Page 87 of One More Chapter
My morning cuddle sesh was interrupted by two birds and their reflections.
I groan. Out loud. Like a damn cave man.
Stomping outside in my basketball shorts at the end of November wakes me immediately. It only takes one screech and a threatening wave of my bat for them to realize that, no, they arenotactually fist fighting other birds. They fly off, chirping none the wiser. And of course, by the time I get back inside, Penelope is already out of my bed, and out of my room. My heart pouts. It might even whine a little.
“Are they gone?” she asks, adding creamer to an empty coffee mug while the Keurig brews.
“For now. I’m going to have to look into shades or something.”
“Get them for my window, too. I don’t need to spend all of break waking up at the crack of dawn.”
She’s not wrong. One glance at the clock, and two teachers have officially started their first day of Thanksgiving break before seven-a.m.
Bending over the kitchen table, I put both hands in my head and groan. Penelope chuckles. I hear the telltale sounds of her shuffling through the kitchen, and lift my eyes when two back to backthudsland beside my head. There’s a mug atop a coaster.
“Godblessyou,” I moan, then swig down half of it, not even caring that it scalds my throat. “There was no way I was getting back to sleep.”
“Me neither. Remind me never to get those stupid little moon windows put up in my own house.”
I shift so that I’m actually sitting at the table and take her in. Hair slightly mussed from sleep, rumply pajamas, lips pursed around the lip of her mug, with a sleepy conspiratorial look in her eyes.
I would give up my legs to see this every morning.
“Now that you’re up, whateverare you going to do with all of your extra time today?”
“Probably hit the gym early. Might swing by the house and get a few things done.”
“What’s next on the list?”
“Uh… I have a few things to patch up before starting on the second story drywall. Hopefully that’ll be finished by the end of this week. You might not see a lot of me during break.”
“That’s alright. I think I’m going to literally lock myself in the cave with my computer and try to hammer this thing out by the end of the month.”
“When’s your deadline?”
“Christmas, technically. But I’m already so far over the initial deadline that I feel bad. My wrist set me back, and since I’m out of the brace, I need to pick up some of the slack. And besides, I think I know where the story is headed now. I just need to focus.”
“Okay. I can take a hint. I’ll get out of your hair.”
I stand, one hand in the air in surrender, the other on my coffee mug that I down before taking it to the dishwasher.
“You heading to your mom’s for Thanksgiving?” I ask as I start to make my pre-workout concoction.
“Uh… No. Actually, we uh… I don’t know, I just…” When I look up, she’s shaking her head with her eyes closed. Then, shenods, almost to herself. “No. I’m not seeing my mom. She’s busy, and I’ll probably be working straight through this week to?—”
“There’s no way in hell you’re spending Thanksgiving alone.”
She raises that challenging brow slowly.
“Oh?”
I step toward her, crowding her space.
“No. Because Deborah Ellis will be absolutelyoutragedif I show up on her front porch knowing that I left you alone in her AirBNB.”
She smirks. Up this close, and without any makeup on this early in the morning, I can see her freckles scrunch.Fucking adorable.
“Are you sure she wouldn’t bepleasedthat I’m finally getting a break from her son?”