Total pages in book: 108
Estimated words: 104869 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 524(@200wpm)___ 419(@250wpm)___ 350(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 104869 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 524(@200wpm)___ 419(@250wpm)___ 350(@300wpm)
His phone pinged and he lifted it a little dazedly. Not sure what he would do if it was Kenna finally responding to his unhinged texts and voice notes.
But it wasn’t Kenna.
It was his sister.
Tina
Yep. She’s enjoying her day out.
Smith reined in the urge to pepper her with questions.
The response he settled on was insipid, but the best he could do under the circumstances.
That’s good.
Tina’s next message was a photo.
And it stole Smith’s breath away.
Kenna, wearing a flowing, soft pink summery halter neck jumpsuit. Her back was to the ocean—it looked like Wilderness Beach—and the long strands of her glossy black hair were lifting in different directions, framing her laughing face like living tendrils.
He was riveted by her expression. He couldn’t remember the last time he’d seen her laugh like that. Way back in the beginning, perhaps. But definitely not since their marriage.
Despite her laughter, her beautiful eyes still held a trace of sadness, but in that moment, Smith could tell that she was genuinely happy.
So fucking happy without him.
Her left hand was up, pushing some of the more unruly strands out of her face and Smith sucked in a pained, panicked breath when he realized that her wedding rings were missing. Nothing on that slender finger but a pale band of sun-deprived skin where the rings once sat.
He made a soft, distressed sound of denial and his eyes dropped to where his own wedding band still gleamed on his finger in the late afternoon sunlight. The thought of removing it was…abhorrent to him.
He swallowed thickly. And his eyes were helplessly drawn back to the laughing image of his wife…soon-to-be ex-wife.
His eyes narrowed as he grasped another disturbing detail about the photograph. It was taken from too far away to be a selfie.
Who took this fucking picture?
Who the hell was getting the smiles and laughter that had so long been withheld from her own husband?
Did you take this picture?
Tina
What? Don’t be ridiculous, Smith. I’m working.
Well then…
Who the fuck took the photo?
Tina
Tina
You’re going to have to ask Kenny that question, brother. But I’m willing to bet she’s going to tell you that it’s none of your damned business.
He grimaced at the accuracy of that statement. Kenna was done having her pride cut into tiny pieces and having it force-fed back to her.
Smith should have known this would happen after his relentless push back against all of her conciliatory attempts. He’d married a strong, proud, driven woman. And those were all traits that he admired in her. Traits that had drawn him to her
But she’d come here and had bravely revealed a fragility—a softness—that she usually kept shielded. And what had Smith done with that trust? He’d gone and validated her reasons for protecting that rarely seen vulnerability from the world.
He’d brutally rejected her over and over again and had thrown her trust back in her face.
So fucking convinced that it was too late for them.
Only, maybe it hadn’t been too late then.
But thanks to Smith’s colossal fuck-up, it certainly was now.
Kenny half expected Smith to be waiting for her on her porch when she returned home. She’d braced herself for that eventuality. She was relieved and maybe just the slightest bit disappointed when she arrived back to find nobody waiting for her.
Caleb helped her up the steps, watched her unlock her door and step inside, and then he dashed back down those same steps like a carefree kid after the final school bell.
Kenny chuckled as the man started the Mustang and sped away with a squeal of tires. She had no doubt he’d be taking a bit of a joy ride on his way back to the rental company.
He’d be driving her around in her unexciting old SUV from tomorrow onward, so she didn’t begrudge him his fun now. It was a half an hour drive to the rental place. She hoped he enjoyed the ride. He deserved it after what must have been an extremely boring day for him.
She sank onto her new sofa with a relieved breath. She hadn’t wanted to give Caleb the satisfaction of seeing how drained she truly was. She didn’t need to see his told you so smirk. She had to take her victories where she could.
She finally checked her messages from Smith and shook her head at the increasingly desperate parade of threats, pleas, and demands. The five voice notes followed a similar pattern.
But the last one, sent just half an hour ago, was different.
“I’ve been an arse today, Kenna…”
She raised a brow at that. “Today? Try all week.” Saying it out loud made her feel slightly better and she listened to the rest of the subdued message.
“I’m sorry. I hope you enjoyed your day. Maybe, next time, we could go—uh—sightseeing together? I’m not too familiar with the area either. We could discover it at the same time.”