Total pages in book: 44
Estimated words: 40566 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 203(@200wpm)___ 162(@250wpm)___ 135(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 40566 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 203(@200wpm)___ 162(@250wpm)___ 135(@300wpm)
“Fuck, yeah.” Ryland licks his lips.
“Knock, knock. Special delivery. I have water, lemon-lime soda, soup, crackers, and a sandwich for our girl,” Ms. Catherine announces, carrying in a tray. I shake my head while Ryland laughs and mouths ballbuster of a woman. I’d laugh, but that would hurt, and right now, the last thing I want is to add more pain. Plus, I am starving. I haven’t eaten since the dessert I shared with Case and Ryland.
“Finally,” Ryland states, moving out of the way as his mother uses the rolling table to set my tray on. She opens everything, pours both drinks into the cups, and even unwraps my silverware.
“Also, the sheriff is going to have to wait a few more minutes. Our girl is going to eat, then we can wrap this up, and hopefully by then, her discharge papers will be ready.” When she goes to stir my soup for me, Ryland cuts in.
“Mom, you gonna spoon feed Sutton or let her eat on her own?” She lets out a sigh of breath.
“Sorry about that. I was in my own head.” I can tell she’s a bit frazzled. She promised my mom that she’d watch over me, and I know Ms. Catherine is feeling like she let her down in some way.
“Ms. Catherine, this wasn’t your fault. Much like Ryland told me it wasn’t mine, you couldn’t have realized. Thank you for taking care of me. You’ve done more than you’ll ever know.” I squeeze her hand, wishing I could do or say more, but this will have to do, for now.
“Alright.” She sits down, finds the remote, and flips the television on. Ryland’s watching me eat one small bite at a time. I’m sucking back water in between, then soda, both tasting and feeling good.
“Wow, I haven’t seen this in forever,” I say when she lands on the old television show Designing Women. I’d come home from school, and on the rare days Mom wasn’t working, this would be on, and Ms. Catherine would be sitting on the couch with her.
“Me either.” I finish working my way through my food, not stopping until I’m stuffed. Ryland sits next to me, watchful eyes glancing between me and his phone.
“Babe,” he gets my attention.
“Everything okay?” I take one last bite of my sandwich, eating faster than I thought I would.
“Yeah, that was Liam texting me. He needs your statement in the next few minutes. Shane is requesting a lawyer and has first appearance later this evening.” My food sits like a lead weight. Maybe eating before giving my statement wasn’t such a good idea after all.
“Alright, let’s get this over and done with.” I’m fooling myself thinking my story will have to be told only once. For now, I’ll just bury my head in the sand and deal with the rest when it happens.
“Remember what I said, it gets to be too much, you squeeze my hand, and I’ll take care of the rest.” I respond with a nod. Ryland is up and out of his chair, probably needing a breather of his own before I have to retell my version of hell on earth.
“Sutton, honey, look at me,” Ms. Catherine speaks. My head turns to her, the pillow making more noise than necessary. “Let Ryland take care of you. It won’t be easy; we all know that. Growing pains and all that, plus you’ve done so much on your own. Having a partner, though, to help shoulder the burden, that’s something you both can lean into.” I don’t respond, not that I don’t want to, more likely I can’t. The sheriff is walking in, and the look on his face isn’t boding well for good news.
TWELVE
RYLAND
“I still think it would be better for me to stay at the main house for the first couple of days. This is Case’s home, and he’s going to see me battered and bruised. I don’t want to scare him.” Sutton has been quiet the entirety of the drive back to my place. I figured she needed to decompress after giving her statement to Liam, a tough-to-listen-to conversation, and even tougher not to respond to in a way that would no doubt have Sutton running far the fuck away.
“And I think he’d be more concerned if he ran up to the main house, saw you on the couch, uncomfortable, and unable to see you more than the few minutes he’s there to grab food.” All of our houses are set up near one another, not too close but not too far away. Each of us has our own house, our own yard, and a pathway to the main hub of the farm.
Now we’re walking through the door. Birdie and Tully came over to help get everything set up, and from the look of it, they cleaned, and not just surface clean that Case and I do once a week. They deep cleaned—the floor is gleaming, there’s not a speck of dust where I toss my truck keys, and I can smell the cleaner in the air still. I only asked for them to come pick up the place, make sure the sheets were changed, everything else I’d handle while Sutton is napping.