Total pages in book: 49
Estimated words: 47241 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 236(@200wpm)___ 189(@250wpm)___ 157(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 47241 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 236(@200wpm)___ 189(@250wpm)___ 157(@300wpm)
That evening, I pulled up to my parents’ Christmas spaceship, noting a big white truck in the driveway. Maybe it was a friend of theirs who’d come to see the blue baby.
Me? I had a date with a long hot bath. I was sore and tired after cleaning all the chairs and tables for tomorrow’s auction. It was a good thing I’d showed up to the community center because Libby didn’t even have a list of tasks. We still had the lights to set up, the bar to organize, and the sound system to check for the live auction and DJ. We’d also have to ensure the auction ran smoothly—cataloging each stocking and collecting the money from the bid winners.
I trudged through the snow toward the porch, feeling wiped out. Just then, a man in a bright red coat slid from the truck. He had a long white beard and white hair. His intense blue eyes seemed familiar somehow.
“Are you Meri?” he asked, his voice baritone and unfriendly.
I stopped five feet away. “Yes. And you are?”
“Beau’s father.”
The backstabbing, jerk-face father? This was unexpected, not to mention strange.
“He’s not here.” Then again, he would know that since he’d delivered a package to Beau yesterday. “What do you want?”
“Beau refused to take the keys.”
I arched a brow. “Keys?”
“I know he told you about my factory. I’ve asked him to take charge of her before I retire in a few weeks.”
All right. So apparently his father changed his mind about things. Why? Not sure. Didn’t care. “This has nothing to do with me.”
The man shook a gloved finger at me. “It has everything to do with you. But, Meri, he would be making a very big mistake to turn his back on everything now.”
I blinked. “You mean like you turned your back on him for the last ten years?”
Indignation sparked in the man’s intense eyes. “I never turned my back on him. He simply was not ready.” The man ran a hand through his thick white hair. “I wasn’t sure he ever would be, and now that he is, he refuses to take over.”
I had no clue what to say. “I’m very sorry you drove all this way, Mr. Starling, but I can’t help—”
“He says he won’t leave you. He’s heck-bent on making things right.”
Heck-bent? “There’s nothing to make right. Not with me, anyway, so—”
“Meri.” He took two steps closer and stared deeply into my eyes, making my insides twist with fear. There was something very off about this man. Aggressive. Authoritative. Yet kind of cute. “You are a good girl, but just because you have friends in high places does not mean I cannot punish you for defying me. Mark my words, if you stand in my son’s way, it will not only ruin his life, but the lives of many others, including yours and your family’s. Is that what you want? Because once you get on my naughty list, you will never come off it.”
Naughty list? Was this guy for real?
The man pulled a set of gold keys from his coat pocket. “Make him take the keys, Meri. Do whatever you must, but he has to take them before Christmas. Understand?”
I nodded slowly, completely freaking the fuck out. Beau’s dad was a crazy shit. First, for showing up out of the blue like this. Second, for making demands when he didn’t know me. Third, for threatening me and my family.
“You need to leave.”
“That factory is his destiny,” the man growled. “Not some common, spiritless half-wit like you.”
“Wow… Thankfully, the apple does fall far from the tree.” Beau would never speak to me like that.
The man got into his truck and backed out of the driveway, disappearing down the road.
“Jesus. What a—”
My phone rang in my purse. I slid it out, not realizing my hands were shaking. “He-hello?”
“Hey, Meri. Sorry I didn’t call sooner, but I just got your message,” said a female voice.
“Who is this?” I asked.
“Egypt. You asked me to call. What’s going on?”
I took a second, trying to unscramble my head from that toxic interaction with Beau’s dad. I felt light-headed, and the air all around me smelled funny, like spices. I glanced down at the keys in my hand, my head whirring like a blender. A slideshow began flipping through my mind of all the oddities from the past few months: Beau, his luck, the fact that people couldn’t remember him, my inexplicable attraction to a man camping next to garbage…
My heart was thumping, and my brain began throbbing, like they were both trying to tell me something.
“Meri! You there?” Egypt said.
“Hey, I know this is a really strange question, but what celebrity does Beau look like?”
“You had me call for that? Is this a joke?” she snapped.
“It’s to settle an argument with Shawna.” I couldn’t come up with a better explanation.