Total pages in book: 105
Estimated words: 103050 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 515(@200wpm)___ 412(@250wpm)___ 344(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 103050 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 515(@200wpm)___ 412(@250wpm)___ 344(@300wpm)
There was no call coming through when I hung up on Brian. We both knew that, but I take the opportunity to call my sister. Since we were kids, she’s been the only one who’s been able to pull me out of one of my moods. She knows me better than I know myself.
“To what do I owe this particular pleasure?” she asks. “I’m just on my lunchbreak, so make it quick.” Chloe still lives in the UK. I keep telling her to come over to the US, but she was dating some loser in London for years until she found out about his cheating. She says she has her friendship circle there. She might be an adult, but she’s still my little sister. I worry about Chloe. I always have. She tells me that I’m overbearing because I couldn’t keep Penny safe. That might be true, but it doesn’t stop me from worrying.
“I’m irritated,” I say, like that explains everything.
“Interesting. Can you give me any more meat on the bone?” she asks.
“I bumped into someone this morning and poured my coffee all down her. I think I need caffeine.”
“Is she hurt? Did she have to go to A&E?”
Guilt tugs at my gut. “No, she didn’t go to the emergency room.” I only know that because I saw her in the hotel lobby earlier. But I didn’t even check to see if she was okay.
I’m a fucking arsehole at times.
“You think I need coffee?” I ask. My sister can always figure out what’s at the bottom of my bad mood better than I can.
“No, I don’t think you need coffee. You need a personality transplant.”
“Ha.”
“I’m serious. Did you check on your poor victim? Maybe she’s walking around with third-degree burns.”
“Chloe! Can we focus.”
“Okay,” she says. “What’s going on?”
I give her the rundown about how Brian wants me to go to a conference and how it would be good to meet up with ABC Inc.
“That isn’t it,” Chloe says.
“I really think it is.”
“It’s really not,” she says.
“How do you know?” I bark.
“Why on earth do you think you’re calling me? You’re calling me because you’re pissed off and you can’t figure out why. And I can always work it out. I know you better than I know myself. What happened before your call with Brian?”
“I spilled coffee on the girl.” The more I think about it, the worse I feel. I basically blamed her for not looking where she was going when I ran into her. And I covered her in coffee. “I was a dick to her.”
“Aha!” she says, like she’s in a comedy mystery. “So it wasn’t Brian. You were in a bad mood before that. And it wasn’t the girl, because you were a self-confessed dick to her.”
“I was annoyed that I spilled my coffee,” I say, my tone verging on a whine.
“Not so annoyed that you’d be a dick to the person you spilled it on. I know you, remember. What happened before that? You handed Willow over to Gabby, right?”
I pull in a breath. My morning hadn’t gone as I’d been expecting. Sundays are always the same. I leave the townhouse just before eight and I go and drop my bag off at the hotel, then I head to the office. I don’t have a conversation with my ex about her relationship status.
I hope Willow took the news well. I hope she doesn’t think that this means anything will change. Because it won’t. I won’t let it.
“So, was everything okay at the townhouse?” my sister asks.
“Gabby got engaged.” I push my hands through my hair. Of course I know that’s why I’m pissed off. I just want Chloe to tell me I don’t need to worry. “You think that’s why I’m pissed off?”
“Oh god, every time I think you might be smart, I’m reminded that you’re an idiot. Of course that’s why you’re pissed off!”
“But why? It’s not like I want her back.”
“So you thought you’d call me to externally process the situation?” I can see her roll her eyes through the phone. “Maybe part of you does. Or maybe part of you just wishes you wanted her more. I think you still wish the three of you could be a family.”
Chloe probably has a point. Even though my setup with Gabby works, I would never have designed my daughter’s life like this.
“And Willow’s going to take it well, right?” I ask. That’s the real question I want answered.
“Willow loves Ray,” Chloe says. “But you need to be prepared.” Her tone’s serious, and I fiddle with the side of my phone, to make sure the volume is up as high as it can be. “Gabby’s engagement has implications for the way you and Gabby arrange things with Willow.”
My stomach falls to the floor. “No it doesn’t. Why would it?”