Total pages in book: 25
Estimated words: 23676 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 118(@200wpm)___ 95(@250wpm)___ 79(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 23676 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 118(@200wpm)___ 95(@250wpm)___ 79(@300wpm)
I nod. “I know. It’s why I’m working for Hannah. I’m hoping to learn all sorts of practical baking advice from her.”
“Don’t bakers have a school? With credentials and such? Shouldn’t you go there first?”
I start to chew my food very seriously and slowly as I think of what to say next. “Oh, well, um, I’m looking into that. You gotta apply, and then there’s the tuition.”
Yes, the tuition I clearly can’t afford as I sit in my luxurious, rented chalet and drive my Lamborghini.
Then my top-of-the-line, thousand-dollar cell phone rings. I see who’s calling, and I’m in no rush to pick it up.
“Are... are you going to answer it, or just stare at it?” Hawk says, concerned.
“I... I guess I should.”
I grab it off the table and head into a nearby room away from Hawk.
“Hi, Mom,” I say, dreading the conversation about to occur.
“Lavender, sweetie, are you at your chalet in the mountains right now?” The background noise suggests she’s on speaker phone in her car.
“Um, yes? Why, what’s up?”
“Your father and I are coming to stay with you. We decided we liked your idea of staying in the mountains for the summer. It is much cooler there, is it not?”
I freeze up, more tensely than when I fear Hawk has caught me in a lie. “You can’t come here. You can’t.”
“Why? Is there something wrong, Lavender?”
“No … it’s just I am enjoying my time alone.”
“And don’t’ you want to spend time with your parents? We paid for it, and there is plenty of space there. It was advertised as enough space for ten people.”
“It’s... um... not presentable?”
“How can it not be? We gave you a stipend to hire maid service, Lavender. Are you saying that you failed to do that? How are you even living there without the help?”
I didn’t hire a maid. Because it’s just me and I believed myself capable of cleaning up after just me. “Um, uh, it’s not that. It’s just, uh...”
“Are you having a bunch of guests over already? We told you that you’re not allowed to have any guests over, Lavender. We’re very disappointed in you.”
“Yes, dear, very disappointed,” my father adds, distantly. He’s clearly not paying attention to this call.
“I don’t have a bunch of guests over, Mom. I swear it’s not that.” They said guests, plural. I have one guest. Technically not lying.
“We’re coming, Lavender. And that’s that..”
“Mom, please, I...”
I heard the call drop. She hung up.
She didn’t even have the decency to let me know when they are showing up, so I do the only natural thing.
I panic.
“You need to go, now,” I tell Hawk firmly as I rush past him in the kitchen and toward the bedroom. I gather up his clothes.
“What’s going on?” he asks, following me.
I shove his clothes at him. “I can’t explain. Please, just go. You can’t be here. I don’t know when they’re showing up.”
“Who’s they?”
“My parents! And they said I’m not allowed to have anyone in this chalet with me. Please, just go.”
He’s scrambling to get dressed. He doesn’t understand why, but at least he understands that he has to.
God, what if they see Hawk like this? In this state of undress? They’d immediately assume the worst. That I’m sleeping with some random nobody and probably already pregnant.
“Please, just leave.” I move over to the door and open it for him, gesturing him out.
God, I start to panic about how it could be worse. Knowing how to quickly jump to conclusions were my parents. They might even think Hawk’s some sort of criminal. And they’re too prideful to admit they’re wrong. And they have money to try to prove they’re right when they are wrong.
Hawk starts to move to the door, and there’s concern on his face. No. There’s pain there as well.
“Well, I’ll head out, then,” he says. “I agreed to go help Fox with laying down the foundations for a new home in town anyway.”
“I’m sorry I have to rush you out like this. I’m sorry if this is hurting you, Hawk.”
He takes in a deep breath, and resumes that classic stoicism you see in most men today. The one that masks the pain and hurt. “Well, have a nice day, then.”
He marches out of the cabin, and toward his truck. My heart is heavy as I see him leave. His truck drives down the path away from me, and back to the roads of Evergreen Valley, far away from this touristy mess of an area I’m staying in.
The reality of the gulf between our worlds tears me apart inside.
Hawk? He’s an expert outdoorsman. A well-seasoned and worldly man who knows a little bit of everything. He’s firmly rooted in his community, well-known and respected. I’m sure he has dozens of girls in this town yearning for a date with him, and he has the pick of the litter.