Total pages in book: 95
Estimated words: 88143 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 441(@200wpm)___ 353(@250wpm)___ 294(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 88143 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 441(@200wpm)___ 353(@250wpm)___ 294(@300wpm)
“Oh my God,” I say, looking up at the concrete ceiling and feeling Zoe put her arm around my shoulder.
“It could be worse,” she says, and I look at her. “We could be at a male strip club right now, and you could be fighting off the baby oil.” I close my eyes and picture it. “Don’t close your eyes for too long.”
I shake my head and make my way inside, not sure what tonight will hold.
Chapter Three
Zara
“You think she’s faking?” I hear whispering next to my ear, but my eyes stay closed.
“I don’t know,” the other little voice says, “but her breath stinks.” And I can’t even stop the laughter from coming out of my mouth, shocking my sister Allison’s two kids, Michael and Alexandria, who are leaning against my bed. I try to grab them, but they run out of the room screaming.
“She’s awake,” Michael says. Tossing over the covers, I get out of bed. I’m in my old bedroom, and everything is pretty much the same as before I went to college. The walls are still a soft pink. My white desk sits in the corner with a huge cork board hanging over it with pictures from high school. I go to the walk-in closet and grab the robe that I keep there. The only thing I actually took from this closest were the cool clothes or at least what I thought were cool. I walk out, going down the spiral staircase to the kitchen connected to the family room.
My mother is at the stove flipping pancakes, her auburn hair piled on top of her head.
“Who sent the rats to wake me up?” I ask. Walking to the coffee machine, I start my coffee and look over at my mother, who smiles at me.
“Good morning,” she says. When my father comes in and goes straight to her, kissing her neck, I look out the window. He is always kissing her or touching her or holding her hand as far back as I can remember. The coffee machine stops, and I walk to the fridge and look at my parents. My father stands behind her, his hands on her hips while he looks over her head to watch SportsCenter on the television.
“Evan Richards is having the year of his life,” my father says, not moving his hand but looking over at me and smiling. “Good morning, princess,” he says, still using the nickname from when I was younger. I mean, I think Allison is thirty, and he still calls her princess.
“Morning,” I say, going over to the table to sit and watch the television. I hate Evan Richards only because Ed loved him. Like worshiped him. I look at him on the screen while he celebrates a goal with his cocky smile. His teeth are probably fake, I think to myself.
“He needs to shave all that scruff,” I say to the room, and my father just shakes his head. I feel bad for him. He was the biggest name in hockey, and he still is a legend, but Zara and I used to cry and scream as soon as he took out the skates. Luckily for us, he had Matthew and Justin.
“Honey, beards are sexy,” my mother says, which earns her a glare from my clean-shaven father. “Well, not all beards are sexy.”
“Babe,” he growls and leans in to whisper something in her ear. Her eyes go wide, and she laughs.
“Go away.” She pushes him away with her hip.
“Morning.” I hear a grumble and watch Zoe dragging her feet as she walks in the room. “Those two gave me a heart attack.” She walks to the coffee. “I opened my eyes and came face to face with Alex.” I laugh. “She didn’t even say anything. I thought she was possessed.”
“Oh, good, you two are up,” Allison says, coming into the room with her two kids behind her. My sister is seven years older than me. She was five when my dad came into the picture, but her father is a douche and slowly erased himself from their lives. “I owe them twenty dollars each,” she says, turning to high-five her kids. She is dressed in jeans and a sweater, but she looks great in everything. It’s why she landed her husband, Max. Or at least that’s what I always say.
“Now go play in the basement. Aunt Karrie and Aunt Vivi are coming over in a bit.” They turn and run toward the basement.
Great, I think to myself, more kids. My brother Matthew and Karrie have four kids, two boys and two girls, and I swear I call them the Duggars. Karrie says the factory is closed, but Matthew just shrugs when she says that. “Accidents happen,” is his go-to saying.
“I want to play with the hockey sticks too,” Alex says, going down the stairs to the basement. My parents love their kids, but they love their grandkids even more. The basement is literally a toy store.