Total pages in book: 198
Estimated words: 186242 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 931(@200wpm)___ 745(@250wpm)___ 621(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 186242 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 931(@200wpm)___ 745(@250wpm)___ 621(@300wpm)
“Thank you for making me feel so special,” I joked.
The teenager looked at me, his quiet voice back. “Sorry.”
“It’s okay. I’m just messing with you,” I told him with a grin.
“He said I couldn’t go out with my friends so . . .”
“You’re hanging out with chopped liver?” I could only imagine the kind of relationship he had with his dad if he wasn’t used to being picked on. “I’m messing with you, Amos. I promise.” I even nudged him with my elbow quickly.
He didn’t nudge me back, but he did give me a little shrug before asking quietly and hesitantly, “Is it okay? If I go with you?”
“One hundred percent okay. I like the company,” I told him. “Honestly. You’re pretty much making my day. I’ve been pretty lonely lately. I’m not used to doing so many things by myself anymore.” The truth was, I’d been surrounded by people almost twenty-four seven for the last chunk of my life. The only alone time I ever really got for just myself was . . . when I’d go to the bathroom.
The boy seemed to shuffle in place. “You miss your family?”
“Yeah, but I had another family. My . . . ex-husband’s family, and we were always together. This is the longest I’ve ever gone by myself. So really, you’re doing me a favor coming. Thank you. And you’ll help me stay awake.” I thought about it. “Is it safe for you to do physical activity already?”
“Yeah. I had my checkup.” The same gray eyes as Mr. Rhodes’s roamed my face briefly, and he seemed to have to blink again. “You look tired.”
Remind me never to word something in front of a teenager that could be turned into an insult. “I haven’t been sleeping that great.”
“’Cause of the bat?”
“How do you know about the bat?”
He eyed me. “Dad told me about you screaming like you were gonna die.”
First of all, I hadn’t been screaming like I was going to die. It had just been about five screams. Max.
But before I could argue with him about semantics, the front door opened again and Mr. Rhodes was out, hauling a small backpack in one hand and a thin black jacket in the other.
Wow. He wasn’t fucking around. He wanted to tag along.
I eyed the kid next to me as he let out a sigh. “You’re sure you want to come?”
His gaze flicked toward me. “I thought you said you’d like the company?”
“I do, I just want to make sure you’re not going to regret it.” Because his dad was coming too. To spend time with him? To not leave him with me alone? Who knew?
“Anything’s better than staying home,” he muttered just as his dad made it to us.
All right. I nodded at Mr. Rhodes, and he nodded at me.
I guess I was driving.
We loaded into my car with Mr. Rhodes taking the front passenger seat, and I backed out. I glanced at them both as sneaky as possible, feeling a little bit of pleasure at having them come with me . . . even if neither one of them talked much. Or I guess really liked me.
But one of them was desperate to get out of the house and the other wanted to either spend time with his kid or keep him safe.
I’d hung out with people who had worse intentions. At least they weren’t being fake.
“Where are we going?” the deepest voice in the car asked.
“Surprise,” I answered dryly, peeking in the rearview mirror.
Amos had his attention out of the window.
Mr. Rhodes, on the other hand, twisted his head to look at me. If I didn’t already know he had been in the Navy, it would have been confirmed in that instant. Because I had zero doubts that he’d mastered the glare he was shooting my way on other people.
A lot of them, more than likely, from how good he was at it.
But I still grinned as I glanced at him.
“Okay, fine,” I conceded. “We’re going to some falls. You probably should’ve asked before you got in the car though. Just saying. I could be kidnapping you.”
He didn’t appreciate my joke apparently. “Which falls?” Mr. Rhodes asked in that stony, level voice.
“Treasure Falls.”
“That one sucks,” Amos piped up from the back.
“It does? I looked up pictures, and I thought it looked nice.”
“We didn’t get enough snow. It’s gonna be a trinkle,” he explained. “Right, Dad?”
“Yes.”
I felt my shoulders deflate. “Oh.” I thought of the next falls on my list. “I already did Piedra Falls. What about Silver Falls?”
Mr. Rhodes settled into the seat, crossing his arms over his chest. “Is this four-wheel drive?”
“No.”
“Then no.”
“Damn it,” I groaned.
“Your clearance is too low. You won’t make it.”
My shoulders deflated even more. Well, this sucked.
“What about a longer trail?” the older man asked after a moment.