Total pages in book: 85
Estimated words: 80620 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 403(@200wpm)___ 322(@250wpm)___ 269(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 80620 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 403(@200wpm)___ 322(@250wpm)___ 269(@300wpm)
I’d much rather do this via text so I don’t have to hear his wrath, but then that would just become long and drawn out. I’d made up my mind, and I’m immensely relieved I finally have the backbone to walk away from what was surely the dumbest thing I’ve ever done in my life, which was accepting his proposal. Maybe it’s the five hundred miles between us that’s given me the fortitude, but for the first time I’m going to take on my parents’ problems and help them in a different way. I just hope I can find something reasonably affordable to live in and that the bank would work with me to make payments.
The phone rings four times, each ring making my palms sweat worse as I get closer to having to battle it out with Owen.
On the fourth ring, I heave a sigh of relief when his voicemail comes on, and that tells me I wasn’t quite as brave as I’d made myself out to be.
His message is brief and arrogant. “Owen Waller. Leave a message and I’ll try to get back to you soon.”
The beep startles me, and there’s a few seconds of silence where I can’t get the words out. A tiny breath to get my lungs working and I lay it out. “It’s me. I’d hoped to talk to you, but I’m sorry. I can’t marry you, Owen, and I hate to leave this voicemail like this, but I’ve decided to stay here. I’m sorry for hurting you.”
I hang up quickly and without any formal goodbye. My last words almost didn’t come out.
I’m sorry for hurting you.
He wouldn’t be hurt. He’d be pissed, and I had barely four weeks until the note came due on my parents’ house to figure out a plan.
Without any thought, I dial my mother, needing to hear her voice. I’d just talked to her earlier this afternoon to tell her I’d gotten the job offer but I wasn’t sure what to do. While my parents missed Lilly and me like crazy, she was completely clear on her feelings.
“Take the job,” she’d said urgently into the phone. “Make a new and good life for you and Lilly there.”
“But you and Dad,” I croaked into the phone, my throat closing off with emotion and worry.
“We’ll come visit soon, I promise.”
Not a word about the note, and that was because we never talked about it. My parents didn’t know that I even knew about the extent of their financial troubles. I learned every bit of it from Owen, and being the parents that they are, who love and want to protect me, they never laid their troubles on my doorstep.
It’s why I’m totally going behind their backs to the bank to work out a payment plan with them. I’ll tell them about it later.
My mom answers in a whispery voice, which tells me that my dad must be sleeping. “Hey, honey, what’s up?”
I cut right to the heart of the matter. “I just left Owen a voicemail that I couldn’t marry him. I’m going to take that job offer.”
Her voice never raises, but it’s loud with gratitude. She wants me free of Owen more than anything. While she never understood why I agreed to marry him, because I’d never tell her that he made me complicit in digging them out of their financial woes, she also knew that I was not marrying him out of love. “I’m glad, Gracen. That’s totally the right decision for you and Lilly right now.”
“When can you come visit?” I ask, sounding desperately lonely. Which I am.
“Soon,” she promises. “Your dad has a job interview next week, so we’ll look it after we get through that.
“I’ve got some money,” I say, knowing that it will eat deeply into my savings. “I’ll get you plane tickets. Lilly misses you so much.”
My mom chuckles softly. “You will do no such thing. Your dad and I are perfectly capable of buying plane tickets. Or maybe we’ll take our time and drive down.”
I didn’t realize how tightly constricted my chest was until she said those words, but knowing that my parents would be coming soon to visit was just the balm I needed to end this crazy, emotional night.
“So have you thought about what to do with Lilly when you start work?” my mom asks, and I can imagine her settling down deeper into her pillows and covers while we gab.
I had indeed thought about it, and settle myself in too.
We talk for over an hour, and when I hang up, I’m feeling good about where my life is right now.
Chapter 11
Marek
“What other questions might you have for me, Mr. Fabritis?”
I look down at Lilly as she sits in the chair beside me, happily engrossed in a Dr. Seuss book while I talk to Miss Dormers, head of the prestigious Brassfield School. It’s the third such “school” I’ve toured today, and I’m not quite sure when day cares became “educational learning centers” for little kids.