Total pages in book: 73
Estimated words: 67465 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 337(@200wpm)___ 270(@250wpm)___ 225(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 67465 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 337(@200wpm)___ 270(@250wpm)___ 225(@300wpm)
The thing is so ancient that it doesn’t have any sort of phone connectivity, but as soon as I get back home, I send a text off to Kimmy, telling her that everything is fine and she doesn’t have to worry.
Of course, she can’t just leave it at that. She has to call.
I pick up on the first ring, still sitting in the van, which is turning into a sweltering tin can because it’s hot and the AC died a long time ago. I crack a window in the driveway and lean my head out. “Hey,” I say casually, and I hope it’s a hey, I didn’t just hug your brother and have a freak out twenty minutes ago.
“So he said he’s not back for the company, and you believed him?”
“Yeah, I believed him.”
“Then why is he back?”
I sigh. The phone is so sticky against my ear, and my palm is so damp that it’s a combination that nearly slides the device down the side of my face. I don’t want to have this conversation in the house where my parents might overhear anything, so I put up with the heat. “I don’t know. He wasn’t in a talkative mood, but he did assure me that he wasn’t back to take anything from you.”
“He’s lying.”
“I don’t think he was.”
“I need proof.”
“Kimmy…” I have to bail. I spring open the door and tumble out, my clothes stuck to my body, clinging like a second skin. My arms are still tingling, and I think it’s from that hug earlier and not from impending sunstroke.
“He needs to write it down. Negate the will. Surrender all his rights or any claim or whatever.”
“Okay, so write something up. I’m sure he’ll sign it.”
“He won’t. Not if I give it to him. You’ll have to do it.”
“What?” I think we’re going straight into avoidance territory, and this is unhealthy. I know Kimmy missed Van, and she’s totally pissed he just abandoned her. I have no idea how to fix it, but me getting him to sign her paperwork probably isn’t going to do much of anything to fix their broken relationship. “I can’t do that. If you want him to come to any kind of meeting with you, you should set it up through lawyers and ask him to come and sign. I’m sure he would. Also, your Nanny needs help with her yard. We should go in a few days and plant those flowers. It wasn’t just me who promised.”
“Did you remember what I said about chainsaws and nuts? I’m not doing anything with Van.”
“Yeah, I remember, but you don’t have nuts or a chainsaw, so I guess you’re stuck with the alternative, which is to grin and bear it or help your grandma out and hope that he won’t be around.” Although, I really hope he will be around. And that he’s not mad that I dared to give him a hug, which is a way out of bounds thing for me to do.
“What happened?” Kimmy asks. “You have that hitch in your voice that you always get when you make bad decisions.”
“N—nothing. It’s just hot, and I’m sitting out here in the van so that my parents don’t overhear, and I’m boiling alive. I wanted to give you an update. Gotta go. See you at work on Monday.”
“Remi, wait—”
I hang up, leaning hard against the van’s door. I’m panting, boiling in my own skin, and it’s not entirely the weather’s fault, even if it’s unseasonably hot today. I’m still wearing my sunglasses, and they’re melting off my face. Okay, so maybe the van did cook me alive a little on the way back, but that hug. Oh my god, that hug. I don’t think I’m ever going to get over it. A different Van scrambled my brain, ovaries, and lady bits before I ever got in the van.
And that’s a real problem because I don’t need to add any fuel to the I haven’t gotten over Van fire, especially because he was only ever just Kimmy’s big brother. It was a silly, immature crush and not something that is worthy of not being able to get over. I’m not some crazy person, and I’ve certainly never done a face swap. It’s not my fault that I haven’t gotten it right with anyone yet.
Whatever. After that surprise hug, which was probably a little too much like the surprise party, I’m pretty sure he’ll go out of his way to avoid me for however much longer he plans on sticking around here, and then sadly, all my little crush problems will be solved.
CHAPTER 7
Van
I’m so tired of being lonely. I’m like this giant burning ball of blazing loneliness. An island of loneliness. I emit it like the sun emits fucking gamma rays. Or does it emit that? Maybe it’s UV I’m thinking of. God, how can I be thirty years old and not know this?