
“Yes, it was a punishment, but I’m glad you turned your lemons into lemonade. I don’t like how they treated you, but I had no doubt you’d make it work. So, what’s going on?”
“Well, you know that even though I can, I don’t typically write the news stories and all of that. I snap the shots. I’m the vision. I tell the story through photos and hand them over to the reporters, and I’m fine staying in my own lane. Usually.” She paused and looked about, feeling paranoid. Wondering if she should continue. “This is a story I’d want to write myself though. What would you do if you met someone under circumstances so bad that you despised them in the short time that you’ve known them, but as you got to know them better, through association with this person, you understood them better. You find you could blow the lid on some corruption while also boosting your career, and help them out of a jam, too?”
“Hmmm, well, if you hated them so much initially, how do you know you can trust them now?”
“Great question. I really don’t know that completely, but my gut tells me I can because now I understand the motivations for the poor behavior in the first place. His motives were for self-preservation, not for shits and giggles. I hate to sound so vague, but I have to keep the information confidential for now. There’s more to the story, though.”