Total pages in book: 78
Estimated words: 77415 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 387(@200wpm)___ 310(@250wpm)___ 258(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 77415 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 387(@200wpm)___ 310(@250wpm)___ 258(@300wpm)
I worked my ass off. Went home. Blew off steam with my kid when he was there, and when he wasn’t, I enjoyed the peace and quiet. In a home that still wasn’t up to the standards that I knew Ellen had.
My phone buzzed again, reminding me of the message I received and ignored earlier, and I pulled it out.
My heart started to pound as I saw the number.
It didn’t have a name attached to it. But I didn’t need the name. I knew the number by heart. Had for fourteen years now.
I should.
I’d been ignoring the calls from that number for a very long time.
Though, at one point, I was weak and disconnected it, saying to myself that I wouldn’t keep reading those messages.
But I felt it was my due.
Felt that the least I could do was read those messages.
I’d left her.
I should have to read her sad words.
But, over the years, as her anger at me dissipated, the messages came slower and slower, but they were still there.
It was like hearing from an old friend.
I knew that, no matter what, they’d be there when I needed them most. Time and distance didn’t matter.
And this was the same thing.
At least on her end.
I never responded.
I couldn’t.
Just like I wouldn’t this time, even though her words tore a hole straight through my heart.
I hate the new you. I miss the old you.
I couldn’t help it then. I had to look up. Had to see her.
Her face was blank. No longer was the phone she’d been playing on in her hand. Now it was on the table beside her as she looked down at her hands.
And I blew out a breath.
“Shit.”
“What?” Linc shifted in his seat to stare at me.
I shook my head.
“That from your secret messenger who you still won’t tell me about?” he eyed my phone.
I pressed the home button and got rid of the message screen, then closed it completely before shoving it back into my pocket.
My son laughed, and I smacked him upside the head. “Get your cards, boy. And bring me mine, too.”
My son got up and reached for the cards that Tommy was holding out to him. He didn’t notice the sad way that Ellen watched him. Nor did he see the way her eyes flicked to me, and back to him, as if comparing the two of us.
I just looked at her, blank faced, and studied her right back.
When she was seventeen, she’d been curvy.
Now, at the age of thirty-one, she was much curvier. Her hips were round, and her breasts were a little larger. Her face wasn’t as angular as it once was, it was rounder, almost angelic.
But that didn’t detract from her beauty at all.
No, she was fucking stunning.
So stunning that it took my breath away every time I looked at her.
Even now, in a faded blue jean skirt and a solid black baby doll t-shirt, she was magnificent.
“Here, Dad,” Linc said, interrupting my contemplation of Ellen’s clothes.
I reached up and took the cards from him, smirking when I read the top card.
“Would you rather smoke weed in front of a cop or be slapped in the face by an angry mother who doesn’t want you dating her daughter,” I murmured, shaking my head.
That sounded too close to real life for me to read aloud.
The next one wasn’t much better.
Would you rather leave your significant other behind to live a full happy life without you, or would you rather stay together knowing that they’re going to die in five years and you’ll remain single for the rest of your life?
I frowned.
“Okay, this is how it works. The first person to go, which will be me, asks the person to his or her right a question. They have to answer one or the other. Then it’s their turn to ask the question. They choose a number out of this jar, and they ask the person that has that number the question. Simple enough, right?”
Tommy Tom got nods and grunts of understanding from the men, who looked less than pleased to be playing this game, and giggling laughter from the women.
I picked up my beer and took a healthy swallow, wondering if I could get out of this somehow.
I couldn’t read these questions to anyone.
Even worse, if I happened to pick Ellen, how the hell could I ask her something like what was on these cards without making her burst into tears?
Tommy Tom turned to Ellen, who was on his right, and grinned manically.
“Would you rather watch your mother using a vibrator, or never have an orgasm induced by a person of the opposite sex for the rest of your life?”
Ellen made a gagging sound, and my lips twitched.
Linc, of course, being the loud mouth that he was, said, “I’d rather watch my mother use a vibrator.”