Total pages in book: 103
Estimated words: 98697 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 493(@200wpm)___ 395(@250wpm)___ 329(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 98697 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 493(@200wpm)___ 395(@250wpm)___ 329(@300wpm)
“And then what? You want her to end up like Nakim? That guilt is already eating you alive. Could you imagine if that were her?”
I stumble back a few steps. I would die before I allowed that. I would never forgive myself.
“This isn’t fair to her. This will take softball from her. She’ll have to walk onto a team in America.”
“And she will do fine. She’s more than good enough to earn a scholarship, but if she doesn’t, Uncle Finlay will pay for any college she wants to go to. She can still play.”
“Angus is willing to do this? He’s really going to move them to America?”
“The plan is already in motion. Cole, it’s going to be fine. She has a double target on her back because she’s Kate’s best friend. Allow us to do this the right way. We go home in the morning.”
I nod as tears burn the backs of my eyes. This feels wrong. I know something is going to go wrong.
CHAPTER 5
Picture of Love
Deja
I stop outside the gate to our house and take my shoes off. These heels are killing me. I don’t know why I dressed up for tonight.
It’s only jeans, a nice jumper, and heels, but it’s more effort than I normally put in. I’m still confused about what happened back at the bonfire. Cole and Logan left not too long after Logan pulled Cole away from me.
I have a million questions floating through my head. Surely Cole didn’t mean what he said the way I took it. I’m crazy for thinking he did.
“Ya can ask him in the morning,” I huff to myself.
The lights are on in the house. I had thought Mum and Da would be asleep by now. I hope they didn’t wait up for me.
As I push into the house, music fills the air. I smile as Alicia Keys’s “If I Ain’t Got You” plays. This sounds like one of the CDs I made for them.
I move to the threshold of the living area and lean into the doorjamb. My smile grows wider. They are dancing in the middle of the room.
I love the way Da looks at her. Ever since I can remember, it’s been the same. Angus Walsh has loved my mother with everything he is.
He has never made me feel like I’m not his daughter. He has loved me as much as he’s loved Mum. If Mum never told me that Angus wasn’t my biological father, I never would have known.
My thoughts go to Cole. How is it that I saw this same look in his eyes? I shake my head and cradle my shoes to my chest.
It has to be the drinking. What I do know is this is what love looks like. I don’t want it if it’s not like this.
Uncle Dougie looks at Auntie Kara the same way, even after six children. Uncle Donny looks at Auntie Iesha this way. It’s all I’ve ever known. Someday the man I love will look at me the same.
Da looks up from Mum to find me watching them and his face lights up with his special smile for me. My heart swells. Someday the man I love will love me and our children this way. I know he will.
“Aye, there she is. Our birthday lass. How was yer party? Did ya have fun?”
“Aye, I did.”
“Grand, the lads didn’t let ya get too langered. I remember when I turned eighteen. I couldn’t feel me face. I got pissed as a fart, me friends had to carry me home,” he chuckles.
“Deja knows I would have grounded her until her twenty-first birthday if she came in here like that.”
“I’m fine. Just ready for bed. I love ye, see ye in the morning.”
Angus comes to pull me into a hug and kisses my forehead. I squeeze him tight. Yup, I’m a daddy’s girl. Angus started me playing softball; he’s taken me to every game.
Mum used to have to travel for work and he would take care of me. I’ve never been a burden to him. Just his little buddy.
He was the one to play Barbies with me when I was little. If I had a tea party, he would be my first guest. Where you found Angus, you found me.
“Love ya too, Deja. Happy birthday, love,” he says as he releases me.
Mum tugs me into her embrace next. She kisses my cheek, then murmurs in my ear. “Good night, my precious girl. I love you more than you could ever know. You changed my life for the better.”
“I love ya too, Mum.”
CHAPTER 6
Dark Lessons
The Shadows
“Aye, ya did right by coming to me, lad,” Oland says to Boyle McTavish.
I sit and listen. That’s all Oland ever wants from me. I’ve learned to blend in with the shadows.
That’s where I’ve been all my life. Secrets always stay best hidden in the shadows.