Total pages in book: 97
Estimated words: 94687 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 473(@200wpm)___ 379(@250wpm)___ 316(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 94687 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 473(@200wpm)___ 379(@250wpm)___ 316(@300wpm)
His schedule is fairly busy these days with school and baseball—he is an honor student and a very talented pitcher with scholarship offers from multiple schools—but perhaps you’d like to come to our house sometime?
My email address and cell phone number are at the bottom of this letter. Please feel free to use it and we can set up a meeting. In addition, if you’d like to see him play, he is a starting pitcher for the varsity team at Central High School.
We look forward to hearing from you.
Sincerely,
Robin Carswell
I could hardly breathe—I was bursting with something like pride, which was ridiculous, wasn’t it? I hadn’t raised him. But he was handsome! And smart! And talented! And considerate of other people’s feelings! It seemed like he’d gotten all the best things about Tyler and me, and had been raised exactly right. A rush of gratitude for Robin and her husband flooded me, as well as sympathy for the loss of Chuck.
God, what a morning this had been—my emotions were all over the place. And I was totally going to be late for work if I didn’t get out of here. I’d have to repair my ruined eye makeup in the car. I stuck the letter in my bag, grabbed my keys and phone, and hurried out the door.
I was halfway to work when it hit me.
Chip was a starting pitcher for Central High School, where Tyler had been coaching the team all week long.
Which meant he’d already met his son.
Twenty
Tyler
After dropping April off, I decided to head downtown. There were several real estate offices along Main Street with listings in their front windows, and I figured I could check them out without having to go in and talk to anyone. If I saw something I was really interested in, I’d take a picture of it and make a phone call.
But I wasn’t standing there for sixty seconds before someone poked his head out. “Tyler Shaw, right?”
Fucking great. “Yeah.”
The guy held out his hand. He looked kind of familiar, but I couldn’t place him. He wore a suit, an excited grin, and a lot of cologne. “Bob Dennis. Huge fan.”
Reluctantly I took the guy’s hand. “Hey.”
“Come on in.”
I glanced up the street toward where I’d parked, tempted to make a run for it, but decided to go in. If April were here, she’d want me to. And maybe this weekend, if she had time, we could check out a few places together.
Bob led the way to his desk, which was right near the front of the room. He gestured toward the chairs across from it before taking his seat. “So what can I do for you? You thinking of buying a place around here? I saw the news this morning.”
I’d just sat down, but I stood right back up again. “Sorry. I changed my mind.”
“No, wait!” he said, also rising to his feet. “I’ve got some great listings. You like privacy, right? I have one that’s perfect. Right on the water, boat dock, deck with jacuzzi, gourmet kitchen, master suite. Everything top-notch.”
Slowly, I sank into the chair again. “I’m listening.”
But instead of telling me more about the house, he went in the other direction. “Tyler fucking Shaw. I can’t believe it. You probably get asked this a lot, but what the hell happened? I was in that documentary they made about you, did you see me? I was the guy in the barber shop. The one that said the thing about the tight underwear.” He laughed as if he’d made a great joke. “People loved that line. I hear it all the time.”
That’s why he looked familiar.
I stood up again, put both hands on his desk, and leaned forward. “Yeah, well I didn’t.”
He looked slightly alarmed. “Hey, take it easy. I was just making a joke.”
I cracked my knuckles. “That was my fucking career you were joking about, asshole.”
The room, which had been humming with quiet conversation, quieted. Heads turned in my direction.
Bob held up his palms. “Look, I’m sorry. It seemed funny at the time.”
“I’m sure it did.” And then, because I knew someone probably already had a phone camera aimed at me, I resisted the urge to knock over the chair I’d been sitting in before storming out of the office.
Back in my car, I made the mistake of checking my text messages. I had one from Sadie that said, Have you seen this? WTF is wrong with people? She included a link to the Bethany Bloomstar story, which I clicked on, because I was already having a shitty day.
I watched the entire thing, growing more furious every minute. How dare these assholes take video of April and me! How dare they drag her family’s name and business into this! How dare they suggest I’d flown off the handle because of an autograph request rather than a rude invasion of privacy! I was plenty familiar with the way gossip “journalism” worked, so it shouldn’t have surprised me, but somehow it did.