Total pages in book: 90
Estimated words: 88736 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 444(@200wpm)___ 355(@250wpm)___ 296(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 88736 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 444(@200wpm)___ 355(@250wpm)___ 296(@300wpm)
I couldn’t imagine losing my parents, and she’d lost both. From what I remembered, her mother had died when she was really little. Harv had raised her on his own. I couldn’t be sure, but I vaguely recalled Grandpa Casper talking about how Harv wouldn’t move north to work with us because Sacramento was where his wife was buried and the only home his kids had ever known. I was pretty sure Teddy had a brother somewhere, but I wasn’t about to ask about him until she brought him up. With my luck, he was dead too, and I’d just be rubbing more salt in her wounds.
When my phone rang, I let go of her hand and reached for it. Almost immediately, I regretted the decision when she pulled her hand back into her lap.
“Hey,” I answered, putting the phone to my ear.
“How’s the trip?” my brother, Draco, asked.
“Makin’ good time. About three more hours, I think. A little more if we stop for food.”
“Any company?”
I glanced in the rearview, but it was impossible to know if we were being followed. I’d been watching the cars around us, but we were on the fucking freeway in Northern California. The chance of someone else driving to Oregon wasn’t a small one.
“Probably,” I muttered. “All good, though.”
“Good. I got your house set up with what little you had in storage, but it’s pretty fuckin’ bare in here.”
“We’ll figure it out. You still there?”
“Uh, yeah,” Draco said, something in his voice making me sit up straighter. “Just hangin’ with Dyl until you get here.”
“What’s going on?”
“All good, Curt,” he said, lying through his teeth like I wouldn’t know. “The girls went to Mom and Dad’s for the night, and you know Kara. She’s been putterin’ around in here, lightin’ candles and shit to get rid of the musty smell.”
“It doesn’t smell.”
“Yeah, man, that’s what I said. But she said it smells like no one lives here.”
“That tracks since no one was,” I replied. I wanted to grill him, but I was hyper aware that a car full of people was listening to every word I said, and I didn’t want to worry them.
“She went to the store and got you guys set up. All the essentials you could possibly need right away.”
“And candles,” I added.
“Those too. Plus, she got you those little things that plug into the outlets. Gonna smell fresh as a damn daisy by the time you get here tonight.”
“And Dylan made it okay?” I asked, needing that clarification since my brother was trying to bullshit me so hard he’d resorted to talking about air fresheners.
“Yeah, he’s here,” Draco replied, that thing in his voice back. “Listen, I was just checkin’ in. I’ll let you drive.”
“Capable of doin’ two things at once.”
“I’ll see you when you get here,” he said, ignoring me.
“Drive safe, Curt,” Kara yelled in the background.
Then the line went dead.
I dropped the phone onto the seat next to me, wondering what the hell was going on at my new house that Draco was trying to hide. I’d be there in a few hours. It wasn’t as if he could hide it for long.
“My brother,” I told Teddy when I felt her watching me. “Just checking in.”
“You have a brother?” Finn asked, his voice a little closer, like he was sitting forward in his seat behind me.
“Seatbelt on your shoulder, Finn,” Teddy ordered.
“Fix your seatbelt,” Jesse said at the same time.
“Yeah, I have a brother,” I replied, looking at him in the mirror. “He’s my twin.”
“Does he look like you? I have twins in my class, Micah and Luca, but they don’t look like each other. Micah is really tall, but Luca isn’t.”
“We’re identical.”
“Really?”
“Yep. But you’ll be able to tell us apart because I’m a lot better looking.”
“Nu-uh,” Finn argued with a laugh. “Identical twins look the same.”
“I have a beard, and he doesn’t,” I admitted. “And my hair is longer.”
“But if you cut it off, you’d look exactly the same?”
“Maybe,” I replied. “I haven’t checked in a long time. We used to as kids, though.”
“That’s so cool,” he said with a sigh. “Did you trick people?”
“All the time,” I confirmed.
“Nice.”
Teddy leaned forward to mess with the radio, scanning through the stations until she found some classic rock. The cab filled with sound as she turned it up a little.
Finn started to sing along quietly, but with feeling, behind me.
“He’s going to lose his voice before we hit Eugene,” Teddy joked, shooting a smile at her son.
“He’s a sweet kid,” I replied softly.
“You’re good with him,” she said. “I don’t think I’ve ever seen him talk so much.”
“I remember Dylan at that age. They’re tryin’ so hard to be cool. They just want someone to pay attention. Not exactly a chore.”
The radio switched songs, and I quickly looked behind me as Jesse, who’d been silent for most of the ride, started belting it out.