Total pages in book: 91
Estimated words: 87155 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 436(@200wpm)___ 349(@250wpm)___ 291(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 87155 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 436(@200wpm)___ 349(@250wpm)___ 291(@300wpm)
“What’s the other type?”
She sighed. “The ones who can’t leave prison life behind. Nothing feels familiar anymore, not even the most mundane chores. I read a story about a guy who got out after twenty years. His first day home, he sat on the couch for over two hours watching the TV Guide channel because he had no idea he could change it.”
“Jesus,” I breathed.
“Ramsey’s relearning how to live. He did it twelve years ago when he went in. He’ll do it again, and this time, he has us to help him.”
My eyes stung, and my throat got thick. “I’m pretty sure he doesn’t want my help.”
“Probably not, but you have to remember where you two started. How many times have you told me that you hated him when you first met? You were depressed and miserable, and Ramsey stormed into your life with nothing but a smile and the finesse of a tornado. Now it’s your turn. It was a good start putting him in his place tonight. But you gotta stop all the woe-is-me wallowing. Not when you’ve already come this far. You’re the strongest woman I know, Thea. It’s time for you to do what you do best.”
“What’s that?”
“You need to beat the absolute shit out of him with kindness and love, the same way you did with me.”
I laughed. “For the record, you were right. I shouldn’t have gone today.”
“Now, that I’ll agree with. But here we are, and this is our new normal. We have to accept that whatever happens, good, bad, or ugly is part of the process. Every step, no matter how heartbreaking or difficult, brings us closer to truly getting him back. We’re all fighting the same fight here.” She gave my arm a pointed squeeze. “And trust me. He’s fighting hard. That’s nothing to be sad about. That’s fucking beautiful.”
If Nora was right—and, God, I was praying Nora was right—I had to be patient for a little longer.
If he was fighting, then I was fighting too.
“You’re right,” I whispered.
“I know. And you can name your first born after me as a show of gratitude.”
I smiled, and it wasn’t even fake. “You’re that confident this is going to work out, huh?”
Her face warmed and her lips tipped up into a breathtaking smile that was an exact replica of her brother’s. “Yeah. I am. I accepted a long time ago that something good had to come from all this. I still don’t know what it is exactly, but knowing that something is yet to come, it fuels me to keep searching. Maybe it’s in him. Maybe it’s in you. Maybe it’s in all of us. But whatever it is, we’ll find it. We just gotta keep looking.”
Right then, I had a strong suspicion that the universe giving me Nora Stewart was hands down the best thing that was ever going to come from this tragedy.
Twelve years earlier…
As crazy as it sounded, I wasn’t sure how I felt about Ramsey killing Josh.
A part of me didn’t believe that he was capable of something like that.
A part of me was devastated that he loved me so much that he’d killed a man over me.
A part of me felt relieved that Josh couldn’t hurt me again.
And then, in some sick and twisted place hidden deep in my soul, a part of me was mad that Ramsey was the one who had gotten to do it.
For a few days after Ramsey had been arrested, I prayed so hard for a miracle that I invented new religions. I begged anyone who would listen at the police station to let me see him, but they wouldn’t budge. Surprisingly, it was my dad who jumped into action, calling around, trying and failing at every turn to find out what was going on. No one was talking—at least not about anything other than gossip.
I wasn’t eating or sleeping, and time passed at a staggering crawl.
The sun rose.
The sun set.
And he never came home.
Hollow.
I was so damn hollow.
It took just over ten days for the prosecution to offer Ramsey a plea bargain. The news hit our small town like a wildfire. Those who had known Josh were screaming for the death penalty. I was a minor, so my identity had not been revealed in the public court documents, but it wasn’t hard to figure out who Ramsey had been defending that night.
Josh was well-liked. His dad was the mayor, and his mom was the president of the prestigious Ladies of Clovert. In the eyes of our town, there was no way he could have done what I’d claimed.
A rape kit at the hospital the morning I had thrown Ramsey under the proverbial bus said otherwise though. It was the only reason the prosecution agreed to a deal so quickly.
Unfortunately, the court of public opinion found me guilty of fabricating the entire story. Rumors began circling back on themselves, forming a vicious cycle of exaggeration and straight-up lies. Some people thought I was covering for Ramsey. Some thought I was in on it too. Whatever the case was, the Hulls and the Stewarts became the town’s most hated families.