Total pages in book: 143
Estimated words: 130275 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 651(@200wpm)___ 521(@250wpm)___ 434(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 130275 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 651(@200wpm)___ 521(@250wpm)___ 434(@300wpm)
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CAN TWO BROKEN HEARTS MAKE A WHOLE . . . ?
After losing her beloved sister three years ago, Savanna Litchfield has been living half a life. When Savannah’s therapist suggests joining a trip around the world for grieving teens she agrees to go clutching tightly to the unread journal her sister left behind.
Seventeen-year-old Cael Woods is angry. One year after losing his older brother his life has spiralled. Once the most promising hockey player in the junior league, Cael can no longer step onto the ice. When his parents sign him up for a trip abroad no part of him wants to go.
As Cael and Savannah embark on a journey they begin to find solace in each other.
As they start to heal piece by broken piece, could this be the start of a love they never thought they’d feel again?
*************FULL BOOK START HERE*************
“I have come to understand that death, for the sick, is not so hard to endure. For us, eventually our pain ends, we go to a better place. But for those left behind, their pain only magnifies.”
—POPPY, A THOUSAND BOY KISSES
Prologue
Savannah
Age thirteen
Blossom Grove, Georgia
I COULDN’T HEAR ANYTHING BUT THE DEAFENING BEATING OF MY HEART. Too fast in rhythm, thundering like the destructive summer storms that ripped through Georgia when the heat soared.
My breathing grew labored as my lungs began to slowly cease to function. The air that was in my chest hardened into granite boulders, pushing down on me so hard that I was frozen in place. Frozen looking at Poppy fading away in the bed. Seeing my parents clutching on to one another like they were dying too. Their baby, their first daughter losing her fight with cancer before our very eyes, death hovering beside her like an ominous shadow, readying to take her away. Aunt DeeDee stood with her arms wrapped around her waist as though it was the only thing keeping her standing.
I felt Ida squeezing my hand so hard she could have broken bones. I felt my younger sister’s slight body trembling, no doubt with fear or pain or complete disbelief that this could actually be real.
That this was actually happening.
My face was soaked with the tears that fell in rapids from my eyes.
“Savannah? Ida?” my mama said softly. I blinked through the watery haze until I saw my mama before us. I began to shake my head, my body seeming to jerk back to life from its numbed, catatonic state.
“No …” I whispered, feeling Ida’s terrified gaze fix onto me. “Please …” I added, my near silent plea drifting into vapor in the stagnant air around us.
Mama bent down and ran her trembling hand down my cheek. “You need to say goodbye, baby.” Her voice wobbled—hoarse and exhausted. She looked over her shoulder, to where Rune was sitting on the bed, laying kiss after kiss on my older sister’s hands, her fingers, her face, looking at his Poppymin like he always had—like she had been designed solely for him. A choked cry escaped my lips as I watched them.
It wasn’t real. This couldn’t be real. She couldn’t leave him. She couldn’t leave us …
“Girls,” Mama pushed again, urgency in her tone. My heart fractured when Mama’s bottom lip began to tremble. “She …” Mama closed her eyes, trying to gather some kind of composure, cutting off whatever she was going to say. I didn’t know how she did it. I couldn’t. I couldn’t face this. I couldn’t do this.
“Sav,” Ida said from beside me. I turned to look at my little sister. At her dark hair, green eyes, and deep-set dimples, her skin, which was red from crying. At her sweet, heartbroken face. “We have to.” Her voice was shaking. But she nodded her head at me in encouragement. Right now, Ida had more strength than I could muster.
Ida stood, never loosening her iron-tight grip on my hand as she guided me up. When I was on my feet, I glanced down at our clasped hands. Soon, this is how it would forever be. Just our two hands, no third to hold, to guide us.
I followed behind Ida, each step feeling like I was wading through molasses as we approached the bed. It was positioned to look out of the window. So Poppy could see outside. Falling pink and white cherry blossom petals drifted by on the breeze, scattering onto the ground as they dropped from the trees. Rune looked up as we approached, but I couldn’t meet his eyes. I wasn’t strong enough to see him at that moment. The moment we had all been dreading. The one, deep down, I never really believed would arrive.
As I took as deep a breath as I could, Ida and I rounded the bed. The first thing I heard was Poppy’s breathing. It had changed. It was deep and rattly, and I could see the exhaustion, the struggle on her pretty face …
The effort it was taking her to simply hold on for just a few minutes more. To remain with us for as long as she could. Yet, despite it all, she widened her smile when she saw us. Her sisters. Her best friends.
Our Poppy … the best person I had ever known.
Lifting her thin, frail hands, Poppy held one out for each of us to hold. I closed my eyes when I felt how cold she was, how weak her grip was now.
“I love you, Poppy,” Ida whispered. I opened my eyes and fought not to fall to the floor as Ida laid her head on Poppy’s chest and held her tightly. Poppy closed her eyes and pressed the ghost of a kiss on Ida’s head.