Total pages in book: 128
Estimated words: 122097 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 610(@200wpm)___ 488(@250wpm)___ 407(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 122097 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 610(@200wpm)___ 488(@250wpm)___ 407(@300wpm)
“You were watching?”
“From the car.”
“You wimp.”
“You know how I hate confrontation. I just… I don’t want him to know why I really have that stuff.”
Rosie makes a serious face. “I get it. I’ll push the story to Amon tonight.”
“Tonight? Are they staying in town or something?”
“Apparently they bought the old coal-mine compound.”
“What? You mean the church camp? Does that mean he’s back for good?”
“For good. Amon says they’re opening up some kind of private security company and West Virginia is home base.”
“Security. Is that what they’ve been doing since they got kicked out of the Marines?”
Rosie shrugs. “Dunno. So… you goin’ pickin’ today?”
“Nah.” I point at the computer. “I’m gonna finish adding all this stuff to the website and then meet Bryn for lunch in Bishop. I’m starting the trip tomorrow.”
Rosie grabs a bunch of binders and a stack of photographs and takes them over to a Fifties dinette set in the middle of the store, plopping them down with a thump. “Well, let me know if you need anything. I’ll be here all mornin’.” She pops a cassette tape into the nearest boombox sharing the table, presses play, and begins to gyrate to the beat of ‘We Got The Beat.’
My head hurts and I can’t do the Go-Go’s this early in the morning, so I save my work and go into my office to finish.
Adding all this stuff to the website is so stupid. I mean, why do I care? It’s Collin Creed. I’ve hated him for more than a decade now. Why should I rearrange my day over his stuff in my house?
It just burns me. I mean, I know it looks bad and I’m sure he’s picturing me yearning for him all these years, so I just can’t have that. I can’t let that be the final impression of me in his head.
Not after what he did to me back in high school.
He broke my heart.
And then he left town.
I didn’t mean anything to him and so… he sure as hell doesn’t mean anything to me, either.
My sister Bryn is the head chef at the Bishop Inn. Which is where I was supposed to stay last night. I still don’t understand how I got home and how Collin and I ended up in bed together.
Obviously, we didn’t do anything. I still had my boots on when I woke up.
But I need the whole story and Bryn barely had time to drive over to the motel on Route 60, chew Collin out, and then chew me out as she raced us into Bishop so I could pick up my truck at the bar and she could still get to work on time. She said she had receipts—text messages and screenshots, and, unfortunately, a vid one of her co-workers sent to her around one a.m.—but she wasn’t in the mood to go over it then, so that’s why I’m driving back to Bishop to have lunch with her.
It would be better to not fill in the blanks. To just move on and chalk it up as just another wild night on the Day. But it’s Collin Creed and he’s not leaving town, he’s staying.
I need to know the details. Even if I will hate myself when it’s over.
The Bishop Inn is everything you imagine a B&B to be. A large eleven-bedroom Victorian home that has been lovingly restored and cared for over the years, boasting dark hardwood floors and trim, fancy embellishments, and way too much wallpaper.
People love it though. It doesn’t attract superstars or anything, but it is a favorite place for local couples to get away from the rat race on the weekends. Bryn has been working at the inn since she was in high school. She was a maid at first. Then Bryn helped Mrs. Maroo in the kitchen—back when she did all her own cooking—and she even helped Mr. Maroo in the gardens for a summer. After Bryn finished chef school, Mr. Maroo decided he and Mrs. Maroo needed to see the world, so their thirty-something son, Michael, became the concierge, their daughter-in-law, Jessica, took over bookings, and my sister, Bryn McBride, became the new head chef.
That was one of the best days of my life. Watching Bryn grow up and make her dream come true like that—it was amazing. She’s wanted to be a chef since she was nine. When I was nine, I wanted to be a veterinarian. And I know that almost no one grows up to be what they thought they would be when they were nine, but my sister did it.
It’s special, I think. I’m not bitter about my non-existent veterinary career. The hours are horrible and the pay isn’t great. I’m just really impressed with my sister’s fortitude and focus. She’s always been a take-charge kind of girl and that’s why I enlisted her to go lie to Collin and tell him that bullshit story about why I still have his stuff.