Total pages in book: 102
Estimated words: 94546 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 473(@200wpm)___ 378(@250wpm)___ 315(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 94546 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 473(@200wpm)___ 378(@250wpm)___ 315(@300wpm)
He didn’t care about me. He only cared about himself, and when he killed himself, the blame for his death was forced on me.
The church congregation never forgave me, and they passed their hatred onto their children. I was taunted at school for years, and it extended to my adult life. I was ignored at my father’s funeral and told I would go to hell with my mother when she died two years after him. I had nothing but a share of a house that once belonged to my grandfather and a ton of hate.
Then I watched Sleepless in Seattle, and the churns of change commenced.
Finding the files from my grandfather’s civil court case in my father’s attic was the final straw that broke the camel’s back. I begged Caleb to move with me that very night, and mercifully, he agreed.
I wouldn’t say things have improved since I moved back home, but since my focus is more on ensuring lost teens don’t go through what I did, it doesn’t bother me like it once did. I still get the occasional glares when I’m shopping for groceries, and some of the older congregation members veer to the other side of the street when they see me coming, but my life is relatively normal—if not a little boring.
“What time is curfew, Blake?”
When my eyes shoot up to Blake’s cap, he pulls it off his head before dropping his chin to his chest. “Ten, ma’am.”
“So what time will you be back tonight?”
I smile on the inside when his reply is delivered with only the slightest stutter. When he arrived at Alexander House, his stutter made his speech barely audible. “No later than f-five to ten.”
“Because?”
He locks his eyes with mine. “Because it is better to be early t-than late.”
“That’s right.” I snag a house key off the key rack at my side before handing it to him. His eyes widen like I handed him the pink slip for a Rolls Royce. “Don’t be too noisy when you come in. Some of the guys had a big day at the soccer tournament. I doubt they’ll make it to curfew.” The smile I struggled to hide earlier lifts my lips when a hideously ugly pink car pulls to the front of the house I purchased with the money that was left to me from my grandfather’s estate. “It looks like Lori is just as eager as you.” Lori is Blake’s wanna-be-girlfriend. She left Alexander House a little over three months ago. She was one of our first residents. “Well, go on. Don’t leave the girl hanging.”
“Y-yes, ma’am,” Blake murmurs before he swoops down to plant a kiss on my cheek then races for the door.
His smile when he cranks open the door of the piece-of-poo car Lori saved up for makes long days and sleepless nights worthwhile. When we opened our doors, it was just Caleb and me manning the fort. Mercifully, a handful of volunteers signed on a couple of weeks later. Now I can take the occasional day off. I just have nowhere to go—unlike Caleb.
“Mel, I’m going to take the rubbish out.” It’s Lewis’s turn, but since he’s sulking in his room instead of on the streets where he really wants to be, I’ll pick up his slack.
“All right.” Mel, a sixty-year-old retired nurse, slices her hand through the air before shifting her focus back to the movie she’s watching with a handful of the younger teens. Their ages range from twelve to fourteen.
Since we can only afford one collection bin, I hook the bag onto the top of the pile, then push it down with all my might. As long as it holds on for its trip from the curb to the rubbish truck, the clean-up crew will accept it.
I’m blowing a wayward strand of hair out of my eye from my brutal grunts when I spot someone approaching from my left. I assume it is one of the fifteen-year-old boys racing for the door before curfew sounds at seven, so you can picture my shock when my eyes drink in polished black dress shoes, a pricy suit, and a crotch I shouldn’t stare at but can’t help but gawk.
After cursing my inanity to hell, I lift and lock my eyes with Jack’s face. I almost give him the line that his fly is undone, but before I can, his hand shoots down to fix his zipper into place.
The hilarity of the situation isn’t lost on me, and although I shouldn’t laugh, the slightest giggle topples from my lips. We probably could have saved a heap of heartache if his zipper had been undone the day we met.
“Hey.” Yep, that was as awkward as you’re imagining.
Jack’s smile makes the moon seem unimportant. “Hey.” He points to a flashy car parked a few spots up from Alexander House. “Sorry, Emmelyn was meant to call and organize a time for us to meet, but when I saw you, I thought ‘what the hell.’”