Total pages in book: 62
Estimated words: 58051 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 290(@200wpm)___ 232(@250wpm)___ 194(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 58051 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 290(@200wpm)___ 232(@250wpm)___ 194(@300wpm)
Her nostrils flared, but her gaze remained fixed on the people passing by.
“You’re raising a teenager, another area far from my expertise.”
Still nothing.
“Your hair is amazing, maybe you could tell me what you do to it.” I reached out to touch a lock and she smacked my hand away expertly.
“Don’t. Touch. Me.”
“Sorry Bella. Look I’m just trying to find some common ground, a way that you can stop snarling at me.”
Finally she reacted. With the speed of a century-old tortoise she turned to me with dark brown eyes and studied me for a long time. If not for the scowl on her face I might have accused her of checking me out, but she wasn’t.
“What the hell is this Derek? What’s this? An attempt at being a good guy, pretending we’re old friends? What do you actually hope to accomplish?”
I relaxed against the chair even though relaxed was the last thing I felt. My whole body was stiff, my heart raced against my chest, and I couldn’t be sure if the beads of sweat forming were from the sun or the heat of the metaphorical spotlight. “We’re neighbors, so it’s not like we can avoid one each other forever.”
“We absolutely can. We lived in this town together for most of our lives, and mostly I managed to avoid you.”
“Bella, I’m trying to apologize here. I know I was a dick back then, but-,”
She sliced an arm through the air to cut off my words, so forcefully, she was probably picturing loping off a piece of my anatomy. “No. Just stop. It’s too late for an apology. It won’t change or fix anything, and honestly I don’t want to hear it.”
“It might change something,” I insisted weakly.
She shook her head so fast I thought it might spin off. “It won’t. I’m not interested in listening to you soothe your ego, or whatever it is you hope to accomplish. You did what you did, live with it and leave me the hell alone.”
“I can’t.” the more she ranted and raved at me, the clearer it became just how much I owed her an apology. Her pain ran deep, and even if I wasn’t responsible for all of it, some of that pain was on me.
“Well too damn bad, because I don’t want anything to do with you, Derek Gregory. We don’t need to be friends or rehash the past, just leave it where it belongs, and if you really are sorry, you can leave me alone.”
“Hey, what’d I miss?” Everest chose that moment to return, an unsuspecting smile on his face.
Bella stood angrily. “You can sit here with your best friend while I go for a walk.” She glared at me and her nephew and then stomped off, anger shooting off her delicate shoulders in waves.
“Uh-oh. What did you do man?”
“I messed up kid. Again.” And I wasn’t sure how in the hell I could possibly fix things.
Everest sighed and shook his head. “You’re supposed to be the one that’s good with women, man.”
From the mouths of babes…
Chapter 7
Bella
“No devices at the kitchen table.” Everest’s loud booming voice startled me, and my finger twitched, causing the spreadsheet I was looking at to scroll down too many cells. Everest just laughed.
“Very funny, kid. I’m working.” It was late afternoon, which meant it was time for what I called lunch, but Everest called it supper.
“Smells good in here,” he said after a deep, dramatic inhale.
“Lunch. I made barbecue chicken, potato salad and some of the corn we got at the farmer’s market.” I didn’t usually go to so much trouble when it came to our meals, but we’d both been working so hard the past few days, and what good was it being surrounded by good food if you didn’t partake. My nose twitched when he got closer. “What did you do out there kid, play on the ground with the animals?”
His shoulders shook with laughter. “Those are my friends you’re talking about,” he said pointedly.“What’s so interesting on that screen?” He asked the same question I asked him when he was so deeply engrossed with his phone that he didn’t hear a direct question.
“Bills. You know, those things that require money to keep you in luxuries like electricity, water and heat. And inventory.”
“Cool, but barbecue is two-handed food, unless you’re saying that all this chicken is mine?” To make his point, Everest tugged the platter of chicken towards the end of the table where he stood. “Ow, what was that for?” He asked when I smacked the back of his hand.
“That was for putting your filthy paws all over the food I slaved away in the kitchen to make for you.”
“Slaved away, really Aunt Bella?”
I nodded. “Yup.” I wasn’t a bad cook, but I didn’t often put a lot of effort into the task, not until now. “Go get cleaned up so we can eat. You smell like a barn.”