Total pages in book: 69
Estimated words: 69577 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 348(@200wpm)___ 278(@250wpm)___ 232(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 69577 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 348(@200wpm)___ 278(@250wpm)___ 232(@300wpm)
“Okay…” I said as I walked out of the gym and didn’t look back.
People like that really got under my skin.
I guess since I’d had to deal with my own mother’s bullshit my entire life, and my ‘father’ only coming around when he remembered he had kids, I didn’t have much patience for parents who didn’t try with their kids.
When I had kids—if I ever had kids—I would make sure that they knew they were always my priority. And, if shit hit the fan and didn’t work out with their mother, I would fight tooth and nail to make sure that they knew they were important to me. I would get along with their mother even if it killed me, because I didn’t want my kids to ever think that they were second best.
I made it to my truck and was heading toward the main road when I passed the coffee shop.
Making a split-second decision, I braked hard and pulled in, heading into the store without giving much thought to what I was doing.
The bells over the door jingled as I opened it, and the smell of coffee and pastries hit me all at once.
My stomach gave a rumble at the smell of confectioners’ sugar, and I walked up to the counter with my eyes already on the display case.
“What can I get you?” the female voice asked.
I looked up and nodded at the blonde-haired woman. “Well…” I hesitated. “Any way you might know Birdee Calvert’s order?”
The blonde-headed woman’s head tilted. “I sure do.”
“I’ll take that, whatever she usually gets, and a black large coffee. All of it to go,” I rumbled.
The blonde got to work.
I studied what she put in the cup.
Hot milk. Caramel. Vanilla syrup. Brown sugar syrup.
“What is that?” I wondered as she set it down in front of me.
“Birdee doesn’t do caffeine,” she said. “It messes with her heart. So she found out when she was in high school and early college that she could have almost all of the same tastes of a latte without the coffee in it.”
“You know her well?” I asked curiously.
The woman smiled, and the lines around her eyes let me know that she was probably a little older than me, even though her face didn’t show many signs.
“She worked here for a long time. Until she started that job at the anti-venom office.” She waved her hand. “I was sad to see her go. She was one of my favorite employees.” She looked around at her shop. “It’s hard to find someone that wants to work so early. But Birdee was the best. She never complained. Just got up and worked her butt off. Every holiday. Every early morning shift. Every late evening shift. She was always here. I think she has the all-time overtime award with me.”
She placed several pastries into a box, then looked at me. “Are you eating any of these?”
I grinned. “Nope. I don’t do sugar this early in the morning.”
She rolled her eyes. “You’re one of those, aren’t you?”
“Those?”
“Those,” she confirmed. “The weirdos who think sugar is bad.”
I flashed her a grin as I handed her my card. “I’ll eat sugar just fine, ma’am, but not this early in the morning. It makes me need to shit, and I don’t really like having to do that in the woods without toilet paper readily available.”
The woman’s mouth twitched. “At least you’re honest.”
I shrugged.
“That’ll be thirty bucks. I gave you the Purdy discount, though.” She chuckled.
“How much would it’ve been if I didn’t have the Purdy discount?” I paused. “What’s the Purdy discount?”
“Fifty. My scones are expensive and will sell out in about ten minutes. I always put some to the side in case Birdee makes it in, but it’s not all that often anymore since she lost her car. We’re too far away for her to ride all the way over here,” she said. “And the ‘Purdy’ discount is for Birdee. Purdy Birdee.”
Purdy Birdee. I liked that a lot.
“How about you keep settin’ them aside, and I’ll pick them up for her,” I suggested.
She studied me. “Who are you to her?”
“A friend,” I admitted.
At least, I was trying to be.
“A friend.” She took in my appearance. “My Purdy could use one of those. She doesn’t have too many of them.”
With that she looked behind me to the next customer, and I knew that I was dismissed.
I liked her, though.
Gathering the coffees and pastries, I headed back out to my work truck.
The cold hit me like a slap in the face, and once again I cursed the weather.
As an Alabama native, I’d never seen temperatures like I did in Northwest Montana.
I mean, sure, I’d heard that the winters were brutal, but until you experienced one firsthand, you wouldn’t have a clue.
I was shivering by the time I got to my truck and started it up.