Total pages in book: 215
Estimated words: 199344 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 997(@200wpm)___ 797(@250wpm)___ 664(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 199344 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 997(@200wpm)___ 797(@250wpm)___ 664(@300wpm)
He watches me a moment longer, pressing his lips into a hard line before pushing off the edge of the Mustang. He crosses his garage, moving toward his small workbench before pulling out a little drawer and taking something from inside.
Making his way back over to me, he positions himself right in front of me before taking my hand and placing a diamond ring right into my palm. I look down at it, my brows furrowed, something so familiar about it.
“It’s the ring you stole from your mother when you were a kid.”
“The one I proposed to Zoey with when we were kids?”
“The one and only,” he tells me. “I didn’t even know she still had it until she launched it out the window about six months after Linc passed. When I found it in the grass, I tried to return it to your mom, but she said I should keep it just in case this day ever came.”
A soft smile pulls across my lips. Those first few months after Linc died were the hardest, and I was terrible to Mom, but she never gave up on me. She never stopped trying. “Even back then, Mom always knew Zoey and I were going to find our way back to each other.”
“We all did, son,” he says, looking at me with nothing but pure fondness in his eyes. “Now go and make my little girl’s dreams come true.”
56
Zoey
Hazel sits in my bed, curled into my side as she tells me about some guy from school who is definitely not good enough for her, but the way she lights up has me wondering if maybe I should bite my tongue just this once. I’m sure she’s been strutting around school with her eyes closed just so she can’t see his blazing red flags, and I hate that I’m not going to be around to teach her this stuff. Not that I really know much about it. I fell in love with the first boy I ever saw, and while he has more than his fair share of red flags, those flags don’t fly around me.
Noah will be there though. Once I’m gone from this world and Hazel is experiencing life at a million miles an hour, he’ll be there to guide her through it. He won’t let her fall. I just wish I could be there as she grows to see the beautiful woman she’ll become.
I picture her falling deeper into makeup and having a glamorous life, maybe becoming a makeup artist for runway shows or a stylist. She loves that stuff, and I hope that whatever she chooses to do with her life, it’s rewarding, and she gets to smile every day.
Hazel gets distracted, and her recap of her latest crush somehow turns into a story about some girl named Molly who’s apparently a nasty, hoity-toity cow simply for also having a crush on the walking red flag. Then just as I go to give her all the advice in the world about the company we keep, a soft knock sounds at the door, and I glance up, finding Mom. “Do you girls feel like going for a drive?” she asks, her gaze lingering on me, her smile brighter than I’ve seen in weeks.
I smile right back at her, making the most of all the time we have left. “Can we get ice cream?”
“OH!” Hazel cheers, scrambling up onto her knees. “Yes! With choc-chips?”
Mom rolls her eyes. “Fine, but we need to sneak,” she says. “I don’t want your dad to know we’re getting ice cream without him.”
“HELL YEAH!” Hazel cheers, throwing herself off my bed and racing to her room to get dressed. It’s been another long day, but after my private prom night with Noah last night, I’ve opted to stay in bed for most of the day, and apparently Hazel classified today as a pajama party for the ages. But she was more than ready to bail on our pajama party the second ice cream was mentioned. I suppose loyalty only goes as far as her stomach.
Mom strides into my room and offers me her hand. “Come on, my sweet girl,” she says. “Let’s get you dressed.”
She helps me out of bed, and the second my feet touch the ground, she places her arm around my waist, taking my weight as we walk, not that there’s much weight left to carry. I’m getting slimmer by the day. I’ve had to borrow Hazel’s shorts because mine keep falling off.
Mom walks me into my closet and picks out a nice dress before helping me into it. “How are you feeling today?”
I shrug my shoulders, not willing to lie to her. “It’s getting harder,” I whisper. “I’m tired.”
“Oh honey,” she says, drawing me into her arms and holding me tight. “I know it is, and as much as it kills me to see you going through this, knowing that I’m going to have to say goodbye, you can celebrate that it’s almost the end because once you reach it, a whole new adventure will be waiting on the other side. There won’t be any more pain. No more doctors and hospital beds. You’ll be free to run. And when my time finally comes, and I see you in heaven, I’m going to run right into your arms and hold you while you tell me all about the grand adventures you’ve been having.”