Total pages in book: 98
Estimated words: 114647 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 573(@200wpm)___ 459(@250wpm)___ 382(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 114647 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 573(@200wpm)___ 459(@250wpm)___ 382(@300wpm)
I said a silent prayer of thanks that I’d remembered to slip on pants before coming into the kitchen. If what I guessed was true, this was James’ mother.
I was proven right in the next moment when she turned. Staring at me was an older version of Cheyenne. She had the exact same features that Cheyenne had. Only her hair had streaks of silver streaked in with the golden blonde.
Her smile lit up the room, and she held out her hand to me. Moving forward, I placed my hand in hers, and she yanked me into a hug every bit as exuberant as the ones I received from Janie.
“You must be the infamous ‘Loh I keep hearing about.” She smiled.
I laughed. “You must be Daina. Yeah, that’s me. My brother used to call me that when we were younger. When Janie started calling me that, that was the first time I’d heard it in nearly ten years; a blast from the past for sure.”
“Yeah, that’s my girl. At least you’re not called Big Grandma like I am.” She laughed, and then cursed when the smoke alarm started going off.
I grabbed a magazine off the kitchen table, and then walked to the shrieking alarm and started fanning it. “I’m an old pro at this. I cook, but I’m also forgetful. It’s hit or miss with me.”
“You’ve got me pegged as well.” She laughed. “I’m afraid you’re the last one up. Janie’s visiting with Kayla. James’ went off to his doctor’s appointment. Your father and brother disappeared around a half our ago and didn’t enlighten me on where they were going.” She explained.
She reminded me of a peppy blonde cheerleader, only about thirty years older. She was very beautiful. I could see how the powerful and magnetic Todd Masterson had snagged her up. She was everything I could hope to look like thirty years down the road.
“They do that.” I said as I walked towards the refrigerator and grabbed the milk. “They also do this secret crap, and whisper like little girls. Only now, James and Sam do it, too. So it’s like the boys club. No girls allowed.”
“Yeah, Max and James have always done that. Then the other boys came, and I haven’t been able to walk into a room without it silencing like a whore just entered a catholic church since.” She agreed.
I smiled at her comparison. “James mentioned something about needing to hire someone to mow the lawn. I was wondering if you had a lawn mower. If you do, I’ll do it myself.”
She set a plate of eggs and bacon down in front of me. Then grabbed me the ketchup, a fork, a napkin, and the pepper. “James told you what I liked before he left, didn’t he?”
She laughed. “That boy of mine is very efficient.”
“Thank you.” I said before digging in, just managing to ignore the little remembrance of last night, and his very thorough efficiency.
She sat down with her own breakfast. When I glanced at it, I understood how she was able to look fucking awesome. It was a half of a grapefruit, two pieces of whole wheat toast, and a cup of coffee.
She must’ve seen me eyeing her food with a disgusted look on my face, because she explained. “This isn’t my ideal breakfast. But once I hit forty, my metabolism took a nose dive. I’ve learned to eat healthy to make up for it. As for the lawn mower, it’s in the shed out back. Although, I want to warn you. It’s a long job. It took me over two hours to mow it when I was still doing it. I haven’t done it in four years, but the yard hasn’t gotten any smaller.”
“That’s okay. I’ve been needing exercise anyway. I haven’t been able to run for a while. I got my cast off two weeks ago, and haven’t worked up the courage to get back to the gym. Although, it looks like your son won’t let that one slip much longer. He wants me to learn some self-defense.” I said.
She nodded. “Gas is in the back of the shed. Careful of all my fabric. It’s a bit of a mess in there.”
The next twenty minutes was spent talking about Daina’s newest embroidery machine, and how expensive of an endeavor it was to pursue. She’d contemplated doing her crafts full time now that she was eligible for retirement, but was waiting until her next three contracts were up before she made any permanent moves.
Once breakfast was finished, she laughed happily when I gave my plate to Boris. “You’ve got a mini dishwasher.”
“Yeah, he’s just like a dog, I swear. He’ll even fetch.”
“I haven’t had any pets here since Cheyenne’s dog moved out. I can’t tell you how hard it is to have to scrub food off of dishes when you’ve had your own pre-washer to take care of that little chore for you for the last five years.”
After a few more minutes of gabbing about my fat cat, I went to James’ room to get dressed.
I stripped off my clothes that I’d worn to sleep, and tossed them on the foot of the bed. James bed wasn’t made, so I did that quickly before digging through the bag at the bottom of the closet for a thong and sports bra.
Once I was clothed in some tight fitting short shorts and a yellow racer back tank top, I made my way out to the back yard shed. The mower was easy to find, and even easier to start up. It was obviously well taken care of and rumbled to life after only the second pull. It put my own lawn mower to shame.
It was an hour into mowing the front yard that James’ bike pulled up, and he surged off it in a huff. I had to let the engine die before I heard what he was yelling over the loud mower.
“What the fuck are you doing?” He roared.
I raised my eyebrows at his foul mood, cocked my hip, and stared at him. I noticed, as he shot toward me that he was trying to hide his limp, but wasn’t quite successful. Which irritated me even more.