Total pages in book: 90
Estimated words: 87179 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 436(@200wpm)___ 349(@250wpm)___ 291(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 87179 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 436(@200wpm)___ 349(@250wpm)___ 291(@300wpm)
Starting the car, I head for my apartment just a mile away and immediately begin to pack my things. I fill my two big suitcases full of my clothes and three totes with the few kitchen items, linens, and personal items I don’t want to leave behind.
The rest of it, the furniture, belongs to Lyla. Her parents outfitted this apartment our junior year in college, and I moved in and paid half the rent. So, packing up my belongings and stuffing them into my Chevy Equinox doesn’t take long at all.
I take one last pass through the apartment to make sure I have everything and grab a computer charger from the living room that belongs to me, along with a magnet off the fridge that my aunt gave me for Valentine’s Day last year. Content that I’ve remembered everything, I take one more key off of my key ring and leave it on the kitchen counter.
I don’t write a note or send a text or anything cliché like that.
I simply leave.
And I know exactly what I’m going to do.
I’m going to start living the life I want to live.
CHAPTER ONE
SUMMER
“I’m so sorry, baby girl,” I croon to my French Bulldog as more fireworks are let off outside, in the middle of the street, in my little neighborhood in Bitterroot Valley. “I know you hate them so much. I do, too. But it’s just noise; it’s not going to hurt you.”
Lily stares up at me with scared eyes and cowers against me, and I fold her into my arms, holding on tightly. I’ve tried everything I could think of to mitigate the noise for her. The TV volume is up, I gave her a Benadryl to try to make her sleepy, and I even wrapped her tightly in a blanket, but she hated that and scooted right out of it. She’s agitated and scared, and it breaks my heart. Lily is a rescue, and loud noises like this frighten her.
“I thought it was illegal to let off fireworks in town,” I grumble, tempted to call the police, but I don’t want to be that neighbor. It’s not like this happens every day. “They should be calming down now. It’s getting late, and most kids should be going to bed.”
I wish Lily could understand me, but I keep my voice calm and soothing and rub her soft, fawn-colored fur gently while kissing her sweet little head.
I rescued Lily last year, and we immediately fell in love with each other. She comes with me to the flower shop that I own pretty much every day, so we’re together most of the time.
And that’s good, because she’s definitely a Velcro dog. She prefers to be with her person, and when she can’t be with me, she goes to my aunt Paula’s house, where she’s spoiled and coddled, which suits Lily just fine.
I breathe a sigh of relief when it starts to sound like I’m right about the fireworks calming down. The loud pops are starting to be farther and farther apart, so I lower the volume on the TV a bit, testing it out. There are a few loud bangs here and there, but they’re farther away, and Lily lowers her head to my lap and falls instantly asleep.
“Holy shit, I’m glad that’s over,” I breathe, resting my own head back on the couch with exhaustion. I’d be perfectly fine if we just did away with fireworks altogether. If my little dog, who knows she’s completely safe with me, reacts like this, then I can only imagine the fear this holiday puts into the wildlife around here.
“I think we deserve some ice cream,” I whisper, thinking about the pint of peanut butter-chocolate currently sitting in my freezer. “Of course, I don’t want to move you now that you’re settling down.”
Considering this new challenge, I hear someone jiggling my front door handle.
Lily’s head immediately comes up, and she growls as she stares at the door.
“Who’s there?” I call out as Lily moves off my lap, and I stand, but there’s no answer, and the jiggling stops.
I hurry back to my bedroom, open the bedside table drawer, pull out the one gun that I own, and rush back to the living room, where Lily’s still on high alert.
“Who’s there?” I call out again, louder this time.
The jiggling starts once more, and that just pisses me off.
“Listen here, asshole. I have a fucking gun, and I’m not afraid to use it. I’m calling the cops.”
It stops, and I can hear footsteps running down my sidewalk as I pick up my phone and dial 9-1-1.
“9-1-1, what is your emergency?”
“Someone just tried to break into my house.” I hear the tremor in my voice now. “I think they ran away, but I want someone to come over here, please. I live at four-three-three Sixth Street.”