Total pages in book: 91
Estimated words: 84250 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 421(@200wpm)___ 337(@250wpm)___ 281(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 84250 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 421(@200wpm)___ 337(@250wpm)___ 281(@300wpm)
"Have you considered reminding the customer why choosing to stay local would be best for them?" I ask.
"What do you mean?"
"Wine and dine them," I tell him. "Give them that Southern charm I know you're so good at."
He doesn't smile back at me. Instead, he scrunches his nose.
"I don't know how to freaking cook, and as good as Ruth's chicken and dumplings are on Mondays at The Brew and Chew, I doubt that will convince them to spend thousands more with Hammertime Construction than with whatever joe blow company has consistently underbid me the last couple of weeks."
"Get Riley Wilson to cook for you, and have them over to that amazing house of yours. Show them what quality craftsmanship looks like," I suggest.
He doesn't completely throw my suggestion away.
"Let me know if you need another beer," I tell him before going to help another customer.
Chapter 2
Claire
I fight the urge to give in to Nora as she just stares at me. She won't ask many questions, but she will give opinions for days even when no one asks for them.
Had I known what I was getting myself into when I showed up here over three years ago with nothing but a swollen belly and a marriage license, I might've stayed away. I hate that this woman has the power to make me wish I never stepped foot in Lindell because the rest of the town is sort of awesome in an outdated kind of way.
"I think it's best if you spend your evenings with her," Nora repeats after I just blink at her the first time she says it.
I swear the woman must think I'm either hard of hearing or slow on the uptake most days because I'm constantly fighting the urge to tell her off.
That's just one more thing that has changed about me since Larkin was born. Although my claws don't have any trouble coming out where she's concerned, my voice, the one that was always so quick to speak up for myself, has taken a backseat.
Larkin loves her grandparents, and there are more days than not that I have to remind myself that punishing them by keeping her away would also be punishing my daughter, and that just can't happen. The child is already being raised by a single mother who struggles most days. I wouldn't want to take people who genuinely care for her away, no matter how nosy and opinionated they might be.
"I do spend my evenings with her," I remind Nora while pointing to my watch. "Her bedtime is at seven thirty and it's currently seven fifteen."
"Doesn't really give us much time to visit," she says, that same air of judgment in her tone that has been present since the first day I showed up on her front stoop.
I'm not surprised Hux didn't tell his parents that he got married, so failing to mention that I was also pregnant shouldn't have come as a shock either. Hux didn't exactly get along with his parents. He didn't talk about them often, but he mentioned more than once that they were the reason he had joined the Army. I think it was more of a case of the Kennedys having spoiled him until he grew up into a selfish man before telling him to grow up and cutting him loose. I know it's a decision they've regretted every day since they got the call that he died in a training accident while in El Paso completing his AIT.
The Kennedys didn't have much care for me when I arrived in Lindell. In fact, they didn't even let me come in the house, much less offer to let their pregnant daughter-in-law stay with them until the paternity test proved that Larkin was biologically their granddaughter after she was born. I've always held a grudge against them for that, and I don't see it vanishing anytime soon. Even now, I'm standing on the porch while Larkin is inside playing with the overabundance of toys they've purchased for her.
"I'm going to be late," I tell her as I once again try to hand her the strap to Larkin's bag.
"I don't know that working at that bar is what's best for Larkin," Nora continues, still not taking the damn strap.
I place the bag at her feet. I could waste every hour of my life standing here listening to what Nora Kennedy thinks about my life choices, but that wouldn't pay my bills.
"I don't imagine I'll have to stick around for cleanup on my first night, so I'll pick her up about two-ish."
"In the morning?" Nora asks, as if I've just told her she would have to be presentable and ready to go live on television. "I think it might be best if you came and got her in the morning."
I think it might be best...