Total pages in book: 72
Estimated words: 72969 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 365(@200wpm)___ 292(@250wpm)___ 243(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 72969 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 365(@200wpm)___ 292(@250wpm)___ 243(@300wpm)
But my grandfather died. My father’s father. We all went to his funeral.
“I guess I never thought of it that way,” I say.
“I’m surprised you haven’t,” Ted says.
“Why would you say that?”
He gently pokes my forehead. “Because you’re a thinker, Hawk. You think about everything.”
He’s not wrong. But how did he know that?
“I see it in your eyes,” he says, as if reading my mind. “I see you weigh the pros and the cons of every decision you make. I see it when we play board games, and I see it when I teach you something about how a game is played, how it sits in your mind, becomes part of your overall strategy. Above all, you want to do what’s right. Not just for yourself, so you can win the game, but what’s innately right. For the universe.”
“That’s some heavy shit,” I say.
He raises an eyebrow. “I’ll pretend I didn’t hear you say a curse word.”
“Oops. Sorry.”
He laughs. “There are worse things, I suppose. And yeah, it might be some heavy stuff to talk about with a boy your age. But am I wrong?”
I shake my head. “You’re not wrong.” I hand the star back to him. “Where could I find an earring like this?”
“Hell, I got this a long time ago, from a jeweler in Houston. But it can’t be hard to find.”
“Never mind.” I kick at the ground. “My father would never let me wear it anyway.”
“Who says you have to tell him about it?”
I scoff. “He’d see it in my ear, for one.”
Ted chuckles. “He doesn’t have to see it. You don’t have to wear it. All you need to do is know it’s there. In fact, you don’t even need the earring. Your star can shine inside you.”
More heavy shit. Stuff, sorry.
But I like this guy. I already have a big brother, but Falcon is a bona fide teenager now, interested in girls and dating and hanging out with his friends. He’s not much of a brother to me these days.
Ted is a grown man, but I feel like he’s my big brother. Or my cool uncle with an earring.
“Why do you think my dad doesn’t like earrings?” I ask.
“That’s hard to say.” He crosses his arms. “Maybe he truly does just think they’re only for women, but he’s wrong.”
“He doesn’t really understand me,” I say.
Ted smiles. “Oh, I think he understands you more than you know.”
“He doesn’t,” I say. “Neither does my mom. I seem to be so darned forgettable.”
Ted chuckles.
And I give him a stink eye.
“Oh, I’m not laughing at that, Hawk. I’m laughing because you sound exactly like I did when I was your age.” He sighs. “I was the middle kid too, and yeah, I pretty much felt invisible a lot of the time. But then I realized that my mom and dad both had their own lives. And you need to remember that too. Your dad has a huge business operation here. Not just the ranch, but all of his other holdings. All the land he owns. And your mom is overwhelmed with five children. It’s easy for the middle child to fall through the cracks. It’s normal.”
“But it isn’t fair.”
He tousles my hair. “No, it’s not fair. Very few things in life are fair, Hawk.”
I roll my eyes. “They’re fair for Falcon. He gets to be oldest. They’re fair for Eagle. He gets to be the youngest.”
“Tell you what,” Ted says as he screws his earring back into his ear. “You can always depend on me, okay?”
“Like as a father?”
“Let’s say as a friend.”
“That’s great.”
Before I know what I’m doing, I give Ted a hug.
Then I hear a throat clear in the distance.
Ted releases me.
My father stands, watching us. “Go on outside,” Dad says to me. “Ted, I need to have a word with you in my office.”
I shove the earring in my pocket.
I shouldn’t be surprised that I found it.
That day…
That terrible day…
Then my phone starts ringing.
Daniela again.
Fuck.
I knew I should’ve gone over there.
34
DANIELA
“Are you okay?” Hawk says into the phone.
“Oh, yeah. I’m fine. I just want to tell you that I have some good news.”
“About the chocolates?”
I look down. “No. I threw those out. But we can figure out who sent them later. There’s something else.”
“Great, what is it? I could use some good news.”
“Vinnie just got home, and he was able to pull some strings at the courthouse. I’m getting a divorce tomorrow.”
“You mean an annulment?”
“Annulment, dissolution, divorce. I don’t even know. But Vinnie fixed it. We have to go to the courthouse, and it will be final upon our signatures.”
“Doesn’t that usually take a couple of months?” he asks.
“Honestly, I don’t know. But you know Vinnie. He’s got connections. “
“That is great news, honey. I’m happy for you.”
My heart soars from his use of a pet name. I like it. Honey. Honey is sweet, but it also takes a lot of hard work—from the bees themselves and the apiarists—to make and harvest.