Total pages in book: 103
Estimated words: 99921 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 500(@200wpm)___ 400(@250wpm)___ 333(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 99921 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 500(@200wpm)___ 400(@250wpm)___ 333(@300wpm)
I gathered the revised plans I needed for my morning meeting and headed out to run some overdue errands. I would have to stop back at the office at some point later, but hopefully the gossip train would have moved to the next station by then and what I did this weekend would be forgotten.
Just as I arrived at the school to meet the electrical contractor, my phone chimed. I got a little too happy for my liking when I saw the name that popped up.
Josie: Morning! I didn’t hear you sneak out this morning. I just woke up a few minutes ago. Can’t believe how late I slept.
Feeling the need to play it cool, I decided to wait five minutes to answer. I made it two.
Fox: Must’ve been all the exercise you had this weekend… How you feeling?
I watched the dots bounce around feeling like a damn schoolgirl waiting for her crush to respond.
Josie: A little sore. You know…down there. But I’ll be fine.
I’d lost track of how many times I’d been inside her over the last few days. Other than stepping out yesterday morning to get some supplies and build a ramp for my mom’s friend, we’d spent the entire weekend in bed. But I’d thought she winced when I pushed in last night. I asked her if she was okay, and she said she was fine. I didn’t believe her, so I tried to pull out, but she wasn’t having it. She climbed on top and rode me so good, I almost believed I’d imagined the wince. Though after she fell asleep, I looked up how to treat soreness from too much fucking. Just in case, this morning I’d stopped by the drugstore and picked up supplies.
Fox: I left a bag in the mailbox that might help. Would’ve brought it in, but I wasn’t thinking and locked the door on my way out.
Josie: What is it?
Fox: Epsom salt and an ice pack. Throw the salts in a warm bath. Then ice pack ten minutes on, ten minutes off, for a half hour.
Josie: Oh my God.
Fox: What?
Josie: Is this a regular parting gift you leave your hookups?
I frowned at my phone. Didn’t like her thinking that.
Fox: I looked it up after you winced last night. Even though you denied that it hurt.
Josie: Oh.
Bill Merryman, the owner of the electrical company I was coming to bitch at for shoddy work, pulled into the parking spot next to me. He looked over and waved. I lifted my chin and went back to my phone.
Fox: Gotta run. Just got to the jobsite. Let me know if you need anything else. I can pick it up on my way home tonight.
Josie: Thanks. But I should be good. It was thoughtful of you to grab that stuff though.
Fox: Don’t spread the word I did something thoughtful. It’ll ruin my reputation in this town.
Josie: LOL! I won’t. Though I could do some pretty fast damage today. I don’t think I mentioned it, but I’m meeting my uncle at Rita’s Beanery. That place is a prime stop on the gossip trail.
Fox: How’d that come about?
Josie: We exchanged numbers when we met at the home-improvement store. He called and said he wants to get to know me better.
I frowned. Ray Langone was trouble. I didn’t trust him as far as I could throw him. But he was her family, and I’d already given my thoughts on the subject. So I bit my tongue.
Fox: Have a good one.
Josie: You, too.
The day got away from me after that. By the time I got back to the office, it was after four o’clock. Opal was on the phone with one of her cronies. From the sound of it, she wasn’t gossiping about me, this time at least. Though she probably only clammed up on that topic when she heard me come in. After a few minutes of her tsking alternated with some “Lord have mercy,” she hung up.
“Trying to change the old timers in this town is as useful as attempting to bend steel with your bare hands,” she said.
I had shit to finish up, so I wasn’t taking the bait this time. I sat at my desk with my head down to work on the lumber order I needed to place before the yard closed at five.
Not surprisingly, Opal didn’t take the hint. “I never understood gambling. I work too hard to hand my money over and risk it all on a horse.”
I didn’t engage. Still didn’t stop her…
She shook her head, talking at me instead of with me. “Don’t know how two people can be cut from the same cloth and be so different, either.”
I opened my laptop and shuffled some papers while it booted up to keep busy.
“How does Josie feel about her uncle Ray?”
Now she had my attention. I mentally flipped back through what she’d already said to play catch up. “Ray’s gambling again?”