Total pages in book: 81
Estimated words: 76647 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 383(@200wpm)___ 307(@250wpm)___ 255(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 76647 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 383(@200wpm)___ 307(@250wpm)___ 255(@300wpm)
Yesterday at this time, I wasn’t sure I had the courage to write to her out of the blue.
Today, I knew I did.
17
SIERRA
The next day started with a fruitless phone call to the cabin company, but the story was the same. Tree branches—or in some cases, entire trees—from the ice storm were everywhere, and it’d be a while before the smaller roads were cleared.
Except for the lack of fresh food, it honestly didn’t bother me as much as it once had. Plus, it wasn’t like it was unexpected. Speaking as someone who’d ended up under a tree, it had been one hell of an ice storm.
After a bit of a late start, I found Carter at the worktable. “Morning. Where are the others?”
“Tristan’s upstairs arguing with someone,” Carter said, and I assumed he meant on the phone or a video call. “Drew went for a hike. He said not to expect him for a while.”
“By himself?” I didn’t like the thought of him out in the cold for too long.
“Zeus is with him.” Carter looked amused at the expression on his face. “He’ll be okay, Mom.”
I rolled my eyes at that last part as I climbed onto a stool. “It’s still slippery out there.”
“He took the crampons with him. He’s good.”
I hoped he was right. Truthfully, I didn’t like the idea of any of the guys straying too far from the cabins. The mountains were just too unforgiving in the winter. But worrying about Drew wouldn’t do any good. “Do you need your laptop?”
He shook his head. “I’ll let you know when I do.”
“All right.”
All in all, he wasn’t the friendliest guy, but maybe that was okay. I didn’t think I’d ever be able to relax while talking to him like I usually could with Drew and Tristan. Carter was just too masculine. Too good looking. Too… everything. He and the others still worked out in the living room every day at three. When I could, I escaped outside, but if I stayed to work, my productivity went way down, especially when Carter flexed his impressive upper body. But then I reminded myself to think of him as Otto, and that took the edge off of his raw sexuality.
For a while, we worked in silence, Carter on his phone and me on the laptop. But then he went up to his room to join a video call.
I tried to write, but the words weren’t coming. I wanted so badly for the protagonist to be the kind of strong, female role model I wished I could play, but the further I got into the screenplay, the more I realized something wasn’t right. The last thing I wanted to do was to have a man show up in the script and rescue her, but these last few days, I’d toyed with the idea of introducing a kindly neighbor who could be on her side.
On a whim, I opened a new document and wrote out some notes about what the new character might be like. As I worked on the character sketch, I was amused to realize that the new guy had some of Drew’s cheery optimism, along with a dash of Tristan’s drive and focus. There was no way I’d let this character take the spotlight from my protagonist, but she was a single mother, and she needed support. But the support and friendship of a good man—not the string of semi-abusive boyfriends that my mom had introduced into my life when I was a kid.
Tristan jogged down the stairs, smiling when he spotted me. “Good morning.” He checked his phone to see the time. “For a little bit longer anyway. Where’s everyone?”
I told him that Drew was out and Carter was upstairs.
“Oh, right. He’s negotiating with the company that makes solar panels that we’re going to partner with.” He sat down across from me and winked. “By the time he’s done talking to them, they’ll probably pay us for the privilege of working with us.”
“He’s that good?”
“And then some. We went to high school together, you know. Carter considered himself much too cool for the debate team, but he would’ve smoked his opponents. He can argue anyone into anything.”
I nodded, but I wasn’t entirely convinced. He’d never tried to talk me into anything, which was probably a good thing. In fact, he was usually fairly quiet around me. Again, that wasn’t a bad thing, but it made him seem like a different man than the one Tristan described.
Then again, who knew with Otto.
“I could use a bit of his skill right now,” Tristan said. “My lawyer’s supposed to get back to me about that deal with the recycled steel, and if they turned us down, I’ll need to figure something else out.”
“I’ve got my fingers crossed.”
“Thanks.”
Twenty minutes later, Tristan’s phone rang. His face paled as he looked at the screen. “It’s my lawyer.”