Total pages in book: 110
Estimated words: 107204 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 536(@200wpm)___ 429(@250wpm)___ 357(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 107204 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 536(@200wpm)___ 429(@250wpm)___ 357(@300wpm)
“And why the hell would I do that?” Cole snapped, his eyes blazing with the same anger I used to see when I lived with him. The rage that kept me quiet for so long.
I tightened my hold on Alex’s hand, and he pulled me closer to his side.
“Don’t know, sir,” Officer Jeff stated. “I just know that you did.”
Before Cole could respond, the doors of the city hall flung open, and in walked Milly and Mary Sue with four teenage boys being dragged by the both of them. They walked with their heads high toward the front of the city hall and presented the kids before everyone.
“Here,” Milly said, gesturing toward Cole. “Seeing as how you seem incapable of doing your job, I figured me and my sister would get to the bottom of what happened at sweet Alex’s restaurant. These are the four boys who did the damage to his property.”
Cole cleared his throat and nodded. “Good. See, everyone? Everything is handled, and we now know who the bad boys were in this situation. Now, me and my team—”
“Oh, why don’t you shut it, Cole Parker, you little shit,” Mary Sue remarked, shooting him a stern look. “These boys already told us that you paid them off to do the damage to Alex’s property.”
“What? Bullshit. That never happened. And it never would. Now, unless you have proof—”
“Steven?” Milly said to one of the boys.
“Yes?” he replied.
“Show him,” she ordered.
Steven pulled out his cell phone and played a video of Cole making the deal with the boys under the table. It was clear as day what went on, and the whole room erupted from madness.
“You little punk,” Cole said, shooting toward him. Luckily, the other cops grabbed him and held him back. They put handcuffs on him, too, as Cole’s rage hit a new high. “Why the hell would you record that?!” he shouted, his veins popping out of his neck.
“We’re Gen Z, dude.” Steven shrugged his shoulders. “We record everything.”
Before I knew it, everyone was approaching Alex and me, apologizing to us both for what happened. The officers dragged Cole away. I wasn’t certain exactly what was going to happen to him, but I knew he’d officially be out of my life. And Cocoa would never have to go to his mother’s house again.
“I can’t believe you were married to that monster,” a few people said to me. The same people who once called me a terrible wife for leaving him. “We’re so happy you got out of that.”
Tatiana tapped the microphone in her hand. “Okay, everyone. Everyone, quiet down. As we discussed earlier, we will take shifts to help clean up Alex’s restaurant. Roe—you already said you’ll handle replacing the windows,” she said, pointing over to Roe Campbell.
“Yup. And my son is a master at cleaning fabrics. Those chairs will be repaired in no time.”
“Perfect.” Tatiana gestured toward Haley Smith. “And you, Haley. You’re covering the lighting fixtures.”
“Already ordered replacements for him. I worked with the contractor in Chicago that you used, Alex. He owed me a favor. They’ll be here next week.”
“And my team will be out to rehang your sign,” Daddy chimed in. “Any structure issues, we have covered.”
“Also, dude, I know we’re the dicks who messed up the place,” one of the teens said, “but if you want, we can make some social media videos for you and make you go viral. Jacob over here has like two million followers on his TikTok—that is, if you don’t put us in jail or something. My mom would be pissed.”
“I’m already pissed, Timothy!” a voice shouted from the crowd.
Alex snickered slightly, shaking his head.
The list of people helping kept growing and growing. Each time someone spoke, Alex’s eyes glassed over more. Tatiana called him to the stage for a few words, and he led me up there with him, never letting go of my hand. I followed his steps, of course, because wherever he went, I went.
Alex took the microphone and cleared his throat, pushing back his tears. “Well, uh, I’m not good with a microphone, but, well… I came into this town with a lot of bad thoughts and opinions about the people who lived here.” He shut his eyes for a moment, taking a breath, taking it all in, and then when he opened his stare he rubbed his chin and softly spoke. “Thank you, Honey Creek, for proving me wrong. But don’t take this as a sign that I want to have small talk with you all. I still hate that shit.”
CHAPTER 46
Alex
Five Months Later
It took five months for Isla Iberia to reopen its doors, but when it did, the whole town came together for the grand reopening. They did what they did best, too—threw a damn festival. What was it about small towns and festivals? They seemed to throw them for any and every reason possible.