Total pages in book: 89
Estimated words: 86857 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 434(@200wpm)___ 347(@250wpm)___ 290(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 86857 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 434(@200wpm)___ 347(@250wpm)___ 290(@300wpm)
My eyes continue to burn with endless tears. Not a single word can squeak past the emotion in my throat. It’s not that Colten says the right thing at the right time. It’s that he believes me, or at least, he believes in me. My ride-or-die. It’s gut-wrenching to be loved like this and not feel worthy.
It would be so easy to take his proffered hand and pull him under with me, but it’s not just him. He has Reagan. And for her, I press End.
CHAPTER EIGHT
“Daddy!” Reagan runs into my arms as Katy follows her up my driveway, carrying her bag.
“What’s your magic potion?” Katy asks, giving me a half grin. “She’s never this excited to see me after spending time with you.”
I kiss Reagan’s cheek and set her down. She runs into the house. “I need a snack,” she says.
“I have good snacks. That’s my secret.”
“Junk food.” Katy rolls her eyes and hands me Reagan’s bag.
“Raisins.”
“Covered in chocolate?”
“Is there any other way?” I smirk.
“Colten …” Katy shakes her head and turns, taking a few steps.
“Have fun.”
She laughs. “It’s a conference. I’m certain that’s the definition of anti-fun. Oh …” Turning back toward me, she twists her lips for a second. “Is it safe for me to ask about Josie?”
“Safe?”
“Reagan’s mentioned her name several times. She said Josie got hurt, but she’s doing better. She said Josie read her a bedtime story, and she’s your friend from a long time ago. Am I being too nosey asking about her?”
“I’ve known Josie since the fourth grade. We were neighbors. She’s an assistant medical examiner, so our professions cross occasionally. Before I moved here, it had been seventeen years since I’d seen her. There. Now you know about Josie.”
“So … she read our daughter a bedtime story. Is she more than an old friend?”
I press my lips together, contemplating my answer. “Since you’re a happily married newlywed, can I be honest with you?”
“Yeah …” she says slowly.
“Josie is the reason we never got married.”
Katy grunts a laugh. “And here I thought me saying no was the reason we never got married.”
I slide my hands into my front pockets. “You said no because I hesitated when you asked if I loved you. I hesitated because you weren’t …” I take a deep breath. It hurts to talk about her when I feel like I’m losing her.
“I wasn’t Josie,” she murmurs.
I nod.
Katy stares out at the street. “Well, I certainly hope you don’t let her get away this time if she’s the only woman you’re capable of loving.” She continues toward her car.
“Did you really love me?”
Katy rests her chin on her shoulder, her gaze not quite finding me. “Yeah. I loved you. And I love Sean. I guess my heart’s bigger than yours.” She gets into her car and pulls out of my driveway.
I turn, slowly shaking my head. Maybe she does have a bigger heart or maybe Josephine Watts is larger than life.
“Are you eating all the chocolate raisins, Button?” I nuzzle my face into Reagan’s neck.
She giggles. “No.”
I eat the one pinched between her two fingers.
“Daddy!”
This girl … she’s the only thing keeping me from losing my mind while Josie tries to distance herself from me. I’m not letting her go again. I won’t abandon her. And I’m not giving her a choice in the matter. I will save her.
“Is Josie coming over?”
I sit next to her at the table and grab a handful of raisins from the box. “You won’t see Josie this time. Sorry.”
“Is she still sick?”
“She’s better, but she’s not here. She went back to Iowa to visit her parents.”
Reagan shrugs. “Okay.”
I smile. It is okay. Everything will be okay. It has to be.
CHAPTER NINE
Shortly after Josie turned seventeen, she did a genealogy project for history. I asked her to a movie with me and some other friends, but she needed to work on her project by asking her mom about her biological dad.
Six of us went to the movie without Josie. Less than an hour into it, an employee interrupted the movie, calling my name. I was a little embarrassed and a little freaked out. It had to be an emergency.
Did something happen to my mom or Chad?
Funny … I didn’t spare a thought for my dad.
I followed the employee to the entrance where Josie stood. Her eyes looked like red spider webs. She’d been crying.
“Josie, what happened?”
She hugged me and started crying again. I didn’t know what to do, so I held her for what seemed like forever.
“Let’s get out of here, okay?” I said, shifting my body so she was hugged to my side.
We climbed into my old truck, and everything went silent. Josie no longer cried. She stared out the window, holding completely still. Eerily still.
I did the only thing I knew to do … the thing I knew she’d do. I reached my hand across the console and laced my fingers together with hers. It drew a shaky breath from her. And it scared me. I had never seen Josie like that.