Total pages in book: 130
Estimated words: 126602 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 633(@200wpm)___ 506(@250wpm)___ 422(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 126602 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 633(@200wpm)___ 506(@250wpm)___ 422(@300wpm)
I made sure the kitchen was cleaned up, then I carried the folder to my salon room and closed the door behind me.
The futon was back to its waiting room position, looking more like a couch than a bed. Sighing, I plopped down on one end, tucked my feet underneath my hip, and flipped open the folder in my lap.
Even though I had everything written down, I still took the rest of the night and studied the contents of that folder as if someone were taking it away from me at any second. I wouldn’t mess anything else up. I wouldn’t forget. I wouldn’t make any more mistakes.
I went over that calendar until the dates blurred into the each other, and then I made some coffee and went over it again.
Tomorrow was Friday. Dominic had math, which I knew now, but there it was, written right in front of me. Eli had a field trip to the botanical gardens in the morning and baseball practice after school.
I wasn’t sure how I was going to pick up Dominic while Eli was at practice, since I didn’t want to leave him there by himself, but I would figure it out.
I had to.
It didn’t matter how much I could kick ass at hair. It didn’t matter how awesome of a start Hair by Shay was off to. I needed to kick ass at this. This was what mattered—those two boys needed me, and I wouldn’t let them down anymore.
“It’s Friday!” I sang, pulling out of the apartment complex the next morning. “Are you guys excited for today?”
Dominic mumbled an annoyed “whatever,” as he played on his phone, while Eli sat forward, gripped the back of my seat and smiled at me in the rearview.
I giggled at him. “I know why you’re so excited. It’s field trip day, right?”
“Y-Yes! I get to m-miss math and r-reading!”
“Sweet.” I held my hand over my shoulder and got a high-five. “Speaking of math, Dom, I’ll be picking you up today after your tutoring. Don’t forget.”
“How could I? You’ve reminded me ten times already since I got up.”
I ignored Dom.
Death stares and attitudes weren’t penetrating my happy mood today. I felt prepared and even a little excited with the arsenal of information I was carrying in that bright red folder sitting on the passenger seat. Even all the looking I knew I’d be doing while working my shift at Whitecaps today wasn’t getting me down.
My pathetic heart aside, I was feeling pretty powerful.
Waiting for the traffic to clear, I pulled us out onto the main highway, got about a mile up the road, and then came to a stop when the cars in front of me slowed.
“W-What’s going on?” Eli asked.
“Just a little traffic.” I gave him a reassuring smile in the mirror. “Fridays are always like this. It’ll be fine. We’ll start moving soon.”
He nodded, finding comfort in that, and settled back against the seat to look out the window.
I slide my hands around the wheel as a quiet concern began to circle inside my head.
Maybe we should’ve left earlier to prepare for this. It’s what Mom would’ve done.
No.
We are not getting stuck in traffic. We will not be late. This is not happening.
Resilient to anything bringing us down today, I twisted the knob on the radio and filled the car with music, silencing that pesky worry I couldn’t listen to for another second.
The cars moved ahead, and we inched forward. Then we sat still for a solid thirteen minutes and eleven seconds.
“I c-can’t be l-late, S-Shay!” Eli whined from the back seat.
“Buddy, you won’t be late. I promise,” I said, not having the right to promise him something like that, but they were the only words I could think to say at the moment. I didn’t want him worrying. God, his sweet little voice was the saddest thing I’d ever heard, it was so panicked.
“Look. Here we go.”
We started moving again, slowly, but it was a steady crawl.
“I swear to God, if it’s just people rubbernecking up here, I’m gonna knock someone the fuck out.”
“S-Shay!” Eli giggled. “You s-said the f w-word!”
Dominic chuckled under his breath.
I sat up straight. “Oh, uh, ignore what I just said,” I told them both, cringing.
When we got about a mile up the road, the flow of traffic finally began to pick up, and I floored it, knowing it would take a miracle not to be late at this point.
There were nine red lights between the highway and Dominic’s school.
We hit every.
Single.
One.
“Shay,” Eli whined, his legs bouncing against the seat so hard I could feel it in my back.
I skidded to stop at the curb in front of the entrance of the middle school.
“Jesus. Drive much,” Dominic snickered.
Feeling murderous, I whipped my head around and snapped, “You are not helping. Now get your ass out of the car.”