Total pages in book: 24
Estimated words: 22480 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 112(@200wpm)___ 90(@250wpm)___ 75(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 22480 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 112(@200wpm)___ 90(@250wpm)___ 75(@300wpm)
She slows the truck. “You think he’s alright?”
“He’s fine,” I clip out. I hate it when she pays attention to other men. I want to be the center of her world and if I’m a bastard for that, so be it.
Maisy, a local woman that recently started working at the barber shop, appears on the sidewalk. She’s locking up the shop and side-eyeing Striker. She’s supposed to get married to someone else tomorrow. Something about saving her family’s farm.
He walks up to her and talks for a moment. Next thing I know, he’s scooped her up and tossed her over his shoulder.
“I think he just kidnapped her,” Wynter says, her voice filled with confusion.
“She’s OK,” I reassure my girl. I don’t know much but I’ve seen the way Striker looks at Maisy when she’s out in town. He worships the ground she walks on and she doesn’t even have a clue. Well, looks like he’s finally making his move. Good for him.
She laughs. “The crazy thing is I believe you.”
“What do you think?” I ask her later as she runs her hand along the granite countertop. In the past twenty-four hours, we’ve gone on two dates and made love three times.
I turned in my resignation this morning. I hated the satisfied gleam in Strickland’s eye, but I’m doing this for my woman and for the family we’re creating. That’s how I know I’ll never regret my decision to leave my job and my fire station family behind.
I’m still not sure how Wynter is going to keep her job. I suspect without me there as a buffer, she’ll be next on Strickland’s shit list. But I’ve talked to Camden and Lincoln. They’ll be witnesses if my woman has to take a discrimination case to court. We’re not going to let men like the chief with their sexist, outdated ideas about a woman’s place win. We’re dedicated to fighting for Wynter. She’s our co-worker and a member of the fire family.
“It’s a beautiful home,” she agrees. It’s more than that. It’s our future home. I can feel it in my bones. I saw it in the way she admired every bedroom. I could practically feel her naming kids to fill those rooms with. I’ve already told her that when she’s ready, I want to adopt, and she loved the idea. We want to take in foster kids that need a home and give them something permanent.
“Then let’s make an offer.”
The real estate agent that’s showing us the house is wandering in the living room. He hasn’t stopped texting since he walked in the door. He helps clients all over the area and I suspect he doesn’t much care for little Courage County with its rural location and high poverty rate. But it doesn’t matter if he looks down on the place I call home. My money is still green, and he’ll happily take his commission.
She shakes her head and hisses, “No one is going to give us a home loan. You’re unemployed.”
I’ve stopped trying to make decisions for her. That’s what got us into this mess. Now I tell her everything which means she knows that I turned in my resignation. But what she doesn’t know is that West called about an hour ago. She was in the shower when he offered me a job. That’s the great thing about a small town. You get down on your luck and next thing you know, someone is offering you a hand up.
“I’ll work at the Kringle place. West says they can use an extra set of hands and this is the perfect time of year to start. Their busy season is right around the corner.” It’ll be hard and grueling work. But it’ll support our family and that’s all I care about.
She frowns. She wasn’t happy with me for resigning but I’m not going to be the man that holds her back or damages her career. I can see on her face there’s something she wants to say but before she can, my phone rings. “You should answer that.”
I scowl at the mayor’s number and accept the call. “Kind of in the middle of something, Mayor.”
She raises her eyebrows and I realize this is something else I haven’t told her. Damn, there are a lot of things I need to tell Wynter. Including the fact that she’s my future wife. The ring box in my pocket feels like it’s burning a hole there.
I step closer to my woman and press the phone between us so we can both hear his words. “It’s bad, Dirk. Real bad. Worse than we thought. Chief Strickland has been sucking the county dry for years.”
“Sorry to hear this.” I am sorry about it. I wonder how many jobs will have to be cut and what the county will need to do to recover from this financial mess. How many citizens will have to go without needed emergency services because of this man’s crimes?