Total pages in book: 153
Estimated words: 144571 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 723(@200wpm)___ 578(@250wpm)___ 482(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 144571 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 723(@200wpm)___ 578(@250wpm)___ 482(@300wpm)
“A town called Winchester in Virginia. Apparently Julia Ennis has a house there. From what I understand they’re going to raid the house tonight and attempt to get her back.”
“I want to go. I won’t screw anything up, but I think I should be there when she gets out.”
His mom’s jaw tightened. “Cooper, you have to understand that we don’t know what she’s been through. She needs her parents right now.”
“She needs me. She needs to know I take it all back. Everything.”
“Sweetie, you’re having a trauma response. You had your reasons for not wanting to push the relationship further.”
Dumb reasons. Reasons like he was an asshole who wanted to be a golden child so his parents would never regret adopting him. Reasons like he wanted everyone to like him so his parents would never regret adopting him. “I don’t care. I want to be with Kala.”
“I don’t think it’s a good idea. Especially now. Kala can be difficult in the best of times, and these aren’t the best of times. She’s going to need therapy. Putting her in a volatile emotional space isn’t going to help,” she argued. She stood up, glancing down at her own cell. “I should call your dad and get an update. Look, with any luck at all she’ll be home in a couple of days. Take this time to think about what you want to say to her.”
She started for the door.
“If I’m with her, would it bother you?” Not the question he really wanted to ask. He needed to be braver. “Would I embarrass you?”
His mom’s brows knitted together as though she was trying to figure something out. “Coop, why would you think that? I love Kala. I love you. I think one day you’ll be good for each other, but you’re so young.”
“You and Dad were young, too.”
“I met your father in college. Yes, we were young, but there’s a huge difference between twenty and barely fifteen,” she pointed out. “And honestly, it still fell apart.”
“Only because of what happened to you.” He didn’t like to think about it. He knew his mom and dad had divorced after she had a terrible thing happen when she was working for the FBI.
“Cooper, things happen all the time. It wasn’t truly the kidnapping and sexual assault I endured that broke us.” She seemed to blink an awful lot. Damn. He hadn’t meant to make her cry. “It was how we reacted to it. This is life. We cannot control some of the things that happen to us, but we do control how we handle them. You need to let Kala figure out what she needs because her whole world changed in the blink of an eye. You need to listen to her and support her. Do you want to talk to someone? I’m always here, but sometimes it can be easier to talk to someone who isn’t your parent.”
Therapy. She was offering him therapy. She thought he was weak. Maybe he was. Damn it. He knew there was nothing weak about it. She’d always told him there was strength in talking about the pain people went through. Even Uncle Ian had a therapist. So why did he go there? Why did he think he needed to be perfect?
He knew. He knew but he never said it because if he did, he knew he might not like the answer. Or he might see the hesitation in his parents’ eyes.
“Cooper?”
He sniffled. He was crying again. His shit friends would make fun of him for it.
Kala would hug him and vow vengeance on whoever had made him cry.
“If I wasn’t good at sports and popular at school, would you be embarrassed to be my mom? Like would you think you should have picked another kid?”
His mom’s jaw dropped, and tears slid from her eyes as she moved back to him, sitting down and wrapping her arms around him. She hugged him tightly. No hesitation from Eve McKay. “I would never want another kid. Never. You are my son, Cooper. I don’t care whose womb you came out of. You are mine and your dad’s. I don’t care if you never play baseball again. I certainly don’t care if some kids don’t like you. Sweetie, I’m so sorry. You seem happy.”
“I am happy.” He shook his head. “Well, I’m not right now. I’m just saying I’m happy you’re my mom, but I worry.”
She smoothed back his hair like she had when he was a child. “I love you and Hunter with every fiber of my being. The same way I love your sister. Your father and I didn’t adopt you because we wanted a perfect kid. We did it because we wanted to love you. There are no expectations except we want you to try your hardest and be kind. That’s all we ask.” She kissed his forehead. “I love you. You made me a mom, Cooper. You made me a better person, and there is nothing you could do that would make me not love you.”