Total pages in book: 88
Estimated words: 87275 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 436(@200wpm)___ 349(@250wpm)___ 291(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 87275 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 436(@200wpm)___ 349(@250wpm)___ 291(@300wpm)
She places a hand on the house to hold her steady, while tears gather in the corner of her eyes. My heart breaks at the thought of having to follow through with walking away from the love of my life.
“I haven’t really talked to her since I saw you at her house the other day,” I say. “I’d imagine she’s trying to figure out how to fix things between the two of you, and between us. You and me. And that’s not her place, Ms. Hayes. It’s not her role to speak for me or take on my troubles. I’ve given her the space she asked for, but now, I can’t stand the thought of her being alone and weighed down by this mess that’s ultimately created by my asshole father.”
Felicity wipes a tear with the back of her hand. “He is an asshole.”
I nod. Yes, he is.
“Please don’t let Reid Brewer get between you and your daughter,” I say. “Be angry with me. Hate me. It’s wrong, but I can bear that. But there’s no reason in the world that your beautiful daughter should be paying for the sins of a man in prison who she’s never met.”
She wipes a tear from her face. “This isn’t what I expected of you.”
We watch one another, as if we don’t quite know how to proceed. I’m completely in the dark with this.
What I do notice is the way Felicity’s eyes are the same warm honey color as Georgia’s. She nibbles her lip when she’s pensive. There’s a fire in her eyes that keeps me on my toes.
The words she slung at me the other day—telling me I’m not important in Georgia’s life, and I’m my father’s child—sting as they come to the surface again. But this isn’t about me. I have to brush those words off if I want to move forward.
And I have to find a way to do that. There is no other choice.
“If she ever needs anything—anything at all—please call me. That goes for you, too,” I say.
“Why can’t you tell her that yourself?”
I smile sadly. “Because she’s not exactly talking to me right now.”
“Aren’t you mad?”
At you? Yes. “No. I’m upset that she feels alone and that she’s hurting and freezing me out. But I’m not mad at her for it.”
“Why would you include me in that offer?” she asks.
“Because you may hate me and we may never be … friends, so to speak. And, from the looks of it, I might not get to spend a lot of time going forward with Georgia either.” Please, God, don’t let that be true. “But I’ve spent my entire adult life separated from her and it’s never changed the fact that I would do anything for her. I’ll still hang the moon for her even if she asks me to in a year from now—even if she decides that you’re right and I’m not worth her time.”
Felicity takes a deep breath, and it’s the first real sign I’ve seen that she’s comprehending someone else’s point of view. Georgia didn’t believe she’d ever come around, and I can see that, too. But something with Felicity has shifted. She’s no longer holding her head high as if she’s untouchable.
I don’t know her well enough, but I wonder if it’s shame that has caused her shoulders to drop just now, though. So I continue, hoping I’m reading her correctly.
“Because she’s important to me, and you’re important to her, then that means you’re important to me, as well. Even if you hate me.” My throat scratches, leaving my voice raspy. “And that’s all I came here to say.”
I turn to leave before I shout or cry or get on my knees and beg this woman to wake the fuck up and grow the fuck up. But I’m stopped before I even take the first step.
“Ripley …”
I look over my shoulder to see a tired, broken, scared woman crying behind me.
Oh, hell.
“She won’t talk to me,” she whispers. “She always calls when we fight. Or she just shows up here like nothing’s wrong and it’s all fine. But we’re five days in now and I haven’t heard from her. I was hoping you were her.”
“She should be at work right now.”
Felicity laughs sadly, wiping away the onslaught of tears streaming down her cheeks. “Of course, you knew that.”
I’m not sure what that means, so I just wait.
“I’ve really done it this time,” she says, her voice breaking. “I thought I was doing the right thing by trying to keep you away from her.” She closes her eyes and shakes her head. “I also was … scared, I guess, that you were going to take her away from me. I know the dazzle of the Brewer name. I fell for it once. How can I compete with that?”