Total pages in book: 59
Estimated words: 60131 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 301(@200wpm)___ 241(@250wpm)___ 200(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 60131 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 301(@200wpm)___ 241(@250wpm)___ 200(@300wpm)
Her face paled.
“That’s what I thought.” I squeezed Olivia’s hand. “Let’s go.”
TWENTY FOUR (B)
HARLOW
The following morning
Olivia approached me as I prepared breakfast. Out of habit, she’d put on her uniform and grabbed her bag.
Leaning against the counter, she watched me mix batter before clearing her throat.
“Miss Hawthorne?”
“Yes?”
“If I’m not going to school anymore, what am I supposed to do all day?”
“You’re not getting away without any school, Olivia.” I flipped a pancake. “We have to find a better one, so I scheduled some tours at other academies. I figure with a twenty-one-day gap, you can take your time picking which one you want.”
“In the meantime,” I said, tasting the syrup, “we’ll fill our days by giving you a whole new start. We’ll decorate your room, do some shopping and sightseeing with your uncle’s credit card, and you can hang out with me and the twins whenever you feel like it.”
She blinked.
“Pancake?” I held it out for her, and she carried it to the table.
To my surprise, she helped with the twins for the rest of the day.
TWENTY-FIVE
PIERCE
Thirty Cold Showers & Fifteen Aprons Later
(Translation: Two & a half Weeks)
It was official.
The world around me was no longer under my control.
I’d lost count of how many times I’d had to use the players’ locker room for cold showers because every time I came home and saw Harlow, it felt like she belonged there.
Worse, I wanted her to be.
“Pierce?” Brian shook my shoulder. “Pierce!”
“Huh? What?”
“What the hell are you doing?” He shook my shoulder again. “Get up before the camera pans this way again.”
I followed his instructions, letting reality dissolve over the last seconds of my daydream.
Black and silver confetti strands were falling from the rafters onto the floor, and the fans weren’t screaming, “sell the team.”
Yet.
“What the hell is going on?” I asked.
“We won!” he said. “We fucking won! No matter what happens the rest of this season, we’re starting off the first season in eight years with a W!”
Not believing it, I looked up at the scoreboard.
92-93.
The camera panned to me, and I waved via the Jumbotron.
“Booooo!” “Fuck youuuu!” “Boooo!”
I laughed. The jeers weren’t as loud as usual, so this was a promising start.
* * *
Later that night
I pulled my car in front of the condo and tossed my keys to the valet.
“Congratulations on a good start to the season, sir.” He smiled at me.
“Thank you, Ryan. Any updates for me?”
“Only one.” He pulled an envelope from his pocket and handed it to me. “The director from Gershwin Theater dropped by earlier to give you those tickets.”
“Just because?” I asked.
“No, sir.” He smiled. “She mentioned meeting Miss Hawthorne and the kids last night at the Harry Potter Broadway Show, and she wanted to invite them to see Wicked whenever they wanted.”
“How generous of her,” I said. “I’ll be sure to--Miss Hawthorne took my kids out of Manhattan at night?”
He nodded, smiling. “They set up a special area for them once they realized who they were. They should be back from tonight’s Aladdin show at any moment.”
“I see.” I clenched my jaw. “Send me a text the moment the car pulls up, please.”
“Will do.”
TWENTY-SIX
HARLOW
Acache of designer shopping bags separated me and Olivia on the backseat.
The twins were fast asleep in their car seats, exhausted from a two-hour show they couldn’t understand.
For some odd reason, Olivia hadn’t said much to me today, so I was convinced she was days away from drifting back into the seas of hating me.
If that were the case, I was more than ready to launch a white flag and surrender.
“I really enjoy hanging out with you, Miss Hawthorne,” she said as we stepped out of the car. “I hope it doesn’t have to end when I start a new school.”
“You mean that?”
“Yeah.” She nodded. “I don’t think the twins enjoy the shows as much as me, but they always need the sleep.”
“I agree.”
“If I pick St. Anne’s and join their poetry club, will you come see me perform?”
“I’ll reserve a permanent seat in the front row.”
She smiled, and I let out a sigh of relief.
When we walked into the living room, Pierce was pacing by the windows.
“Hey, Uncle Brooks!” Olivia rushed to him for a hug. “I bought you something for your birthday while we were out shopping!”
“I look forward to opening it this weekend.” He kissed her forehead. “Go change clothes so we can have dinner with Brian and Denise.”
“I’ll be ready in twenty.” She let him go and waved at me before disappearing down the hall.
“The twins have been sleeping for the past two hours,” I said. “They’ve had a pretty long day.”
“I could’ve sworn I told you that taking my children outside of Manhattan, especially during nighttime hours was out of the question.”
“I didn’t believe that The Theater District would be a problem,” I said. “Olivia really loves Broadway, so I thought—”