Total pages in book: 154
Estimated words: 142664 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 713(@200wpm)___ 571(@250wpm)___ 476(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 142664 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 713(@200wpm)___ 571(@250wpm)___ 476(@300wpm)
Before anyone could say anything, though, my phone went off again, and I got her attention. She excused herself and headed down as well, and I excused myself for following. “I’ll be right back.”
I’m not sure I was needed, but who knows. I’m not even going to ask her if she’s not going to warn her Dad that he was about to lose his house. I figure she knows what she’s doing and I’ll be there to back her no matter what either way.
I looked it up. The house is worth three-quarters of a million dollars. If she’s not going to bat a lash at that, then I will make very sure that I never piss her off because who knows what she’d do to me.
I guess I can understand her anger, though I’ve never had to deal with anything like it myself, and from what I’ve gathered so far, she’s very headstrong, but she doesn’t do anything without careful planning, though her reactions seem to say otherwise.
She grabbed my hand as soon as I got below deck as if she was waiting for me, or it was a given that I would join her, which I liked, and dragged me into the bathroom, though there was no one else in our room.
She was so excited her hands were shaking. We were just in time to see Helen answer the door, and the gentleman from the city, who looked bored out of his mind and was probably pissed about being called in to work on his day off, stood there for all of two seconds before he noticed what was going on behind her in the house.
It was even worse than a couple hours ago. Maybe because more than the thousand she’d asked for, I’d sent two, and those two thousand had been multiplied. He started writing on his little pad and then made a phone call, all while the woman was yelling and trying to close the door.
We watched in silence as he slapped something on the door and walked away. “That’s it?”
“You see that paper he just taped to the door? That’s the notice to vacate.”
“Then what happens?”
“You said you wanted it demolished.”
“With her in it? Can they do it with her inside?”
“Geez.” I pulled her up from the closed toilet seat where she was sitting. “No, they’ll give her time to leave, but she won’t be able to take anything with her unless an approved exterminator cleans it first; that’ll take time. By the way, you know your Dad is going to be billed for the demolition, right?”
“Serves him right. But can we pay extra to have them….”
“No, murder is off the books, especially now that you’ve got the city involved.” She seemed really put out by that, and I had to wonder.
“Dad’s going home tomorrow, I wanted it gone by then.”
“I know, but it’ll take a few days. They do have neighbors, and these things take time.” The truth is it’ll only take a few more days, but that was the best my people could do. It usually takes much longer than that, but I don’t think I’ll be getting any thanks from this one for all my hard work.
We went back to join the others, and she acted like nothing happened. I almost felt sorry for her Dad, knowing what he was going back to. The rest of the day was uneventful until it was time to go back to land and the going away dinner we had planned for her family’s last night.
Her Dad seemed kind of nervous, and I wondered if he’d caught wind somehow but I was soon to learn different. I’m not sure why they chose the night before we were set to go away to spring this on her, but I guess they had their reasons.
We were all sitting around the dining room table back at my place, having our after-dinner drinks, when her parents announced that they had something to tell her. I kind of knew what was coming, but she didn’t seem to have a clue.
I’m not sure what her Mom told her, if anything, while we were out to sea or if she even mentioned knowing that they had slept together since no one else mentioned it, but I wish that was all he was about to say.
“Alyssa, your Mom and I have something to say.”
“What? That you spent the night together?”
“How did you…. Never mind, no, it’s not that. Well, kind of. Your Mom and I are getting back together.”
No one said anything for the longest of seconds, and from the looks of it, her brothers didn’t seem too surprised, although the eldest looked worried.
“Aren’t you married?”
“Not for long. I’ve already had the divorce papers drawn up. There’s something else.” He looked at his ex-wife as if seeking help.