Total pages in book: 106
Estimated words: 101398 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 507(@200wpm)___ 406(@250wpm)___ 338(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 101398 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 507(@200wpm)___ 406(@250wpm)___ 338(@300wpm)
“I don’t really know. But, like, assistant things, I assume.”
“Wow. You got a job working for Bennett Bishop.” Her smirk is aggravating. And she doesn’t even know about the stupid kiss! Somehow, everyone in town managed to be somewhere other than Earl’s parking lot that day.
“Josie, it’s just a job.”
She nods. “Uh-huh. Just a job. With the guy who rescues you from scary exes and—”
“It is just a job.”
“Yeah. I know.”
I frown. “You implied differently.”
She laughs. “Can I assume you’ll start contributing to groceries while you’re living here since you’re a billionaire now?”
I snort. “Shut up.”
She grins, but then her mouth straightens in a slightly serious way. “Listen, I don’t want to ruin the mood, but there’s something else I think I need to tell you.”
Immediate dread settles in my stomach. “What?”
“Mom called me today,” she states bluntly, her gaze holding steady on mine.
“Mom called you?”
“She called CAFFEINE, actually. She wanted to know where you were.”
Oh hell.
“What did you tell her?”
“I told her I didn’t know,” Josie answers without hesitation. “From where I stand, it’s none of her business where you are or what you’re doing.”
Instantly, my breaths start to get easier.
“Did she say anything else?”
“It’s Eleanor. Of course she said other shit.” Josie shrugs. “Doesn’t mean I listened or believe her.”
“Did she mention anything about Thomas coming to Red Bridge and Bennett hitting him?”
Josie just nods but doesn’t give me anything else.
I can only imagine my mother’s point of view on the whole Thomas debacle. Surely it’s all my fault, and the golden boy didn’t do anything wrong. He might not be her biological child, but they’re two peas in a self-involved, narcissistic pod.
“So…I take it she had some not-so-nice things to say about me, then?”
“Don’t take it personally,” Josie responds with a gentle smile. “Eleanor Ellis is the most judgmental woman on the face of the planet. Amazing how everyone she encounters is the crazy one. Seems to me there’s a common denominator she’s excluding.”
She’s not lying. Our mother never turns the harsh judgment on herself, even though she needs to.
“Norah, I’m hoping one day soon, you’ll tell me the whole story. I’m your sister. I want to be there for you,” Josie adds and leans forward to pick up one of the moving boxes on her porch. “Now, let’s start helping these guys get all these boxes inside so they’re not here until midnight.”
She doesn’t push any further. Instead, she carries one of my boxes into the house, and I follow her lead, picking up another box and carrying it inside.
When I catch up with her, I ask one more question, though it doesn’t have anything to do with our mother.
“Hey, Josie?”
“Yeah?”
“Did…did you know Bennett has a daughter?”
Her face softens, making it instantaneously clear that she did. “Yeah. He tell you about her?”
“I met her.”
Her eyebrows shoot to her hairline. “You met her?”
“Yeah.”
She shakes her head. “Wow. I’m surprised.”
Frown lines sink into the skin at the corners of my mouth. “Well, it’s not like I gave him much choice. I just showed up at his house, demanding to know about the job. I just…needed an answer. To be fair, I had no idea he was the artist, though.”
“Tread carefully there, okay?” she says then, surprising me.
“What do you mean?”
She shakes her head and purses her lips before letting out a sigh. “Forget it. Bennett’s a good guy, and it sounds like he’s going to pay you handsomely. The job’ll be great.”
Her cryptic warning would normally put me on edge, but today, I have to admit, I’m too tired to care. I got a good job that’s going to pay me well, and I don’t want to taint it with anything else.
And just think, all you need to do is find a way to work for Bennett Bishop without it ending in disaster.
I still can’t believe he’s the mystery artist. I figured he did something that required sweat and brute strength. But an artist? Color me shocked. And incredibly curious…
Scrambling to my bedroom, I ignore the mess of moving boxes, drop the box in my hands on the bed, and pull out my phone. I’m pulling up Google not even a minute later and typing my new boss’s name into the search bar.
In an instant, millions of results come up. A Wikipedia page. New York Times articles. Interviews. Gallery reviews. Auction houses like Sotheby’s and Christie’s.
Bennett Bishop is, in fact, an artist. A very successful artist with a very famous past.
I tap on his Wikipedia page and scan the first few paragraphs.
Who is Bennett Bishop?
Bennett Bishop is an American artist and son of Henry Bishop, owner of Bishop Galleries, and grandson of the late Harold Bishop, founder of Bishop Galleries. He is one of the Young American Artists (YAA) who dominated the art scene in the United States during his late teens and early twenties. At age twenty-five, he was reportedly one of the United States’ richest living artists.