Total pages in book: 127
Estimated words: 129951 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 650(@200wpm)___ 520(@250wpm)___ 433(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 129951 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 650(@200wpm)___ 520(@250wpm)___ 433(@300wpm)
I blinked.
He walked out of the studio.
CHAPTER 13
THE CALL
I swam out of sleep Wednesday morning, bleary-eyed and still tired, to what appeared to be a day struggling to be sunny in England, with Snowball, Gingerface and Prue’s (but really Chassie’s) long-haired, white and gray tiger-striped cat, Floofy, hanging with me.
I’d met Floofy last night while I was teaching the girls how to play euchre in the games room.
Tempie was vicious, gloating with every trick she took.
Chassie, my partner, was surprisingly sly.
So much so, she and I won the best of ten we were playing.
It was a blast.
And Floofy was seriously…floofy.
“This book is going to kill me,” I told the cats.
I rolled to my back and looked to the smart screen to see it was six fifty-eight.
I then stared at the canopy, stroking cats if they were in reach, and going over the last two days.
Battle left Monday morning, very early.
He didn’t say goodbye, as such.
But I did wake up to a text from an unknown number that said, Didn’t want to wake you. I’ll see you Thursday. The girls will be on the return train. You’ll be riding back with me.
So I guessed Battle had my number, and it was clear he could be bossy in texts too.
Sexy bossy with that whole “riding back with me” bit.
I didn’t even think he knew how teasy he was being with some of it. It was just him, like his brown eyes or his hot guy height.
It was crazy awesome.
And it was doing my head in.
I programmed him in, replied, Righty ho, Your Grace. Be safe out there, then set about my plan of alternately cramming on Talyn history and figuring out how to get the girls to London.
With Prue, I would find, it was easy.
When the topic was addressed by Tempie over cocktails Monday evening, Prue simply clapped and cried, “Oh yes! I can finally meet François!” She turned to me and shared, “He makes most of my clothes. I’ve always wanted to meet him, and he works out of his boutique in London.”
For her part, Chassie was watching Prue’s excitement with eyes that I could tell, behind them, her brain was working hard to come up with an excuse not to go.
Thus, I chimed in, “I always wanted to go to Kew Gardens. It’s one place I’ve never had the time to see when I’ve been over here. I know it’s a bit out of the way of all the good shopping and stuff, but I’d love to visit. Do you think we could fit that in?”
“Of course,” Tempie drawled smugly while Chassie made a scrunch face of frustration.
Prue clapped again and said to Chassie, “Oh, you get to go to Kew. You love the botanical gardens!”
And with that, Chassie was apparently foiled for an excuse, though I didn’t think the battle was won. There were still two days she could dream up reasons not to go.
“I’ll ask Fitzy to book our tickets on the train,” Tempie said, and finalized, “Sorted.”
At least it was for then.
In order to make up for lost time, I told them I was on a roll, so after dinner, I headed back out to the studio, read and took notes, enhanced my outline and jotted down ideas until almost midnight, when I trudged back to the house, cleaned my face, brushed my teeth and fell into bed.
The same thing happened yesterday after we finished euchre. Though, last night, I got into it, so it was after one in the morning before I came back to the house.
But I was making progress.
Though, it would appear I’d have to dream up even more of Harmony and Charlie’s story than I thought I would, because I’d definitely hit the WWII time period, and I wasn’t finding anything.
And in the now, I had to make more progress.
Doing it missing Battle, as I had for the last two days.
What could I say?
The guy had gotten to me.
Seriously.
I had to admit, I’d looked forward to seeing him at cocktails and eating dinner at his side, and it sucked he wasn’t around.
God help me.
“Are we ready to rumble, babies?” I asked.
None of the felines answered.
Since none of them was lying on me, I rolled out anyway.
But they followed me.
I was in the studio with Snowball and Gingerface.
Yes, I had Prue’s permission to bring them with me. I had to seek it out because they’d taken to following me, which made it nigh on impossible to get out the door with them trying to escape with me.
But since I didn’t know if they were indoor or outdoor, and I didn’t want to introduce the outdoors if they were in, I had to find Prue.
She was in the attic.
I sensed she sensed I needed to work, so she hadn’t pressed my visit to this space.
But once me and the cats got there, I was thrown.