Total pages in book: 85
Estimated words: 82077 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 410(@200wpm)___ 328(@250wpm)___ 274(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 82077 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 410(@200wpm)___ 328(@250wpm)___ 274(@300wpm)
“Oh God,” Erik groaned softly, looking like he wanted to crawl under a rock.
“Good evening, Chief Deputy, Mr. Harcourt, how are—Dahl?”
“I have a job now,” Erik yelled over at George, who opened the gate, bent, scooped up Dobby, who had run to him, and then closed it behind him all in one fluid movement. “You don’t have to worry about me anymore.”
“When was I worried?” George asked, and I heard how bored he sounded. “But what, may I ask, are you doing here?”
“I’m an in-house investigator now, and I’m finishing up a job for Hannah.”
George nodded and then came up the stairs, set Dobby down after petting him, and walked over to the table. “She’s seventeen. Did you know she’s seventeen? Because I’m guessing that you, who are older than me, did not know she was seventeen. Did you?”
Erik glanced at Sam, then me, then back to George. “No.”
George nodded. “So…if she calls, because they all call, right?”
“I––”
“If”—George enunciated the word—“she calls, you’re busy.”
Erik scowled at him. “You act like I’m not a good guy.”
George shook his head. “Seventeen. That’s all that matters.”
Erik cleared his throat. “Thank you for having me in your home,” he told us and began to head for the back door.
“Go out the side, walk down the driveway, and if Hannah’s out before you’re done walking… I’ll try not to back over you.”
He growled but did as directed, and took the stairs down to the yard and started for the gate. Once there, he turned to look back at George. “I’m different now. You wouldn’t even recognize me or my life.”
“Oh, I’m sure,” George agreed, sounding terribly patronizing.
“It’s true!”
“She’s seventeen,” George reiterated. “Focus on that.”
He left then, and I could hear him muttering under his breath.
Sam and I both turned to George.
“Sorry about that. We served together, he left before me, had some issues, I tried to help, it was a waste of time, end of story.”
That so wasn’t the end of the story.
“He’s thirty. I will explain that to Hannah in the car.”
“Her father and I have an age gap as well,” I told George.
Sam turned to me, glaring, like I was crazy. George was squinting.
“What? We do.”
“Sir, I will put Erik Dahl in the ground before I let him near your wildly annoying but has-her-heart-in-the-right-place daughter.”
There was a gasp from behind us. Hannah was there, a vision in a dusty-blue linen V-neck dress. It was simple and elegant and her hair was up, but there were wisps falling down the back of her neck.
“You look beautiful,” I told her.
“Thank you, Pa,” she said sweetly and then turned her attention to George. “Wildly annoying?” Hannah repeated, stomping over to him in espadrilles the same color with ribbons like pointe shoes that wrapped around her ankles. “Wildly?”
“Can we go before you’re late?”
She growled at him, and he smiled at us before turning around and heading for the stairs.
“You better wait for me!” she yelled before she turned, kissed me, kissed her father, and bolted after George. At the stairs, she stopped. “My shoes will get dirty in the grass.”
He was already to the gate.
“I’m coming,” Sam said, and she smiled wide.
Her father walked over, scooped her up, and carried her to the gate, where George was waiting like she was light as a feather. Sam put her down gently, she gave him another kiss, and then started yelling at her bodyguard.
I couldn’t hear them from where I was. Sam came back and joined me at the table.
“That’s going to be a bloodbath,” he assured me. “He’s telling her that Erik is a player and no good and that, most importantly, he’s thirty.”
“And Hannah said what?” I asked, watching as George jogged around the car and opened the rear passenger side door for Hannah. She, of course, walked to the front of the car, ignoring him completely, and opened the passenger door, got in, and slammed the door hard. Keeping his smile plastered in place, he closed the door he was holding open and jogged back around to the driver’s side and got in.
“Hannah says age is just a number, it’s connection that’s important.”
“Well,” I said with a shrug. “That is true.”
“I will not have my daughter date a man thirteen years older than she is.”
“Yes, but we’re––”
“Not us,” he informed me. “I’m not talking about us, I’m talking about Hannah, and she’s leaving, she’ll be out of the house, and I won’t be there to… I won’t be there…” His voice caught, and he turned away from me so I couldn’t see his face.
I didn’t try to get him to look at me. I was fine talking to his back. Kids went off to start their lives, and that was what was supposed to happen. It was a milestone in their lives. But no one had ever told me it was like ripping out my heart. I’d missed that if they had.