Total pages in book: 107
Estimated words: 99748 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 499(@200wpm)___ 399(@250wpm)___ 332(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 99748 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 499(@200wpm)___ 399(@250wpm)___ 332(@300wpm)
“Daisy . . . or Mom?” she suggests instead, flashing puppy-dog eyes of hopefulness at Wren.
Surprised, Wren stammers out, “Uhm, thanks . . . Daisy.”
As Mom sits down, pleased as punch with herself, she lets out a whooping noise. “Whoo-wee, that was the good news I needed to hear ’cuz I don’t know about you, but I had a helluva day.”
Wren and I look at each other and share a private grin, both certain that nothing could top our day.
“Chrissy Ford came on in to the Bakery Box, in the middle of my morning rush hour, and started measuring walls like she was gonna rip them down, right then and there.” She waits for our gasps of surprise and anger but keeps right on rolling. “I told her to get out of my shop, and she started some song and dance about how she’s gonna get the building in the divorce and is thinking about what she might want to do with it.”
Jed Ford, and apparently Chrissy, own buildings all over Cold Springs, including the one where my mom’s bakery has been since the day she opened the place. Her apartment is upstairs, too, so Chrissy trying to do something with the building would affect Mom’s work and home.
“You have an airtight lease in place, right?” Wren goes right for the legal solutions, sticking with what she knows.
Hazel and I run a different path. “I know what she can do with it,” I say. Hazel finishes with the line Aunt Etta taught us. “Shove it right up her ass and whistle a tune.”
Mom waves us off from hunting Chrissy down and answers Wren, “Yes, I do.” To us, she says, “No need for that. I know a thing or two about a thing or two, so I told Chrissy that she might want to concern herself with bigger fish than my little bakery.” She smiles evilly, and almost as if she’s changing subjects, she says, “Pregnancy cravings are a bitch. It’s a good thing I’ve got Donny doing some deliveries around town these days.”
Wait.
Is she saying . . .
“Mom, did you tell Chrissy about Lucy being at Township?” I shout.
She preens a bit, brushing her hair out of her eyes and looking innocent as can be, something she most definitely is not. “Maybe I did. Maybe I didn’t. I’ve got no love lost for either Jed or Chrissy, so they can stay the hell out of my bakery and my business.”
“Do you have any idea what your little distraction led to?” I demand, my palms slapping on the table.
Mom pauses at that, her eyes cutting around the table as she realizes that she might be out of the loop, which is a bad place to be in a small town. “What?”
“Chrissy came out there and destroyed the town house Lucy’s been staying in. Luckily, she wasn’t inside, but the building is fucking destroyed. I’m gonna have to rebuild the whole thing.” I’m furious again. Not at Mom, though I’m irritated with her, but at the whole situation.
Wren puts her hand on my cheek, forcing my eyes to hers. “Hey, it’s okay. It’s more work for Alan, and all the guys. In fact, maybe we should do a little late-night demo out there ourselves to keep you busy.”
She winks comically, her lashes fluttering down over her cheek. The joke surprises me from Wren. She wouldn’t dream of actually doing anything that illegal. My sister, on the other hand . . .
Keeping my eyes locked on Wren, I point a finger at Hazel. “No.” She whines, but used to it from a lifetime of her drama, I easily ignore it to press a sweet kiss to Wren’s lips. Quietly, I murmur, “Thank you. But let’s leave the criminal trespass and vandalism for another day.”
“Heard. You’re not saying no, you’re saying no for now. I gotchu,” Hazel answers, swinging V’d fingers from her eyes to mine.
Avery’s been quiet, but at that, she touches her nose with the tip of her finger. “Not it for bail.”
Wyatt chuckles. “See, Daisy. We can’t have grandkids because we’re literally taking turns on who’s gonna bail Hazel out this time.”
He’s joking, mostly. Hazel hasn’t spent a day in jail in years, and the last time was for a fundraiser for the high school where the bail money went to the girls’ volleyball team. But I sure as shit used that picture of Hazel in an orange jumpsuit for Christmas cards that year and have it printed on a T-shirt to wear when she pisses me off.
I throw a twenty on the table. “We’ve had a long day too. Think we’ll head out.”
I hold Wren’s chair as she gets up and wrap her hand in mine as we head to the door.
Tayvious pops his head through the window to the kitchen. “Bye, Jesse! Bye, Wren! You two are cute as a couple of frenchie puppies ready to go sniff each other’s asses!”