Total pages in book: 84
Estimated words: 82715 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 414(@200wpm)___ 331(@250wpm)___ 276(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 82715 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 414(@200wpm)___ 331(@250wpm)___ 276(@300wpm)
“Nice to know, right?” I asked, shaking my head.
“He’s pretty cute. Looks like you.”
“Don’t think I’ll be needing a DNA test,” I said sarcastically. The kid was a mini version of me. The only similarities I saw to Emilia were his hands and his smile. She had a great fucking smile, and now he did too.
“She tell you why she’s here?” he asked curiously as he sat down on the steps. “Why now?”
“Nope,” I said, sitting down next to him. “Just that they were finally here.”
“Finally, huh?”
“That’s what she said.”
Dad made a noise in his throat. “You may want to take a minute, bud,” he said after a few moments. “Because that girl in there is afraid. She’s hidin’ it well, but she’s definitely scared outta her mind.”
“And?”
“She came to you,” he said, looking over at me. “Knowin’ that you were gonna be pissed. Knowin’ that we were gonna be pissed, she still came here.”
“I have a two-year-old son I just met,” I snapped. “No wonder she’s fuckin’ scared.”
“Hear her out,” he said, taking a puff of his joint. “That’s all I’m sayin’.”
“I will.” I sighed.
I’d woken up late that morning, and the only thing I’d thought I was going to have to deal with was my dad bitching at me. Instead, I was hiding out on my parents’ porch while the entire earth shifted around me.
“She named him Rhett,” I muttered, scrubbing my hands over my face.
Dad’s laughter filled the front yard.
Chapter 3
Emilia
The day went by so quickly that I couldn’t seem to catch my breath. It was amazing watching Rhett surrounded by a big loud family for the first time. His experience up until that point had just been my parents and me. We loved him, but it just wasn’t the same. Everyone in Michael’s family wanted his attention, and he soaked it up like a sponge. Even Otto seemed to have warmed up a little, if not toward me, then definitely toward his nephew.
By the time he’d woken up from his nap, he’d been the sunny bright kid that I knew, his owies practically forgotten. I watched as my son hopped around, flitting from person to person with a lump in my throat. The house was loud and fun, and he was on cloud nine. After the year we’d had, it made me want to weep.
He should’ve had this since he was born. They adored him.
“Where are you stayin’?” Michael asked, bending down to rest his elbows on the back of the couch I was sitting on.
“Um.” I froze, unsure about what to say. He’d asked not to discuss anything, and I was trying really hard to respect that, but how did I tell him that we didn’t exactly have money to keep staying at a motel?
“Not a hard question,” he said, looking over at me.
“We were at a motel last night—”
“You got here last night?” he asked incredulously.
“It was late.”
“You were in Eugene last night,” he said flatly.
“I came here first thing.”
“Right. So which hotel?” he asked, watching as Rhett did a somersault across the living room.
“I give it a nine-point six,” Rumi announced loudly.
“What’s wrong with you?” Titus argued. “Perfect ten!”
“We checked out this morning,” I hedged. “So, we’re open.”
“You livin’ in your car?” he asked baldly, his eyes still on Rhett.
“No!” I wheezed, choking on nothing. “Why would you ask that?”
“The back of that hatchback is filled to the roof,” he replied quietly. “Don’t lie to me.”
“We’re moving up here.” I tried to say the words like it was no big deal, but I could feel the palms of my hands start to sweat. The fog of safety I’d felt being surrounded by the Hawthornes suddenly didn’t feel as comforting.
“You got a movin’ van comin’?” Michael asked. “Didn’t see any furniture in there.”
“Are you ready to talk now?” I countered.
Michael glared at me, but it didn’t have the desired effect. Instead of making me back off, it gave me something like courage instead.
“Let’s go out back,” I said softly. “We can talk out there.”
At his nod of agreement, I stood up.
“Mama?” Rhett asked, pausing in the middle of the floor.
“I’m going to go talk to your daddy for a few minutes. I’ll be right outside.”
“I come.” He hurried over to his shoes.
“No, baby,” I argued. “You stay in here.”
“I come,” he replied almost desperately.
“Rhett, I’m just going out on the back deck.”
“I come with.” He sat down on the floor, holding his shoes.
“Baby—”
“It can wait,” Michael said quietly, putting a hand on my back briefly as he watched Rhett frantically try to push his shoes on his feet.
“I—”
“Let it be, Emilia,” Michael ordered, his voice still low.
“Let’s just stay inside, baby,” I said, kneeling down next to Rhett.
He looked at me suspiciously.
“I don’t need to go out right now,” I said with a shrug, taking the shoes from him and setting them aside. “Go tumble some more. I’ll watch.”