Total pages in book: 82
Estimated words: 76136 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 381(@200wpm)___ 305(@250wpm)___ 254(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 76136 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 381(@200wpm)___ 305(@250wpm)___ 254(@300wpm)
“No,” Reed says quickly, trying to sugarcoat things, “of course not.”
“That isn’t what we are hearing,” he says. “People fuck up, trust me, I know. I was one of them. But in life it’s about getting the chance to make your wrongs right.” He looks at me. “You aren’t going anywhere, you hear me? Nowhere.”
“I’ve heard enough,” Sofia declares. “Excuse me.” She walks toward the stairs and goes up them.
She walks into her room, and I look over at her father and her grandfather. “Are you happy now?” I look at the two men who are just standing there. Reed looks like he’s in shock, Casey looks like he’s about to wring someone’s neck, most likely mine. “I never wanted it to be like this,” I tell them. “I love her with everything I have, but I’m not going to stand here and let you hurt her. I’ll take her away from it all before I let that happen.” I look over at my father. “I’m going to go and make sure she’s okay.”
I’m about to walk up the stairs when I see her walking back down the stairs with a bag in her hand. “Where is she going?” My mother gets up to go to her. “Sofia.”
She doesn’t say anything to anyone, she just walks to the door, grabs her purse, and then comes back and puts down the key on the counter. “Here is the key to the house.” She looks at her father and then her grandfather. “I don’t need it anymore.”
She then walks to me with the biggest tears in her eyes, and all I can do is hold my arms out to her. “Thank you for coming and meeting me.” She turns to talk to my side of the family. “I’m sorry about all this, I hope you guys won’t hold this against me,” she says as she wipes tears away from her eyes. “Can we go?”
“Anywhere,” I tell her. “We can go anywhere.”
“Okay, stop,” Casey snaps, his voice going loud. “Why don’t we all take a second?”
“No,” Sofia states, “you had a second. You had more than a second.”
“You have to see I was only doing it for you,” Casey tells her. “I would do anything for you.”
“No, you wouldn’t,” Sofia counters stubbornly, “because if you would, you wouldn’t have tried to go behind everyone’s back and try to ruin his career.”
“I can’t ruin his career,” Casey says, “I can’t even skate.”
“You better do better than that.” Olivia folds her arms over her chest.
“Okay, fine.” He holds up his hands. “I’m sorry.”
“For?” Sofia asks and I know she’s getting her way. She did this whole thing to trick him. “I’m sorry for being a donkey? I’m sorry for acting like a crazy person in front of strangers? I’m sorry for buying a hockey team, even if you have no idea what the rules are?”
“Pfft,” Casey retorts, “I know the rules.”
Sofia stands straight. “How many innings?”
“Periods,” my uncle mumbles to him, trying to help him. “Three.”
“Three,” Casey says, “and they are called periods. But yes, all that. I promise I will try for real to get to know him and I promise I won’t interfere with his contract.”
“And the house we buy?” Sofia counters.
“Say no.” My uncle puts his hand in front of his mouth.
“We could all go see the house together,” my mom suggests. “I have four listings tomorrow.”
“I leave in the afternoon,” I say and then look over at Casey. “But if you want, we can look at some today.” I kiss Sofia’s head. “I meant what I said, I’ll do whatever makes her happy. I know you make her happy, so I’ll work with you.”
“Can we all agree to call a truce?” Reed says, letting out a huge sigh.
“We can all agree,” Casey replies, looking at my uncle Matthew. “Got to say.” He smirks. “It was good sparring with you. You should come down to the farm. I can teach you how to shoot.”
“You should come by my hockey arena. I can teach you to skate,” my uncle fires back, laughing. “Bought a hockey team.” He shakes his head. “Good move.”
“I need a drink,” Olivia states. “Let’s have some sweet tea.”
“Oh, I like tea,” my aunt Zara says.
The girls all get up and I see the men are all talking to each other. “Well.” I look down at Sofia. “Nice play with the bag, is it empty?”
She looks up at me and I see her smirk. “Of course it is, you thought I could pack a bag in three minutes?”
I throw my head back and laugh. “You were always mine,” I tell her, “and now I’m taking you.” I kiss her lips and wrap my arms around her.
epilogue one
Matthew
Nine Months Later
“You really think this is a good idea?” Sofia asks as I walk out of the bathroom. Running my hands through my wet hair, I look over to her standing in front of the full-length mirror. She is wearing blue shorts and a white tank top. Her skin looks like the sun just kissed it and I know the tan is from spending the last four days riding her horse.