Total pages in book: 24
Estimated words: 22030 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 110(@200wpm)___ 88(@250wpm)___ 73(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 22030 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 110(@200wpm)___ 88(@250wpm)___ 73(@300wpm)
“No worries, really. It’s really nice to meet you,” January says, extending her hand.
“Same. I’ll be in my room. Let me know when dinner is ready.” She leaves the room, leaving me alone with January. If Natalie hadn’t come home, I’d be kissing her right now, though I don’t know if I could have stopped at just kissing her.
“I, uh, can make dinner, if you want.” she says looking down at the floor. Did she want me to kiss her? I can’t stop thinking about her pouty lips and what they’d feel like under mine.
“Like real food?” I ask, without thinking.
“Yes, of course real food,” she says, laughing. Let me see what you have,” she says, going into the kitchen. She open the fridge and then cabinets looking through them. “What have you guys been eating?” she asks when she sees that there’s nothing cookable. She pulls out her phone.
“What are you doing?”
“Ordering some groceries. Any allergies or hates?”
“Not that I know of,” I say.
“Okay. Perfect. It will be here in twenty minutes.”
“I had no idea that you could order groceries and they’d come to the house.”
“Yeah. I hate grocery shopping. This is the best thing ever invented if you ask me.”
“I bet,” I say chuckling. “While we wait we could go through the list. It’s a big list.”
“Okay. What do you suggest?”
“I have a map of Texas and vital statistics. Maybe we can whittle this down some.”
“Okay, sounds good.”
After two hours, a delicious lasagna, salad, garlic bread. January brings out a pie. An honest to God homemade apple pie. I ‘ve never tasted anything so fucking good. She smelled like apples and cinnamon afterward and that made my mouth water even more for her. After going through this list, I’ve got cramped fingers, but we’ve gotten the list down from three hundred names to one hundred. I printed the list out by state at the VA.
“A hundred names sounds daunting, doesn’t it?” she asks, while we wash dishes.
“Yes, but we’ll take it one name at a time.”
“We. That’s right. I can’t believe that you want to help me.”
“I already told you why I want to help you, January. I wouldn’t do this if I didn’t want to, trust me.”
She rolls her eyes, but smiles at me. “Where should we start?” she asks, and I look over the list until I find what I’m looking for.
“Austin. It’s the closet place on the list,” I tell her.
“Austin it is,” she says, smiling. “I should find a hotel.”
“Stay here tonight. We have the guest room.” I put my hand over hers.
“Here?”
“Yes, stay here,” Natalie says coming into the room.
“Have you been eavesdropping again?” I ask, laughing.
“Of course. I’m thirteen. That’s what I do.”
“We can do facials. It’ll be so much fun,” Natalie says, squealing. She runs down the hallway and throws open her bathroom door so hard it slams into the wall.
“She seems excited.”
“Yeah, she and my mom used to do facials and their nails every Friday night.”
“Aww, that’s adorable. She must miss her terribly. I’d be happy to do that with her.” She puts her hand on my forearm.
“Thank you. We can leave as soon as I drop Nat off at school in the morning. It’s her last day of middle school and she’s spending the night with her friends, so we can take our time coming back.”
“That sounds perfect. Thank you for doing this with me, Olllie. I really appreciate it.” No one has ever called me Ollie before, and I find that I like it.
“No problem, Jan,” I say, smirking at her. I look down at the list on the counter, locating the name of the man in Austin. “You’re going to meet Graham Parker tomorrow.” You ready for that?”
“I’m ready.” Her excitement is palpable.
Good thing because I’m ready for whatever the future may bring.
CHAPTER
FIVE
JANUARY
THE NEXT DAY
“Do you have everything?” Oliver asks from the driver seat before pulling out of his driveway.
“Yep. I triple checked while you were driving Natalie to school.” He and I both agreed after going over the list last for the second time last night that him driving her to her last day of school was a big deal. I remember summer break and how much anxiety came with saying bye to the friends you weren’t going to see over break. Having a part of your routine not changed is important. Besides, I really like the girl. Hanging out with her last night was fun and my nails have never looked better.
“Alright then. Let’s make the three hour and six-minute drive to Austin.”
Once we get on the expressway and have been driving a ways, I ask him the question that has been bugging me. “How do you think I should approach him?” I am still not sure how to introduce myself or the reason I am bothering him.