Total pages in book: 157
Estimated words: 161899 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 809(@200wpm)___ 648(@250wpm)___ 540(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 161899 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 809(@200wpm)___ 648(@250wpm)___ 540(@300wpm)
I looked down at my big brother. “So you came to the rescue. And I nearly fucked everything up.”
“I connected with Saff, and neither of us wanted your kid involved, Pep,” Birch said. “But you didn’t fuck anything up. You found me and sent me her way, didn’t you?”
That was nice of him, to try to make me feel better.
It hit me then, I had my brother and sister back.
And my mother was going to be free of that nightmare and maybe get some treatment, if that was what she wanted, or die without pain but with some peace.
I looked to Saff.
“I wish you’d said something.”
“I got mad at you for leaving. I got mad at you for having a life and I was stuck there. Then I realized I had to be around to protect you, but I was still mad at you.”
Obviously.
I said nothing.
“And I think maybe we went a little overboard today because of that,” she admitted.
It was harder this time, but I again said nothing.
“But we do need everything to happen as planned, Pepper,” she asserted. “Jon and I want to get on with life. Mom needs good care. Those women have been through enough, they deserve a fighting chance. It’s taken a lot and it wasn’t real safe, doing all of this. But we’re almost to the end. I couldn’t believe it when your girlfriends and especially your guy friends were showing up outside church or in services. You had the worst timing.”
“You asked me to find Birch,” I pointed out.
“Yeah. But I didn’t ask you to investigate all of us,” she returned.
True.
But still…she’d have done the same thing.
I let that go and moved to another topic.
“You had autonomy. You had freedom. You came to my house by yourself. I don’t know why you couldn’t have shared any of this with me,” I pointed out.
She shook her head. “Maybe because it was mine? Maybe because it was good, and it was mine? You had your good. You had Juno. All your friends. And that was mine.”
I could see that.
I tucked her hair behind her ear and then tugged the end of it.
“You’re preppy,” I said.
She did an eye roll and replied, “Not everyone can walk around looking like a model all the time like you do.”
Ohmigod!
How sweet!
“You have cute knees,” I told her.
“Once the dust settles, I want to get to know Juno,” she told me.
“That is one thousand percent a plan,” I declared.
“Can I get to know her too, or is your man gonna be up in my shit every time I try to see you?” Birch asked.
Every time I try to see you.
I was not going to cry, I was not going to cry, I was not going to cry.
I looked to my brother then to Aug.
Auggie gave me a one-shoulder shrug.
I turned to my brother again. “I have Juno back next week. Wanna come over for dinner?”
His head dropped like he couldn’t hold it up anymore, then his shoulders heaved with emotion.
I decided to take that as a yes.
I was not going to cry, I was not going to cry, I was not going to cry.
I looked again at my sister. “You’re pretty badass.”
“I know.”
“We both got hot guys.”
“I know.”
I grabbed her hands.
“I love you,” she said.
I looked into her eyes.
“I know.”
“Will you untie us now?” Hottie Jon asked.
My sister grinned at me.
And I grinned back.
Epilogue
Softball
Pepper
I can’t even with you,” I complained.
“Babe, come here,” Auggie demanded.
Resting on my knees behind him in bed, I pressed the edges of the tape that was surrounding the bandage that was covering the seven stitches of a wound on his shoulder. With that done, I fell back to my ass and crossed my arms on my chest.
Aug, who was sitting on the side of my bed in nothing but his pajama bottoms, twisted to me.
His eyes went from my face to my lap and back up again.
“That isn’t here,” he remarked.
“You told me you dove in that window today and were uninjured.”
“As much as I’d like to be able to dive through glass, land on glass, and do it unscathed, my skin isn’t made of Kevlar,” he replied.
“You lied to me,” I pointed out.
“If you knew I was bleeding, would you have been about me having a cut or about sorting things out with your sister?”
“A cut that required seven stitches,” I corrected.
He just smiled.
“Your cut, then my sister,” I finally answered.
“So, I lied because the cut is insignificant. The shit your sister had to share was not.”
“You got seven stitches!” I snapped. “I cannot believe you stood there bleeding while Saff and me gabbed…gah!”
I ended that on a surprised shriek because Auggie’s hand darted out, his fingers wrapped around my ankle, he tugged it (and incidentally…me) his way, which meant I fell to my back.
And Auggie fell on me.