Total pages in book: 143
Estimated words: 133878 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 669(@200wpm)___ 536(@250wpm)___ 446(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 133878 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 669(@200wpm)___ 536(@250wpm)___ 446(@300wpm)
He took off the cap he was wearing. Flat cap. Also known as a newsboy. This one was oddly elegant, done in herringbone. He wore slacks and a button-down, but she’d noticed he hadn’t traded his sneakers for loafers. “Cool, because I have so many questions.”
“No.” She was the one who had tipped. “I have questions. It’s been six months since I got some real gossip because my sister-in-law is surprisingly not as forthcoming as one would think, and Callie’s been busy. I heard Sawyer is living with someone now. Two someones.”
He nodded, their eyes meeting in the rearview mirror. “Yeah, and she’s the coolest teacher in the world. Ms. Sabrina Leal. And Wyatt’s cool, too. I think he likes it here. Especially since the kids stopped kicking him in the shins after he asked Ms. Leal to marry him. Sawyer did, too. Wyatt’s running the business part of the bar now. I got a lot of advice from him on how to keep the books for our business, and I helped him with the math on his taxes. He said he thought we were clever to see a need in the community and fill it. Though I guess there wasn’t much need since you’re the first ride we’ve had in a week. Turns out most tourists rent cars.”
Of course they did since the nearest major airport was three hours away. “I met her at the Christmas party. So you like her? I know Sawyer seems difficult, but he’s a nice guy down deep.”
Bobby got serious. As serious as Bobby ever got. “He couldn’t possibly do better than Ms. Leal. She’s…she’s the best. Will and I thought we would have to skip college, but Ms. Leal helped us get all the right paperwork and she found teachers online to help us with the advanced mathematics and science we need to get into a good program.”
She’d always thought those boys belonged in the Ivies. “Tell me you’re going to MIT.”
A grin flashed. “I think we’ll do our doctorates there, but we’re starting at Yale. I still can’t believe we got into Yale. I’ve never been east of Kansas.”
Oh, if she hadn’t had a good impression of Sabrina Leal before, she had one now. “I’m happy for you, Bobby. You will love it, and the best part is how nice it feels to come home.”
She picked up another snack cake. See, she never got sugar back in New York. Everyone was on a diet, so she thought she should be on one. Which sucked because it wasn’t like she was the model.
“Do you like to come home?” Bobby asked.
“I do. I love seeing my brothers and Rachel and the kids.”
“They have a lot of kids.”
She nodded. “I think this is the last, though. Both of my brothers got the snip.”
Though she was worried about them. They’d seemed disconnected tonight at dinner. Like they were going through the motions. They’d passed the kids around and everyone had done their part, but there had been a fundamental lack of the sexual chemistry that had always defined them. Even Max had seemed physically disconnected.
Of course Rachel had been pregnant four of the last seven years, so there was that.
“I know. Max told everyone horror stories about it. Do you really think Doc did it without any pain killers? Max said it was like a loose tooth. Doc wrapped a string around his balls and tied them to the door and then slammed it shut. I don’t think it’s supposed to work that way. I think that’s a castration. Does he still actually have balls? Or is it smooth down there?”
She rolled her eyes and vowed to get that rumor out there. Her brother more than deserved to be thought of as Bliss’s Ken doll. “Doc Burke is a professional, and we’re lucky to have him. I assure you he used all of the latest techniques.”
Bobby was quiet for a moment, and she noted that there was a package marked beet treats. So Mel had weighed in on the new business. He’d probably advised the kids to test any unknown traveler. “I would have come up to the house, you know. I’m a real good driver. I’ve been driving my dad’s truck since I was fourteen, and mostly Sheriff turned the other way. I’m sure he breathed a sigh of relief when we got our driver’s licenses. Did you not want them to know you left? Is this what they would call a clandestine meeting?”
“No.” She wasn’t sure why she hadn’t asked her brothers for a ride. Or to borrow the car. They would have been happy to let her drive the extra SUV they kept in a garage, but she wanted to keep her options open.
Was she thinking about picking up a guy at the bar?