Total pages in book: 81
Estimated words: 77124 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 386(@200wpm)___ 308(@250wpm)___ 257(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 77124 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 386(@200wpm)___ 308(@250wpm)___ 257(@300wpm)
“How’d it go?” I asked as Saylor dropped down next to me, making a whining sound as Keith walked inward with his comically obese English Bulldog walked further into the apartment, letting Fury smell them before they kept going.
“Great!” Keith declared. “Meet Petunia,” he said, beaming down at the dog who was panting heavily, despite the apartment being comfortable.
“Petunia?” I repeated.
“She’s a hefty lady, but the woman at the shelter said that she’s doing well on her diet,” Keith told us as the dog dropped down on the floor, out cold in seconds.
“Do not feed her pizza rolls, no matter how much she begs,” Saylor told him.
“Speaking of pizza rolls,” my mother said, walking over with a plate full of them, some homemade marinara sauce in a ramekin in the center.
Keith’s eyes went huge as he looked at them.
“These are fancy-ass pizza rolls,” he declared.
“They’re homemade,” my mother agreed, nodding. “Without all those nasty preservatives. Try one,” she said as she, I shit you not, reached to tuck a napkin into Keith’s collar.
“I think your mother just gained another son,” Saylor said, snuggling into me.
“Hey, that’s fine by me. It will stop her pestering me about when we’re gonna have kids,” I said, placing my hand on her thigh.
“She asked that already?” Saylor asked.
“Yep.”
“You want kids, don’t you?” she asked.
“Always have,” I said.
“I never really gave it thought before,” Saylor admitted. “But I think… if I were ever going to have any, I’d want to have them with you.”
“We’ve got time,” I said.
“Yeah,” she agreed as we listened to my mother and Keith prattle on about Petunia’s birth sign, her life with an elderly man who overfed her, her trauma at his sudden death, then the trauma of living in the shelter where no one loved or cared about her. My mom had to unravel some paper towels to dab at her eyes.
And by the time Keith, Petunia, and my mother were getting ready to leave, Keith had convinced my mother that she needed to go rescue herself a dog as well.
And, what’s more, my mother agreed.
“I feel like I should feel bad that we kind of just pushed Keith off on your mother,” Saylor said.
“Hey, if anyone can get Keith out of that apartment and eating decent food like a human being, it’s my mom,” I said. “I don’t feel guilty about shit. Besides, sounds like she’s gonna be busy tomorrow. We will have the whole day alone.”
“Yeah?” she asked. “What do you think we should do?”
“Spend the whole fucking day in bed.”
And that was exactly what we did.
Though we actually spend the whole time sleeping.
Still, one of the best fucking days of my life up to that point.
Saylor - 5 months
“It’s weird to see it so busy,” I said as my mother and I stood back, watching dozens of men walk in and out of my warehouse over and over, carrying various boxes, pushing things on dollies, everyone looking determined and completely sure of what they were doing.
And I stood there kind of awestruck because, quite frankly, I didn’t know shit about this new business Anthony and I, with some help from Lorenzo Costa himself, had started.
A, get this, construction business.
Something that neither Anthony nor I knew a damn thing about. But, somehow, something we were plowing forward with.
I think some part of me figured it would take many months, if not years, to start a new business once my mother, Ant, and I had decided not to franchise my father’s gym.
But, nope.
From the moment the decision was made to when we started ordering supplies took all of two weeks.
Sure, it had been a busy two weeks. Involving endless paperwork, tax nonsense, decisions about logos and letterheads and healthcare plans. But, still, at the end of it, we were ready to start hiring people.
We already had our first job lined up too.
Adding on another level to Lorenzo Costa’s brownstone.
Apparently, the decision to open this business mostly stemmed from a conversation between Ant and Lorenzo on the day that Lorenzo first gave the job of watching the Czech crew to Ant.
I’d been on-board because, quite frankly, I couldn’t think of anything else to go into business doing anyway. Besides, it sounded like the plan was for us to let the company be run by people who actually knew about construction. While Anthony… handled the books. And I occasionally dropped in to show my face and remind them to stay in line.
It would leave my time free to do, well, I didn’t know what. Spend time with Fury. Hang out with my mom at the gym. Make stronger connections with Anthony’s family.
And, my mother would remind me on occasion when I was worried about being “purposeless,” I would eventually be a wife and mother. My days would be plenty full.
Until then, she encouraged me to stop questioning, and start enjoying.