Total pages in book: 70
Estimated words: 65335 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 327(@200wpm)___ 261(@250wpm)___ 218(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 65335 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 327(@200wpm)___ 261(@250wpm)___ 218(@300wpm)
“No! No, need for that. Anyway, we were walking down the street together one day, and these movers were moving a piano, and it…uh, fell off the crane thing they were using and almost crushed us. I think that was justice enough. It was a smaller-sized piano, and it was painted all cool by some local artist, but still.”
“Argh, what?”
“Yeah, it’s true.” Ayana nods. “For real.”
“Do I need to recount all the other incidents? The fact is, I’m unluckier than anyone I know. I’ve had so much crazy shit happen to me. And guys? Don’t even get me started. I’m an asshole magnet. Those are the only people I attract. I’m pretty sure the universe hates me. Things only started to change after I was kidnapped—and by kidnapped, I mean lightly taken by mistake because they thought I was Ayana, and in the end, I understood I was in no real danger, so it for sure didn’t mess me up psychologically one way or the other—and I met…uh…met Lennox.”
“He was gone for months before we had Maya,” Ransom protests. He doesn’t offer to fill me in on where Lennox, their granny, and their other brothers—the twins—had gone. I know they’re not doing shady stuff because Ayana would never stand for that. She’s the best person I know, and her moral compass is insanely on point. Whatever they’re doing, it has to be good.
I gather my sandy blonde mane and throw it over my shoulder before twisting one strand compulsively around my finger. “I…I know. I definitely wasn’t as lucky, and then when I saw him again when he was back, and we were in the hospital room with everyone else, but also kind of together, I brushed his shoulder just to kind of test my theory, and you know what? The next day, I shit you not…the next day, I got a call from the power company, and they’d screwed up my bill for the past six months, so I received this massive credit. That was followed up by Dad gifting me the family sedan because they got a newer one and telling me he was going to teach me how to drive. Right after that, I was walking during my lunch break, and I found that dresser that someone had thrown out on the curb—that amazing antique one—and the next day, right after that, I found twenty bucks on the sidewalk. See? It can’t be random. Lennox is good luck. For me. There’s something about him and…and I really, really need this.”
I put on my big eyes and my I’m very sad, please have mercy on me face, and I can tell that Ayana is caving. She’s forgotten all about her club, which is dangling from her hand, and all about the ball sitting on the pink golf tee in the grass. I stick my lip out and let it tremble a little. She snorts, but it turns into a giggle.
“Alright, alright! We haven’t told you where Lennox is working because, honestly, I was scared you’d try and go there every day and inhale the same air or try and bump shoulders again….”
I let out a shriek of disbelief. Don’t call anyone a butthole. That would be inappropriate. Especially don’t use the word puckered. “He has a business here, and you didn’t say anything?”
“Well, he’s…” Ayana and Ransom share a look. One of those mushy, I seriously get you because I’m your soulmate, and you’re mine, and we have a dark and broody secret kind of look. “Yeah, he just opened up a store a month ago.”
I have to say I’m speechless, and it takes me a long minute to recover. It’s a good thing the golf course is virtually deserted right now because we’re taking a good long time at hole six. “He’s running his own store? That means he’s staying here? In San Diego?”
I couldn’t believe Lennox was back when Maya was born. I mean, I could, but I thought it was just for the birth, seeing as how the granny and the twins were also there for Ransom, as well as his other brother, who I hadn’t met, and his fiancée. I thought there was no way Lennox was going to be sticking around. The fact that he’s been here for a month but Ayana and Ransom haven’t said anything? Seriously? For real? I thought he was just back in town for the weekend, maybe a little longer, and was doing them a solid by babysitting because he’s a good uncle.
I don’t really know anything about anything. That’s the most frustrating bit.
“A store?” I repeat. “What kind of store?”
Ayana lets out a cough and throttles the grippy handle of her golf club with both hands, even though she’s nowhere near the tee or her ball. “Uhhhhhhhhh, it’s a pawnshop, actually.”