Total pages in book: 62
Estimated words: 57853 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 289(@200wpm)___ 231(@250wpm)___ 193(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 57853 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 289(@200wpm)___ 231(@250wpm)___ 193(@300wpm)
"Fuck," I say, running my hand down my face to stop that train of thought. It's not helping my dick go down, and I've got shit that needs to be done and a wife that is all but begging me to chase after her. In due time, my little spitfire. First, I need to check on a few things.
I fire up my laptop and see I have a few email responses, one being from the Bilton Estate. The Bilton Estate has expressed their interest in proceeding with the investment. They even ask me to consider investing as well. After reviewing a pile of numbers predicting the potential profits from this ski resort, I can see why they are so interested in this project. The profit they stand to gain is astronomical.
Not only that, they say if I go forward with them, they’ll push Biff out altogether. This motherfucker put this on their map, and now they are salivating over it. I can’t blame them if the numbers are right.
I’ll have to find another way to dissuade them, and I have an idea. If this plays out, I could end up protecting New Hope for the foreseeable future. But as I go back through the numbers and growth, I see that New Hope is starting to burst at the seams themselves. Do they have plans for that? Is there any strategy in place to address their continued growth?
The town might be small, but if the people here are staying, the population will keep growing even without new people moving here. The rate of people leaving is very low compared to the growing population. There is a big picture here that needs to be considered.
I pull a few sheets to highlight and send off an email to Hollis and loop him into a few others. When I glance back at the time, I see two hours have passed. I check my girl's location and see that she's at Katherine's house.
I debate my next move. It's not easy. My wife is tricky, and I too want to keep her on her toes. When a knock sounds at my door, I open it to see a man standing there in a red flannel shirt. He's about my height, his face hard and pissed off.
A new plan dropping right into my lap. If I make it out of here alive.
Chapter Thirteen
TINSLEY
Isuck the grape jelly off my thumb from the toast Grams made for me before washing it down with orange juice. "Can I get you anything else, sweetheart?" she asks Katherine.
"I'm good, but thanks," she tells her, taking a bite of the food that was served to her on a tray in her bedroom.
"All right, I'll leave you girls to it. If you need me, I’ll be in the other room."
"Thanks," I tell her too before she shuts the door behind her. I don't blame Katherine for not jumping at the idea of moving in together. I would never move out of here either. They treat her like a princess, which I understand. When Katherine was all but dropped on their doorstep, she wasn't in the best condition. She'd been neglected and was very sick from lack of care.
They hadn't thought she'd make it, but Katherine always manages to wiggle her way out of every situation. I have never seen anything like it before. I don't think she knows how she does it either. It comes naturally to her. She has an incredible ability to adapt on the fly. Even if those adaptations are ridiculous, it pans out in the end.
"Are you keeping the ring on?" Katherine eyes the simple gold band.
"It won't come off." I pretend to tug on it. Katherine gives me the side-eye, already knowing me all too well. "Okay, I'm not taking it off until I'm divorced or it’s annulled. I could get weird bad luck or something."
"You can't get divorced!" Katherine screams, startling me.
"Calm down. You almost scared me to death. I can’t die a virgin. And I know divorce is not really an option." I worry my bottom lip between my teeth. I would be the first in New Hope if I did. A long-standing tradition would be ruined, and my name would be attached to it forever. Talk about ruining your legacy. I don’t even want to think about the text chain that would come along with that. It could set off a chain of events, and then everyone is divorced! I can't have that over my head. An annulment is what I need.
“We just need to put our heads together and think this through,” Katherine says, and I know her mind is racing with a hundred different scenarios. I may not even want to know some of them. “I mean, there could be an accident, and lawyer man may very well be the victim of it,” she suggests after a few seconds of silence. This is what I was talking about.