Total pages in book: 99
Estimated words: 91434 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 457(@200wpm)___ 366(@250wpm)___ 305(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 91434 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 457(@200wpm)___ 366(@250wpm)___ 305(@300wpm)
Karla: Maybe, we’ll see.
I roll my eyes, tossing my phone to the side and pulling out of the parking lot. I make my way over to the shop, passing by the big Cartwright development I had started working on ten years ago when I thought I was at the top of my world, but the saying is always right. The higher you go, the harder the fall, and fuck, did I fall hard. I was terminated six months after the accident when I couldn’t do anything they wanted me to do. They literally had my future in their hands, but when the truth came out, they didn’t have anything they needed from me. So I was discarded. Now, from talk around the town, there is major structural damage in buildings because of the way the drawings were done. It was what I told them would happen from the get-go, but I was an intern, so no one was going to listen to me.
The second I pass the development, my phone rings, and I look down to see Winston Cartwright is calling me. He’s been trying to reach me for the past week, and just like all the other times, I declined the call. I pull into the side of the parking lot of the mechanic shop, where my father always parked. It’s not something I ever thought I would be doing, but sometimes those dreams you have for yourself get buried.
With the thermos in my hand, I walk into the front of the shop, seeing the desk empty and paper all over it. Before walking to the back where my office is, another desk is filled with paper that needs to be filed. I toss my keys on the desk before heading into the garage. I have five mechanics who work for my shop even though there is room for ten. Not everyone wants to live in a small town fixing cars. I know this isn’t what I wanted my future to be. The last thing I wanted was to follow in my father’s footsteps, but here I am. I mean, I’m surprised I have even five guys. Four of them come into the garage with coffee from the bakery.
“Morning, boys,” I greet as they stop talking to each other and look at me.
“Hey, boss,” Eddie says.
“Did you hear about Ms. Maddie?” Tony asks, and I just look at him. “Had a heart attack last night.” My chest seizes when I hear the news.
“Is she okay?” I look over at the bakery, and everything in my body freezes. It feels like time stands still when I see what is in front of my eyes. Surely, it can’t be, but I’d know that body anywhere. I’d know that black hair anywhere. I’d know that face anywhere. I’m pretty sure I could be blindfolded, and they could place ten women in front of me, and I would be able to pick her out. She rushes to her car, her hair even longer than the last time I saw her, blowing in the wind, grabbing something before she turns her head to the side, and I see her for the first time in almost nine years.
“That’s Ms. Maddie’s daughter,” Tony informs me. He’s new in town, so he has no idea the connection I have with her. “She’s taking over for Ms. Maddie.”
“She’s smoking hot,” Ryan observes. “I’m going to wait a couple of days and see if she’ll go out with me.”
I take one look back at the shop, seeing her disappear. I shake my head, and the rage works its way up my spine, and hatred pours into my heart. “Get the fuck to work,” I all but roar out, the four of them jumping and giving me a look before heading to their stations. “Do yourselves a favor and stay away from her. She’s poison.”
Chapter Four
EVERLEIGH
The elevator doors open, and I step in, pressing the button for the fourth floor as the door closes. I look, seeing the numbers fly by until the doors open again.
The white wall with the number four painted on it greets me as I turn to my left and walk past the two open brown doors. Hospital rooms on both sides line up until you get to the nurses’ station, which is in the middle of the floor with more rooms after it.
I smile at the nurse typing something on the computer in front of her. “Good afternoon.” She nods to me. “She’ll be happy to see you.”
“I bet she won’t,” I joke. It’s been four days since my mother had her heart attack. Four days she’s been trying to get herself out of this hospital but has been blocked by the doctor not discharging her, and the fact I won’t let her discharge herself. She’s still the stubborn woman she has been, but she is more tired than she is used to. I think even she is freaked out about it.