Total pages in book: 21
Estimated words: 20048 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 100(@200wpm)___ 80(@250wpm)___ 67(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 20048 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 100(@200wpm)___ 80(@250wpm)___ 67(@300wpm)
“Well, it’s coinciding with Thanksgiving, silly.” I shake my head.
She rolls her eyes at me and then links her arm with me and leads me out of the house. “I know, but I have to say I don’t like it. Now come on, you’re taking too long and we’re going to be late with all you’re complaining.”
“One of these days.” I shake my fist at her.
“Whatever.” She waves me off. As the older sister, she just ignores my threats and taps my nose. “So, how is dad?”
I checked on him before I came into her room, even though it was early in the morning. The parade kicks off at nine and the Fall Harvest Fest starts at eleven. It’s only seven thirty, but we still have to get a good spot, and I want one in the center of it all. “He’s fine. The nurse said he’s sleeping, and he has no plans to join us today.”
“I expected that. It has to be hard on him.”
“Dad has been through so much since mom walked out.” We don’t talk about the woman who birthed us anymore because the pain is too much. She ran off with one of the workers, breaking our hearts and destroying my father’s belief in their future.
He’s still pretty young at forty-eight, but he won’t date again, and the heart attack pretty much sealed it. He’s not permanently disabled, just emotionally broken.
“I can’t believe she did that bull crap,” I snapped.
“God, I hate her.” I see it in my sister’s eyes. We both lost our mother that day. Noelle decided to drop out of college and come home to help with the orchard. It was a crucial time, and Dad wasn’t in the right state of mind. Between being down a hand, he’d lost his will to work.
“Tell me about it,” I say. Mom didn’t just leave him; she left us. I was just fifteen when she bailed. I remembered when she walked out. She dared to say she was too young to settle for a life like this and wanted more. I hope she got everything she wanted, but we never wanted to see her again.
When we stepped into the front hall, we nearly ran into our dad. “Hey girls, are you on your way to the parade?”
“Good morning, daddy,” we say together. I instantly noticed the bright color in him this morning. He’s looking better every single day.
“Why are you up so early?” I ask, giving him a big hug.
“I was trying to catch you before you left,” he answers after giving Noelle one as well.
“Do you need something?” she asks.
“Yes, can you bring back one of Ms. Griselda’s apple pies? I think Jaqueline would love it.” Jackie is his rehabilitation nurse and a total sweetheart.
“Oh, that would be great. She deserves a special treat for all the wonder she’s worked on you. Okay. We’ll see if her stand is there this year and hit her up.”
“Thank you, girls. Have a good time. I need to rest a bit longer before Jacqueline returns.”
“We love you, daddy.”
“Yes, Daddy. Take it easy and don’t do too much. We’re a call away.”
“I promise I’m not so fragile anymore.”
“Okay.” We kiss his cheeks and then leave the house.
“Do you think he’s doing well?”
“Yes, actually, he’s looking very good this morning.”
“I think so too.” We drive downtown, which is only ten minutes away, and as we make our way, the crowds are starting to grow. Ugh. I’m not a fan of it and my sister’s expression turns amused.
“Shut up, Elle.”
“What? I didn’t say a thing.”
“Trust me, our spot is fine, Autumn brat.”
“Seriously, I just hate having to fight for a spot.”
“I know you do. I’m surprised you don’t knock down all the little kids from the spot.”
“Whatevs. It was one damn time, and the kid ran into me. I caught him before he fell and the parents apologized to me.” She giggles and we finally pull into the parking lot. Thankfully, it’s mostly empty, and it’s near the Harvest Fest even though it’s far from where we’ll sit. It always works better to park here because we’ll take things back with us after shopping instead of walking back to the parade location.
“Come on.” We don’t take chairs today because we stand the whole time. “I hope the coffee shop is open already.”
“Yes, Lou Ann told me that she’ll be open at seven for the early birds and all the parade people who need their fix.”
“Good, because someone woke me up so early.”
“Whatever.”
“Expand your vocab, little sister.”
“Chinga tu madre.”
“Whoa, I don’t know what that means, but you need to stop hanging out with Marisol because her ass is teaching you some bad words.”
“Actually, it was her brother, and it means…” I whisper it in her ear with a giggle.
“Ugh, oh that’s even worse, but I agree,” she says with a laugh because Marisol’s brother has a huge ego and is only sixteen. “And don’t go saying that to people who piss you off.”