Five Minutes Late by Rich Amooi Read Free Book Online

cowboy was heading for strike three, within a matter of minutes. She felt it coming.
    “Anyhoo, where was I? Oh yeah, I came here to the Bay Area since I heard there were a whole hell of a lot of intelligent women here, like yourself. I want our children to be smart, Ellie. There’s nothing wrong with that, is there?”
    “Chuck …” Ellie forgot how to form complete sentences.
    “Please, call me Buck. And look … we all got pieces of crazy in us, some have bigger pieces than others.” He pointed a mayo-covered fry at her. “I’m not saying I’m all that and a bag of pork skins, but I can provide for us, Ellie, I can tell you that. I made a killin’ buying Google stock way back in the day so you won’t have to worry about nothing but staying home and making babies and being happy. And if you know your way around a kitchen, hey, a couple of hot meals every day wouldn’t be too shabby either. You know what I’m saying?”
    Ten babies plus he wanted her to cook for him every day. Right. Maybe in her spare time, she could work on finding a cure for cancer too.  
    Strike three!  
    Time for this cowgirl to saddle up and get the heck out of Dodge. Another five hundred dollar donation from Grandpa Frank down the drain.  
    “That’s an amazing offer, Chuck.”
    “Buck.”
    “Buck.” She smiled, but instead of running this time, she decided to be honest. “Look, I think you’re a kind man, but I just don’t see myself having ten kids. Or even five or six. There’s nothing wrong with you wanting that. In fact, I think it’s wonderful you know what you want. But that’s not what I want.”
    Buck nodded. “I understand.”
    “I’m going to go now, if you don’t mind. Otherwise, it may feel awkward.”
    “Sure you don’t want to eat?”
    “No thank you. You’re a good man and I wish you luck.”
    “Right back at you, Ellie.”
    As she walked down the street, she thought of her luck with men. Dick and Buck.  
    Then there was Cedric.
    She chuckled as she replayed the scene from this morning over in her head: Cedric in his running shorts with those sexy legs, chasing after his dog. She wouldn’t mind if she ran into him again and—
    Bam.
    Ellie ran into a cement wall. She was disoriented and looked up. The cement wall had a face just like the man she was thinking about.
    Cedric.

    Cedric looked down at the woman who just did a face plant into his chest.
    Beautiful Ellie.
    He grinned. “We keep running into each other. Literally.”
    She felt her nose. “Yeah. I trust you were able to catch up with your dog this morning?”
    Cedric nodded. “He gave me a good workout.”
    Ellie smiled and Cedric felt a small thump in his chest.  
    That’s it, he had to do it. No delaying, just ask her out. “I was wondering if—”
    “Ellie,” a police officer in uniform said, cutting off Cedric.  
    Great.
    It was the cop from this morning.
    “Oh God,” Ellie muttered. “Vlad.”
    Cedric could see Ellie tense up, tapping her fingers on the side of her leg.  
    Vlad inspected Cedric from head to toe. “The fornicator. You get around, don’t you?”
    “What are you talking about?” asked Ellie.
    “This guy was—”
    “About to leave,” said Cedric.
    Vlad stuck his hand in front of Cedric’s chest. “Not so fast. How do you two know each other?”  
    He didn’t throw the question out casually; it was like Cedric was being interrogated. Cedric’s gaze dropped to the badge on his chest. V. Cunnings.
    “We don’t know each other, actually,” said Cedric. “We just—”
    “Good. Now you can go.”
    What a dick.
    Ellie held up her hand. “Wait a minute. You and I don’t have anything to talk about.”
    “We need to talk about us,” said Vlad.
    Obviously this cop was Ellie’s ex.
    Ellie shook her finger in the air. “No. There is no ‘us.’ Please leave. I was talking with Cedric.”
    Vlad shifted his focus to Cedric and then back to Ellie. “How do you know his name if you don’t know