Total pages in book: 74
Estimated words: 73398 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 367(@200wpm)___ 294(@250wpm)___ 245(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 73398 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 367(@200wpm)___ 294(@250wpm)___ 245(@300wpm)
But all of that with his daughter also in the room?
Yeah, I had to change.
Now.
I came out of the room twenty minutes later to find Coke staring at Frankie with an angry look.
I was fully dressed and heading for my bag before I’d even made the conscious decision to leave.
I had to get out of here.
There was no way in hell I could stand to be here anymore. She might come back.
This was too awkward and uncomfortable for me. I had to leave—I had to.
I needed some time to contemplate the fact that today I’d had the most perfect experience of my life.
“You’re not going home. Not because of that nut bag.” He snatched my bag and threw it across the room, then turned his eyes on Frankie. “And neither are you. Might want to coordinate with your teachers.”
Frankie waved her hand in the air. “I’ll be fine. It’s spring break anyway.” She looked over at me. “Anyway, on to more interesting news… you and my dad, huh?”
I opened my mouth, closed it, then opened it again. “I…”
I had no clue what to say.
She giggled. “Don’t worry. I like it. I’m glad he found someone who’s not my mom, to be honest.”
Coke snorted. “Keep these doors locked. I’m going to make sure that she’s actually gone.”
Neither one of us argued.
Instead, after he’d left with his keys, we both turned to go to the kitchen to survey the damage.
“Shit. She ripped up all the paper plates. What are we going to eat on now?” Frankie asked.
I couldn’t help it—I laughed. I laughed until tears were leaking out of the corner of my eyes.
“Well,” I said. “Your mom didn’t touch the actual plates. You could consider washing the dishes after you’re done with them.”
Frankie grinned. “Oh.”
At that comment, I started laughing even harder.
“It never occurred to you, did it?” I questioned.
She shook her head. “Dad and me? We don’t function really well. He’s used to having everything so structured. And me? Well, my mother decided everything for me. What I would eat, what I would wear. Then dad came home hurt. He spun his wheels. He didn’t have anything to do. He felt like he’d lost a piece of who he was…then my mother had to go and make an already bad situation worse.”
“Your mother.” I laughed humorlessly. “I don’t even know what to say about that woman, to be honest.”
Frankie laughed. “Welcome to my life.”
I had to be honest here.
“I’m not sure I can handle your life,” I admitted. “Your mother…she’s a real piece of work. She was the person who facilitated my kidnapping. We’re not sure if she was actually after you or not. Apparently, picking your daughter up whether she wants to be picked up or not, is legal as long as that child is under the age of eighteen. Unfortunately for her, she got me instead of you, and now she’s facing jail time. So, she’s taking that out on your father—and by default, me.” I paused. “I know that your dad wants me to stay, but I need to go. I need to spend some time away. I need to call into a team meeting, and I just need a little time.”
Frankie seemed to understand that.
“Then go. I’ll cover for you.”
I took her up on her offer. Leaving my bag behind, because it would slow me down as I made a mad dash to my house, I bolted out the back door.
From somewhere in the front yard I could hear Coke talking to someone—likely Tyler—and felt a pang of regret that I was defying his orders. I also felt somewhat bad that I couldn’t hang with the big dogs in the crazy department—but I had enough crazy of my own. I didn’t need anybody else’s crazy to deal with, too…right?
***
Four hours later, I was surprised by the knock at my door.
Not by the actual knock itself, but the fact that it’d taken him four hours to actually come over and find out what had caused me to run.
“Cora!” Coke called.
I was standing on the other side of the door, staring at it like it was about to fall in on itself due to the force of his knocking.
“Cora, please.”
I still didn’t answer the door, despite his pleading.
“Please, Cora. I know that it was bad. I just want…I want to talk to you.”
I looked away from the door.
During the four hours that I’d had to think about everything that had happened, I realized a few things.
One, I was in over my head, and I didn’t know what to do.
Two, I could very well fall head over heels in love with Coke, and he was at the stage in life where things that mattered to me, didn’t matter to him. Such as kids. He had started his family when he was young and didn’t want anymore. I had always wanted three, maybe four kids. He had a seventeen-year-old who was already out of the house, and he’d had a vasectomy. That meant that he didn’t want any more kids.