Total pages in book: 100
Estimated words: 96249 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 481(@200wpm)___ 385(@250wpm)___ 321(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 96249 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 481(@200wpm)___ 385(@250wpm)___ 321(@300wpm)
Brooke made Paris sound like this magical place that would help her find herself. However, everyone who knew Brooke knew she could romanticize anything.
Yet, something in my heart begins to open to the idea. Maybe I can find myself there. The music has stopped. I haven’t written a single lyric or note since the morning before I lost my sister.
“You think my mama and daddy will let me go? They didn’t want me to go before… they really won’t want me to go now.”
“Leave that to me. I’ll talk to them. If you’ll go, I’ll make it all happen.”
“For her. I’ll go for her, but we have to stick to her plan. I want to do everything she wanted.”
“That’s the plan, darlin’. Right down to the baguettes, chocolatier, and the perfumers.”
I give a tear-filled smile. Brooke wanted to create her own scent and name it Pook de Cakes. My lips tremble as I give a small laugh at that.
“Let’s do it. For Pook,” I say.
“For Pook.”
Trevor
“You really think this is a good idea?”
Tom stares at me like I’m crazy. I think I might be. Losing Brooke has left me raw inside, but the thought of losing Lynn, too, has left me hollow.
I lean back in my saddle and let my mind wander for a bit. Nothing makes sense anymore. I thought I needed answers before. I need them more than ever now.
“This trip was the only thing I could think of to get her to stop avoiding me,” I murmur and reach for my hat to lift it and push a hand through my hair before running my forearm across my brow.
Brooke wouldn’t have wanted us to break up over this. Well, can we even call it breaking up? We were just getting started.
It took everything in me not to kiss her trembling lips this morning as I sat on her bed holding her. She was gorgeous even with her tearstained cheeks and wild hair from not doing a thing with it for days.
All I wanted was to take the pain away. I wanted to wrap her in my arms and hold her until it got better. However, there’s nothing I can do to bring her sister back and we’ll both have this gaping hole forever.
“I sort of understand, but this could blow up in your face. You know that her daddy has been having her music shopped, right? Some bigwigs in New York are interested,” Tom says.
His horse releases a whine that sounds more like he’s agreeing with Tom. He’s not telling me anything I don’t already know. The Galvestons have family in the music business.
They’re pulling strings where they can for Lynn. I know that they won’t have to pull too hard. For now, I need to think of one obstacle at a time.
I nod. “I’m aware. Pook told me.”
“She has a shoot. I mean, you know this. Cakes has the talent to make it big. You could make this trip happen and it’ll blow up in your face when we come back home.”
He’s right. “I’ve thought of that. Bringing up her music was the only way I could get him to agree with her going. Once I talked about her music and this trip being the inspiration she needs, he opened up to listen.”
The gleam in her daddy’s eyes said it all. Moses no doubt wants his baby girl to find her muse again. I understand the man. He’s been working the ranch harder than ever since the accident.
“So he’ll go for this then?”
“He said he’ll think about it, but he’ll say yes,” I reply. I look out over the acres of my family’s ranch. “Especially if she doesn’t come out of that room. He’s giving her time, but he’ll start the busywork soon. It’s his way of dealing with things.”
When Brooke and I were thirteen, I watched Mr. Galveston lose his brother to cancer. Instead of grieving the way most would, he worked that ranch like a madman.
He also drove Lynn harder with her music. She learned three new instruments and went from vocal lessons three days a week to five. Brooke would hide out at my house so he wouldn’t target her and her love of soccer.
It took a year and the flu to get him to ease up. Deep down in my gut, I know he’ll allow Lynn to come to Paris so she can work on her music and songwriting.
“She still won’t come out?”
“No,” I say and grind my teeth. “She cried herself to sleep before I went to talk to her daddy.”
Tom heaves a heavy breath and shakes his head. “You might have something. If she’s willing to go. Cliff still planning to stick around and help your daddy with the ranch for the summer?”
“Yeah, you know him. Traveling ain’t for him. He’d rather be here working in the heat. This is the life for him.