Total pages in book: 25
Estimated words: 23126 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 116(@200wpm)___ 93(@250wpm)___ 77(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 23126 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 116(@200wpm)___ 93(@250wpm)___ 77(@300wpm)
Every now and then, there’s some gossip that will go around, but Este knows everything. She said they got their asses out of town as quickly as possible. It didn’t change anything except that now they don’t have to face the embarrassment here. The Porters were the most fawned over family, but they’ve been bulldozed off their high horse. I can imagine they didn’t want to see anyone. Not when all the truths were revealed in the end.
There was so much more that came out as they started to dig into Nathen Porter’s law firm. At the moment, he’s on borrowed time, but I heard that a plea deal is about to come through. From the sounds of it, he didn’t have many options. All his assets were frozen, and Este said he’s working with a public defender. Este was so giddy when all his money was frozen, vowing it would soon be ours.
Still, their actions affected Tate’s life too, and it all started because of me. He was counting on a football scholarship, but after the coach got a new quarterback, Tate wanted no part in any of it anymore. He holds a lot more anger than I do toward that group of his peers.
He wasn’t sure who he could trust and didn’t want to chance it. I can’t fault him for it because he grew up here. A handful of other students got pulled into Jack’s stupid stunt. Some got off with slaps on the wrist after giving written statements of what really happened to back up Tate’s actions. A few others kept quiet.
In the end, it didn’t matter. It was like Tate told me that first night we made love: If we’re together, we’ll work the rest out, and that’s exactly what we have been doing.
We pushed through our senior year and walked across the stage to collect our diplomas. The theater group of friends I made cheered loudly for me along with Abby and Tate. It made me duck my head and my cheeks burn with embarrassment.
You’d think I would be used to attention at this point between all the drama and the handful of productions I was a part of for the school. I should be used to being on stage, but I didn’t play piano because it was a dream of mine to perform. I simply love to do it. That wasn’t the case for Tate. He didn’t want to play football but felt it was his only option. How wrong my man was.
Tate was one of the first to cross the graduation stage because he was valedictorian. He was grumpy about having to wear the stole that made him stand out, which was funny because he could wear a whole football getup and not be bothered. I guess that extra piece of fabric was pushing it, but he looked amazing.
A lot of today I spent thinking about Abby. While she was watching us graduate, I could see how proud she was of the boy she’d turned into an incredible man. She’d done a damn good job and I will always love her for that and a million other reasons.
Tate didn’t need football to get scholarships because he ended up getting several from different programs. He never let on for a few weeks that under that helmet of his was a highly functioning brain. Something football would have taken a toll on in time.
Plus, with Tate and Abby having sold their home, they have a nice nest egg set up. It was a discussion we all made together after Tate and I picked a college out together. They sold their house, and I sold my grandmother's home she left to me.
We made the decision together as a family because that’s what we are. Staying in Noblesville was living in the past. My grandma brought me back here to find Tate and Abby. I know that in my heart. She also did it to make me see that my mother was never going to change, even if I couldn’t bring myself to press charges. Some of the charges are out of my control and in the state's hands, but when I sold the house, I let go of all that tied me to her.
I had no clue the nest egg, which turned out to be more like a whole chicken with a ton of eggs, was worth so much. No wonder my mother was trying to get her hands on it. My grandma was a sharp cookie, and she invested well. I now have investments that are still making money after her passing. Now that it all belongs to me, it’s time to say goodbye to this chapter and move on to the next.
The college Tate and I picked required all freshmen to live on campus unless they’re a local resident. So we’re moving tomorrow to set up residence before school starts. I’ve only just found my family, so there’s no way I’m going to be pulled away from them so soon. I love our dinners together and family game nights. I also love the dumb stuff like how Tate grumbles when he does laundry and complains about all my clothes being inside out. He takes them off half the time, so he has no one to blame but himself.