Total pages in book: 101
Estimated words: 97633 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 488(@200wpm)___ 391(@250wpm)___ 325(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 97633 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 488(@200wpm)___ 391(@250wpm)___ 325(@300wpm)
“Of course not, you are my daughter, too.”
“That’s the first I’ve heard of that,” I said, but seeing as how we were in public, I didn’t want to cause a scene. “Thank you for that reminder, but please remember, I have a very capable and loving mother.”
“Odette.”
“Yes, Yvonne, I’m here.”
“I know about your financial troubles,” she whispered, placing her hand on my shoulder. “And I know your mother hasn’t exactly been helping you. If you need help, all you have to do is ask.”
The gall of this woman. After what she had told me the last time we met, she still had the audacity to be in my face?
“We are fine,” I said, brushing her hand off me. “Thank you, but my father left me with more than enough to take care of my mother and me. Unless you plan on taking that.”
She frowned. “As I told you before, whatever stories your mother has told about me are wrong—”
“I’m not a child, and I do not need stories. I see the world via my own eyes, and you’ve never been a mother to me, Yvonne. So, what exactly is it that you want?”
She exhaled, crossing her arms. “It’s not always good to be blunt, Odette.”
“It’s worked for me so far.”
“Fine, I want your shares in the company.”
I laughed. “When hell freezes over.”
“You don’t even know what to do with them.”
“Ninety percent of the country doesn’t, and yet the stock market exists. Why in the world would I give you my shares?”
“I’m not telling you to hand them over. Sell them to me.”
“No.”
“Odette.”
“My father left them to me, and I’m not giving or selling them to anyone.”
Her jaw cracked to the side. “Remember, I came to you nicely.”
“This is nice?”
She didn’t reply. She just walked away, and I wasn’t sure what to make of the whole exchange. But I didn’t, nor did I want to think about it.
“Everything all right?”
I turned to Gale, who stood, waiting, and just like that, my shoulders relaxed. I wasn’t sure how he did it, but I was grateful.
“Yeah.” I smiled.
“I’m perfect.”
Chapter 23
Beep.
Beep.
Beep.
That sound— Jumping out of bed, I yelled, “The fire extin—”
I froze on top of the mattress, completely and utterly confused, as Gale grinned at me, a phone with a beeping alarm in one hand and a cupcake in the other.
“You!”
“Happy birthday!” He laughed at me.
Grabbing the pillow, I threw it at his head. “Not funny!”
“Really? Because I’m laughing quite hard.” And he really was even as he ducked out the way of the pillow.
“So freaking annoying,” I grumbled, sitting back down on the bed and grabbing the covers to wrap around myself—seeing as how I was barely dressed. I could hardly remember last night. Well, that was a lie. I could completely remember last night, but I didn’t want to think about it. However, not wanting to think about something only made me think about it more. We’d gone to my mother’s for Thanksgiving dinner and found ourselves pretending to be watching a movie when in reality, we did what we had been doing a lot of lately—holding on to each other until the other fell asleep. I vaguely remembered trying to press for more only to be gently rejected, which was confusing, seeing as how I remembered how it felt as he carried me back to bed. How it felt it when he was kissing me, holding on to me...and how disappointed I was when he had stopped and said we should sleep. I had no idea what was going through his mind—or mine, for that matter.
“Happy birthday,” he said again, sitting beside me. “I remembered a little late that today was your birthday, and I wasn’t sure what to get you, so bear with me.”
I thought he meant the cupcake. However, he reached over to the bedside table and put the cupcake down to lift a piece of paper to show me. The moment I saw it, I couldn’t help but stare. He had drawn a very detailed sketch of me coming up the stairs, dressed as Cinderella, my hairstyle exactly as it was the first time we’d met. And instead of being shocked, I was smiling.
“I’m not the best artist. I know. I have other things planned today also, so if you don’t like—”
“I love it,” I said, taking the paper gently from him. “Though I feel as if I look much prettier in this drawing than I did that day in real life...with all my...yelling.”
“What are you talking about? I don’t even think I caught half of how beautiful you looked,” he whispered, and when I looked into his eyes, I couldn’t find any words to say. I felt all bubbly and weird.
“Thanks,” I muttered quickly and also reached for his cupcake. “Thanks for this, too.”
“Wait for it,” he said, pulling out a lighter from his pocket and setting fire to the top of it. “Now, make a wish.”