Total pages in book: 97
Estimated words: 94609 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 473(@200wpm)___ 378(@250wpm)___ 315(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 94609 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 473(@200wpm)___ 378(@250wpm)___ 315(@300wpm)
Also, tell Alex I’m not a vegan anymore, and I’ll eat a fish fry in his honor. I’m sure that will thrill him.
Anyway, I love you, Dad.
Tell me something good.
I’ll see you soon.
-Your Little Bird
PS Don’t worry. I’m okay.
To: [email protected]
From: [email protected]
Subject: Dad News Update
Little Bird,
I think I can call Billie Eilish’s management to see if they can arrange a private concert for you and your sisters. I listened to the song, and it made me a little misty-eyed. I must be getting softer with old age. I’m glad you girls have each other. That’s my greatest dream come true. Other than you coming home, that is.
I know, I know. Feet like yours always have to be flying off onto another adventure. I get it. I just wish I could find the ability not to miss you so much.
I told Alex you weren’t a vegan. He grumpily replied, “There must be a God.” He also said he had the best fish fry and that you shouldn’t waste your time on anyone else’s. I think that means he loves you and wants to cook dinner for you when you’re back in town.
When will you be back in town? Maybe a day trip? Wisconsin isn’t too far from home.
Avery let me kiss her stomach for you. I think that means she loves you, too.
We all do.
Kind of hard not to.
I’m also so proud of you, Willow Rose. By always being fully you, you’ve inspired me each day to be a little bit more me.
Anyway, your old man is good. Just a few more gray hairs in the beard.
I love you, Willow.
You said you’ll see me soon. Make it sooner than that.
-Your Old Man
PS I’ll always worry. But I know you’ll be okay.
He was right. I’d be okay. I was okay. I’d always been okay. Even when my heart felt like it was being shattered into a million pieces. Which it always did around this time of year. It was the twentieth of June, which meant my birthday was in a few weeks. That also meant it was one of the hardest times of the year for me. I never went home for my birthday, and I stopped celebrating it altogether with my family a long time ago since it was too hard for me. I understood why people loved birthdays. Heck, I loved celebrating others’ birthdays all the time. It was just mine that I hated because it reminded me of everything I’d lost.
With my life came another’s death, and I’d never really made peace with that.
My mother died during childbirth, and I never really processed how that affected me. All I knew was that the summer months were hard for me to keep my feet on solid ground, especially in Honey Creek. I knew Dad and my sisters told me a million times over that what happened to my mom wasn’t my fault, but I couldn’t help but feel the heaviness of their loss whenever my birthday came around.
For me, it simply felt like an emptiness. Like something was missing from my life puzzle, and it was my fault that the piece could never be recovered.
I had no memories of my mother like Yara and Avery had. I didn’t recall her favorite color or her favorite song to hum. I only knew the stories others told about her, and Dad told a lot of stories about her. If life was built solely on being loved, then Mama would’ve lived forever based on how Dad cherished her.
The last place I wanted to be during my birthday season was in Honey Creek, looking at my sisters, who pitied me. They’d say they didn’t pity me because they knew how much I hated their pity, but still, it would be there. My sisters and their eyes always told their truths. Unfortunately, my eyes did the same. Which was why I couldn’t go home.
Not now.
“What are you doing?” a voice boomed, making me jump out of my skin. I turned around to see Theo standing behind me.
I’d almost knocked my laptop out of my hands based on how much he startled me. “Geez! I didn’t see you there. You scared me.”
“What are you doing sitting there?”
I glanced around and then pointed at myself. “Who, me?”
“Yes, you. Who else would I be talking to?”
“That’s hard to say, seeing how you’re asking me a pretty straightforward question. I’m just sitting, and I was writing—”
“Those chairs are off-limits. Get up.”
I laughed. “Excuse me?”
“Those rocking chairs. They are off-limits. I need you to get up.”
“You can’t be serious.”
“Do I look like I’m joking?”
No, no, you don’t.
I didn’t think that man could find his way to a joking manner if he tried his hardest.
I stood from the chair and held my laptop to my chest. “My mistake for thinking that a chair could be used as a chair. You should’ve put a Post-it note on it,” I quipped.