Total pages in book: 67
Estimated words: 60864 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 304(@200wpm)___ 243(@250wpm)___ 203(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 60864 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 304(@200wpm)___ 243(@250wpm)___ 203(@300wpm)
As the last table in my section left and I went over to clean it off, grabbing the tip and stuffing it down into my apron, I let out a giant sigh of relief. Maybe the tips weren’t great, and maybe my stomach hurt a little from the stress, and maybe I realized I hadn’t eaten in several hours, but at least I’d made it. I’d made it through the shift and didn’t break down, didn’t run away and give up. I pushed through, and that was something to celebrate, even a little bit inside my own mind.
Derek had unlocked the door to the office for me as I made it back to the back, and I was stuffing my money into the bag with my back to the door when he reached out to touch my shoulder. I jumped, even though I knew it was him somewhere in the back of my mind. When I spun over to see him, his hands were in the air, palms up.
“Sorry,” he said. “I just came back to ask if you had a place to go tonight?”
I shook my head before I could think of a lie. I didn’t want to put him out any more, and Ally had already left hours ago to go home to her fiancé and daughter. Charlotte had left too, just before I went into the office, and I was planning on just finding some way to survive the night ahead on my own.
“I’ll figure something out,” I muttered.
“Nah,” Derek said. “I have a spare room at home. Come on.”
I stared at him as he walked away, but it wasn’t like he gave me a choice either. He offered, and I had nowhere else to go. I shrugged and followed him. At least it was a better option than sleeping in my car.
11
DEREK
She seemed so small in the cab of my truck, her hands folded in her lap as she leaned against the window. Her whole body seemed to have shrunk once the door was shut. I could see the fear and the hurt in her body language and wanted to make her feel safe as best I could, but this entire idea was probably the stupidest thing I had ever done. I was inviting a full-on stranger into my house, and not just that, but one that was clearly on the run from her own family.
Then I thought about my grandparents and how they would literally rise from the grave to whup my ass if I didn’t try to help. It was a calling card of theirs, to help people. They could be best described as aggressively charitable. Our whole lives they went out of their way to help others. Charities got regular donations, they operated a food drive during the winter months—hell, even a couple of the older employees had my grandparents cosign on home loans. One of them went underwater when I was much younger, and I remembered Grandpa just paying it off. It meant things were tight for a year or so, but he told us we were privileged to have what we had. We could help others.
I glanced to the side again and noticed how she seemed not to be paying any attention to where she was. Her eyes were glazed over as her head rocked slowly on the window, her forehead resting against it gently. The light glanced off her emerald-green eyes, but they looked like they saw nothing.
“Do you want some music?” I asked, breaking the silence.
“I don’t mind,” she said. “I’m fine either way.”
She didn’t look fine. Her shoulders were hunched, and she pulled her legs together, her ankles crossed. If she could, she would probably have her knees on her chest and her feet on the seat. It was like she wanted to make herself as small as possible.
We pulled into the house, and Jodi seemed to come out of the spacy trance she was in. It was amazing to me that she wasn’t more concerned with where she was going. Whatever her brother represented must have been extremely threatening if she was willing to just go home with her boss. Either that, or she was an extremely good judge of character. I knew the implications of having a woman come home with me, especially one who was in such a bad place. A terrible person would take advantage of that. I wasn’t a terrible person. But how did she know that?
As was usually the case, I probably had Ally to thank for that. Still, I was on edge just a little to make sure I didn’t do or say anything that could be considered inappropriate. She was under enough stress—the last thing she needed was thinking I was some creeper.
I opened her door, and she stepped out, carrying her bags close to her. I reached out to take one, but she either didn’t see it or ignored me. I got the impression it may have been the latter, and as much as it might have offended me, I understood. They probably represented her entire world, those two bags. I wouldn’t let anyone else touch them either if I were her.