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)
“You threatening me?” I ask, and he holds up his hands. “You wouldn’t be stupid enough to do that.” I take a step closer to him, and he goes back a step. “Especially not in the middle of my shop. A shop that has surveillance cameras all around it.” His eyes show the surprise right before he laughs.
“Just two friends having a chat,” he backpedals. “Take care, buddy.” He slaps my shoulder with his hand. “Let me know if you remember anything.”
He turns and walks out of the garage. “I’m not going to tell you guys again,” I inform him before he walks out. “You show up again, I’ll have to go to the sheriff. He might not believe me, but with all the phone calls you’ve been making, plus this visit, it might pique someone’s interest.” His eyes go to slits. “Take care, Winston.”
Chapter Seventeen
EVERLEIGH
I’m taking the donuts out of the oil when my phone rings from the kitchen table. Wiping my hands on the dishrag, I walk over and look down, seeing it’s Ryan calling me. “Hello.” I put the phone on speaker before going back over to the donuts.
“Hey, Everleigh,” he says, “truck is ready.”
I gasp. “It’s been a week, and it’s already ready?”
“It was a group effort.” He chuckles. “Everyone was jealous I was working on something for Ms. Maddie, so they wanted to help out.”
I stop and blink. “What?” I ask again, not sure I heard what I heard.
“Yeah, I gutted the inside and then I did the paint outside. Tony did the inside with the cabinets and everything. Eddie made sure there was ventilation going on from the top. It was really a group effort.”
“That is—” I shake my head, almost in disbelief. “I don’t know what to say.”
“The keys are ready for you to pick her up,” he adds, “or if you don’t know how to drive it, I can move it to wherever you want.”
“I’ll swing by later and pay Brock,” I say, not looking forward to seeing him. Especially after what went down by the creek. Or better yet, what didn’t go down by the creek. I asked him the loaded question, and even though he gave me the answer, it didn’t make me feel any different than I did all those years ago. Instead, I was more angry.
“Not sure what he is going to charge you, if anything. You can take that up with him.” Ryan laughs.
“Thank you so, so much. I don’t know how to thank you.”
“You can buy me a coffee.” His voice is smooth, and I wait to see if I get anything from talking to him. For the past week, we’ve talked every single day, and I’ve waited to see if maybe it would pique my interest, but nothing. It was like I was talking to Oliver or Charlie. There was nothing there. It’s official, I’m broken.
“Coffee for life and maybe donuts,” I joke with him, making him laugh.
“Let me know what you decide,” he says.
“Will do.” I disconnect the phone and walk over to the stove, turning it on and then adding the glass bowl on top of the pot of boiling water to melt down my chocolate chips. I’m stirring it gently when the front door opens.
“It smells good in here,” Oliver declares, coming in dressed in jeans and a white T-shirt. Both his arms are tatted, and one of his hands holds a bike helmet. I smile at him as he comes into the kitchen and looks around. “Where is your mom?”
“Sulking in her room.” I motion with my head toward her bedroom. “She got snippy with me this morning when I told her she wasn’t helping me. It led to a long glare and a hiss before she stormed back into her room.”
“Oh, dear. I’m going to take her out today on the bike. Maybe she’ll be in a better mood.” I nod at him as he walks toward my mother’s bedroom.
Once the chocolate is melted, I walk over and grab the donuts that have been cooling on a rack before lifting one up, swirling the top in the chocolate, and placing it back down. I’m almost done when Oliver and my mother come out from her bedroom. I can see my mother’s cheeks are pink and Oliver has a smile on his face. “We are going to go out for a drive.”
“Sounds good.” I look at her. “Want to try one of the new donuts I made?” I ask. “It’s this new concept I was trying.”
“What do you mean?” my mother comes over and asks me.
“It was something I thought about. I rolled out the dough super thin, then added twenty of them to one, seeing how they would fry up. It looks like it’s stacked.” I show her the donut. “I’m wondering if they are lighter.”