Total pages in book: 112
Estimated words: 106839 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 534(@200wpm)___ 427(@250wpm)___ 356(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 106839 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 534(@200wpm)___ 427(@250wpm)___ 356(@300wpm)
Which is code for, Sorry, Amon, but I don’t put out after just one lunch date. Even if you are dressed up like an eighteenth-century gentleman.
But that’s OK. I don’t mind the chase. In fact, the chase is kinda fun. “You’re very welcome, Rosie. How about we set up another date so we can continue our courtship?”
She shakes her head, blushing. “You’re so funny.”
“Why?”
“Courtin’? This costume?”
“You don’t like it?”
“Well, of course I like it, Amon. It’s…” She looks me up and down. And for a moment I think she might change her mind and allow me to relieve her of that corset. But no luck. “Very romantic. And… well, it suits you.”
“It suits me, does it?” And I chuckle. Because Rosie Harlow doesn’t know me. She has no idea who I was before I came back to Disciple. Which only makes this whole thing better. Because I don’t wanna be that guy anymore. I’d choose this guy over that one any day. “Well, this certainly suits you as well. Maybe we were born in the wrong town, Rosie? Maybe we were meant to grow up here.”
“So you could, what, be a blacksmith?”
“And you could be… one of those wives over there. Hanging laundry and feeding chickens.”
“Chasing pigs and gossiping all day?” She laughs. “It’s not a bad life.”
“I never said it was.”
“But… nah. We were born where we were meant to. I doubt that even I could’ve talked my way into sticking around for profit share after getting pregnant in tenth grade if I was part of Bishop instead of Disciple.”
“Well, if anyone could pull that off, it would’ve been you, Rosie. Now let’s talk about that next date.”
“Well…” She pauses. “How about we don’t?”
I point to myself, a little bit stunned. “You don’t wanna go out with me again?”
“I never said that. It’s just, asking me to make plans with you is… a little forward, don’t you think?”
“Oh. Right. Fine. I guess I started it, didn’t I? We’re playing lady and gentleman of Bishop now, are we?”
Rosie shrugs. “Well, I don’t think we have to limit our courtin’ to Bishop.”
Which makes me picture myself dressed up like James Dean ravishing her in that waitress uniform. “We don’t?” And now I’m grinning wildly, my imagination goin’ crazy with possibilities. “Well, OK then. Challenge accepted.” I bow a little, then straighten up so I can grab her hand, slowly lifting it to my lips, and kiss her knuckles while staring her straight in the eyes. “I’ll see you soon, Rosie.”
She fans herself with that hand when I let it go. And her cheeks go hot and pink. “See ya around, Amon.”
By the time I get back to the compound my face hurts from smiling so much.
When Collin and I started making plans for buying this compound, I did envision myself settling down with a Disciple girl. But Rosie Harlow was never part of that daydream. My last memory of her, before I saw her in the Rise and Shine that first morning I was back, was her pregnant. Her water breaking in the cafeteria. That look of utter fear on her face.
But look at her now. She’s beautiful, and smart, and funny, and ambitious, and even though she’s the only woman I’ve dated since I’ve been back—she’s the one.
I’m gonna marry Rosie Harlow and then we’re gonna settle down and have ourselves a bunch of asshole kids. Well, with Rosie as their mother, they won’t be assholes like I was. They’ll be good, like Cross.
Damn. I’ve made a good choice here. I need to go all out and make sure that she sees me as her ‘one.’
The compound is buzzing with ex-soldiers and dogs as I pull in to the driveway, but I just go right on past, all the way back to my house near the kennels. I park, get out, and I’m just about to head inside to change out of my costume when I see that fucker Sawyer goin’ into the woods again.
I want to follow him and see what he’s up to, but then I hear Collin’s voice in my head. We should just let the man do his job and hope he really is gone in two weeks.
But when I look around, and over my shoulder, Collin is nowhere to be found. So I make an executive decision and head in that same direction.
I’ve been all over these woods since we bought the compound and I know them pretty well. So I know that this trail that Sawyer is taking leads in the direction of the old mine. It’s mostly a well-worn deer trail, but at one point there’s some actual hill climbing involved. Then it evens out into a little meadow, and on the opposite side of that is the main entrance to the mine.
When I get there, Sawyer is nowhere around and the entrance to the mine is blocked with rocks. Which is probably how it’s been for ages. Either an accidental cave-in, or, more likely, a deliberate one to seal it off so curious teenagers didn’t get themselves killed.