Total pages in book: 155
Estimated words: 152045 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 760(@200wpm)___ 608(@250wpm)___ 507(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 152045 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 760(@200wpm)___ 608(@250wpm)___ 507(@300wpm)
He offers me more, but I forgot to eat what’s in my hand. I stuff it in my mouth.
“I stayed miserable,” he swallows, “because I was too afraid to leave and risk failing. Kaleb hadn’t spoken a word since he was four. And my father had stopped knowing why he was alive. Fear was rotting us.”
He’s talked about Kaleb. His older brother.
“And one day,” he says, pausing to smile, “she comes into our house and we start fighting for our lives again, because now, we have something we don’t want to lose.”
“She’s not there anymore?”
“No.”
He said she left first.
“She found what she wanted, but not what she needed.” We both grab for more cotton candy. “So…this eighteen-year-old girl, desperately in love, breaks her own heart and walks away, because she’s not wasting one more second on anyone who costs her her peace of mind.”
My chest aches and swells, and my eyes water again, and I don’t know why. My grandpa said the people you invite into your life should stay because they make it better. If they make it worse, then…
It’s just hard when sometimes it feels so good.
Noah’s eyes soften. “And I thought, if she could do it, so could I. And when she never came running back, my brother did what he had never done before and left Chapel Peak too. To find her.”
To go after her.
So…
My eyes go wide. “You shared a girl with your brother?”
He stares at me for a second, then waves me off. “Mmm, not just my brother, but I’ll tell you more when you’re grown up.”
Huh?
I blink, shaking my head. Never mind.
“My point is,” he continues, “you’re way ahead of the curve.”
I hold his gaze. I am?
“You know exactly who you are and what you were built for.”
He means unlike him.
“Don’t forget it, and keep going.”
I try to smile, but my chin is trembling too hard.
“There’s no choice,” he says.
Yeah, I know who I am. I like being who I am.
And I know exactly what I want.
My dad pulls up in one of the JT Racing trucks, two bikes and some gear tied to a trailer in the back. Noah crumbles up the empty cotton candy bag and gives me one last look before hopping down to join everyone.
James climbs out of the back seat, my uncle Jax from the other side, and my mom steps out of the front.
My dad moves to the tailgate, lifting up the cover and pulling out a cooler. They were all at the parade, but he doesn’t bring work home. They must be heading out for an event.
I wipe my eyes and climb down, trying not to hide my hands in my pockets as I walk over, but I do anyway.
Dad looks over at me, stopping his work.
“Hi,” I say.
He gazes at me for a few seconds, a smile in his eyes. “Hey, kid,” he almost whispers.
Jax walks past, behind me. “Staying out of trouble?”
“Neverrr,” I tease under my breath.
I blink, still feeling the tears. I know my eyes are red.
I tip my chin at the trailer with the bikes. “What’s on the schedule today?”
“Air show,” he tells me. “They’ll have a hangar for displays, engineers—”
“Robotics,” James chimes in.
I watch my little brother pass with a crate of gadgets and hand it to our dad.
“We texted and called,” James adds. “To see if you wanted to come, but somebody doesn’t like to answer their phone.”
“Shhh,” Dad tells him.
I don’t tell them that my phone is sitting on a wet forest floor in Weston.
Which means Hunter can’t reach me if he’s trying, either. I’m okay with that right now.
I swallow, inching a little closer to my dad. “Need some help?”
He smiles a little, his shoulders visibly relaxing. “Yeah.”
I crack, unable to look at his face, but I come in all the same, wrapping my arms around my dad’s waist and planting my head against his chest. He immediately hugs me back.
I don’t know if he’s assuming I’m sad that we’ve been fighting, or if he saw the fight at the parade and knows something is up, but he simply asks, “Do you want to talk?”
“Not yet.”
And he doesn’t push it. Thankfully.
My mom steps over, removing a carrier from the front seat and handing me a strawberry milkshake.
I laugh, taking it.
“So that’s why you wanted an extra one,” my dad says to her.
“How’d you know I’d be here?” I ask her.
“Your dad and Jax installed some cameras.” She points to one at the front door and one at the corner of the house. “We all have apps on our phones. He was sure someone was in the house the other night.”
Hunter.
I suck on the straw, not saying anything though. If I tell them he snuck in, I’d have to tell them why.
Jax and James carry more gear, sliding it all into the bed of the truck.