Total pages in book: 78
Estimated words: 73665 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 368(@200wpm)___ 295(@250wpm)___ 246(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 73665 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 368(@200wpm)___ 295(@250wpm)___ 246(@300wpm)
I also know it’s so wrong that it doesn’t feel so wrong that in my heart of hearts, I can’t stop missing her dad.
Chapter twelve
Rowleigh
Idon’t know about this.
“You don’t know about this.” My daughter is an uncanny mind reader. She’s driving the midsize SUV that I bought her for her sixteenth birthday. I’ve asked her every year if she wanted something new, but she doesn’t. She likes this. “I get it. It’s going to be fine.”
“She doesn’t know I’m coming.”
Mika blinks heavily lined eyes at me. “That’s the definition of a surprise.”
“What if she doesn’t want me in her house? Or in her life?”
“She told me she texted you.”
As we pull up to a red light, I study my folded hands in my lap with mad scientist-level intensity.
“You didn’t respond,” Mika adds.
“I didn’t know what to say. I didn’t know if I should respond,” I mutter.
“I read it. It was just friendly.”
Hey, Rowleigh. I just wanted to say that I’m sorry for getting you sick. Sharing is caring, but germs should be a solo affair. I hope you get better soon.
“I don’t think springing home renovations on someone is the kind of surprise they’ll enjoy.” I’m donkey balls at changing the subject, but Mika lets it go.
“We’ve been looking at photos for days. I know exactly what she wants, and I can return anything she doesn’t use. Right now, she has no budget to do this, but she needs it. Bellatrix is a lovely person, but lovely people sometimes get weighed down with the burden of all that loveliness. She never could tell people no, and she’s far too forgiving. People take advantage of that, or they see right through her. Her parents, some of her other friends, her boss, her ex-boyfriend… And he was the biggest piece of work ever. I was so happy when he finally gave her a good dose of his true colors. I’m not happy about what he did and how he did it, but I’m happy that she won’t waste any more of her life on him. She’s constantly finding out that nice people finish last, and I hate that for her. So, we’re doing this. We’re going to take her blah, boring, impersonal space and make it totally Bellatrixified.”
The entire back of Mika’s SUV is full of cans of paint, rollers, brushes, paint trays, and about a thousand rolls of wallpaper. She was going to buy flooring, but you need tools for that, like a truck, and flooring is more permanent than paint and wallpaper. Mika finally agreed that it would probably be best if Bellatrix chose the flooring herself.
We ride the next ten minutes in silence. I got back to Providence two days ago. I was jetlagged and exhausted, and I still wasn’t over the flu that turned into a cold. The only benefit of summer colds is that they seem to be brief, thanks to the humidity. As soon as I texted her that I was feeling better, Mika arranged a day off and told me that she was coming for me, so I had best cancel all my plans.
Since I was away for five days and then took another two off, I had a week of meetings planned, but all she had to do was ask, and I took another sick day.
Not a day for me.
For her.
Mika has never asked me for something like this. I thought coffee was special, so when she asked for an entire day, my heart nearly dropped out of my chest.
It didn’t matter that at those home goods stores, I was basically just there to push the cart and do the heavy lifting. Mika knew what she wanted. She was efficient and excited, practically bouncing all over the place while the paint was being mixed.
I loved every minute of her excited chatter and nervous, boisterous energy. She told me how Bellatrix has wanted to renovate her condo for years. Or even just paint it. Then, she told me more about Bellatrix’s mom and dad. I didn’t know Mika met Bellatrix in college. I thought their relationship was older than that, based on how tight they were.
When she went on a rant about how Bellatrix was fired, rage simmered in my chest so deeply and brutally that I felt like a high school volcano experiment about to explode, except it was soda and mints or dry ice, not a nice baking soda and vinegar combination.
I barely stopped myself from making some immediate phone calls to get the place shut down.
Mika said it was because they were downsizing, but her boss used me as an excuse. Losing a high-profile client didn’t look good, so they gave Bellatrix the boot with no severance.
“Do you think it would look terrible if I gave her a job offer?” I hope we have time to talk about this before we get to her place. I should have asked sooner, but I’ve been spending all this time sorting out my messy thoughts and emotions.