Total pages in book: 63
Estimated words: 61542 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 308(@200wpm)___ 246(@250wpm)___ 205(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 61542 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 308(@200wpm)___ 246(@250wpm)___ 205(@300wpm)
If Sawyer doesn’t want to help me anymore, that’s fine. If he doesn’t even know what else to do, his help doesn’t mean much anyway.
“I’m sorry, man. But you don’t even have a picture,” Sawyer says.
“I told you. The club doesn’t allow cameras.”
“Well, I mean, there are always ways to sneak a camera into—”
“Isn’t it too late to be talking about that anyway?” I pause and squint at him. “Wait a minute. Do you have a camera on you right now?”
“Well, I . . .” Sawyer maintains his poker face. But he’s a PI—a good one. He’s supposed to be good at lying.
Nevertheless, the long pause may mean he’s caught off guard. It’s not only me who relaxes my defenses when it’s only the two of us.
“Okay. I could lie here, but I wouldn’t do that to you.” Grinning, Sawyer adds, “Yes, I have a camera with me. And a recorder. But I always do. It’s not personal, man.”
“Turn that shit off.”
“Okay, okay. God, you’re so bossy.” Sawyer twists to grab something that’s stuck to his clothes, something so small I didn’t notice it before.
“Look, Adam, speaking as a PI, I want you to keep looking for her. You’re my biggest client. Thanks to you, I can expand my business and reach new clients. I owe my success to you, and I’ll keep looking as long as you want me to keep looking. I mean, I still like your money.
“But speaking as your friend, I think your obsession with this Katie girl is unhealthy, man.” Sawyer leans back in his chair and relaxes.
He’s giving me advice, but I like that he’s not pushy about it. He doesn’t presume to be right. That’s probably why I like working with him.
“You should get your mind off her once in a while. Maybe you’ll even meet someone else you like more than her,” he says.
“You’re starting to sound like my mom,” I groan.
“Well, you know what they say, mom knows best.” Sawyer shoots me a cheeky grin. “But then again, you may not want to listen to me. I don’t have much experience with moms, unless you count my sister.”
Sawyer’s family, like mine, is incomplete. But where mine was destroyed by my selfish dad wanting to live life like a free bachelor, Sawyer’s parents died in a car accident not long after he turned eighteen. His sister was thirteen at the time.
Thanks to being an adult—at least in the legal sense—Sawyer could adopt his sister and take care of her. Otherwise, she would’ve been stuck in the foster system, which I hear is a nightmare.
I admire that about Sawyer. At eighteen, he was more responsible than my dad was when he had me.
“I don’t know what to say, man. I wish it was that easy,” I say. “You didn’t see this girl. She was perfect.”
“Know what you need?” Sawyer asks. “You need a life.”
“Hey.”
“Seriously, you’re either cooped up working in your office or coming up with crazier and crazier ways to track down this chick. No wonder you’re obsessed.” Sawyer stares at me matter-of-factly. He knows he’s right, and he knows I know it.
“You have a point,” I finally concede.
“A very good one,” he adds proudly. “What are you doing this weekend?”
“I don’t know. Work?”
Sawyer laughs. “See, this is what I mean.”
“I don’t see anything wrong with how I spend my weekends.”
“Okay. I don’t want to get into an entire debate about healthy ways to spend weekends. What I’m trying to tell you is, my sister and I have our family dinners on Saturday. You’re welcome to join us if you want.”
I stare at Sawyer. We’re friendly to each other even though this is supposed to be a business relationship, but he’s never invited me to a family dinner before. This is new.
“I’d be honored,” I say when I get over my surprise.
“Okay. I’ll tell my sister there’s going to be an extra guest.” Sawyer gets up from his chair and says, “Oh, warning. There’s going to be a baby.”
“That’s cool,” I say from behind my desk
“Good. You’re going to love my nephew.” Sawyer walks across my office, his shoes tapping on the tiles. When he reaches the door, he says, “Let’s lay off this whole woman-hunt for a while, okay? Take a break. I think it’ll be good for us both. Just think about it, and let me know what you decide.”
“Okay.” I’m pretty sure I’m just going to hire someone else in case I have better luck elsewhere, but it’s probably not a good idea to tell Sawyer now.
Sawyer grins as he pulls the door open. Before he steps outside, he says, “Hey, who knows? After all the work we’ve put into tracking her down, maybe your Katie could really turn out to be my sister.”
He cackles, then shuts the door before I get a word in.