Total pages in book: 68
Estimated words: 69452 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 347(@200wpm)___ 278(@250wpm)___ 232(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 69452 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 347(@200wpm)___ 278(@250wpm)___ 232(@300wpm)
“I hate you,” he commented calmly. “I’ve hated you since the moment your mother died.”
I knew that.
I felt it every time he hit me, kicked me, punched me, or punished me.
“If I woke up tomorrow, and you weren’t here, I would thank my lucky stars.” He roughly let me go, the back of my head slamming into the cabinets. “One day, I’ll be back with her. And you’ll be a distant memory.”
He went to the fridge, grabbed another beer—his fifth if the only one left in the six-pack was an indicator—and walked back to the living room.
I glanced at the television.
He was watching movies of my mother.
Something he did when he missed her.
I looked away.
I hated seeing those movies.
I’d made the mistake of watching one once and had woken up in the bathroom with my face pressed against the bathtub.
My father had caught me, beaten the shit out of me, then thrown me into the bathtub so I didn’t bleed all over his floor.
I’d never made that mistake again.
Swallowing hard, breath now sawing into my lungs, I snatched my keys off the counter and shoved them into my pocket.
When I got back to my room, I gathered my jacket, Anleigh’s jacket, and a lot of blankets.
Then I ran out of the house with her.
I nearly killed myself twice as I slipped and slid my way to the car.
When I got inside after strapping Anleigh in, I started the car, then shoved my hands into my pockets to warm them up.
My bare, frozen fingers brushed a piece of paper, and I pulled it out.
The manly scrawl of a man’s name, address, and telephone number stared at me from the bright yellow Post-it.
And for some reason, I couldn’t stop thinking about that address.
It was just off of Main Street, in the newly renovated downtown area where the luxury apartments were built out of the old downtown shops off of Miner Street.
I went to three stores before I found one that was open.
I bought the medication with my last ten dollars, then shoved it into the pocket of my new jacket.
My fingers once again brushed the Post-it.
When I got to the exit, I moved until I was in front of the bench that rested just inside the door, and sat Anleigh, her bear, and her blanket down.
She looked at me miserably.
“Let me get you some medicine, baby,” I said to her.
I ripped open the box and pulled the syringe out of its plastic wrap. Seconds later I was pulling up the recommended dose and giving it to her.
Anleigh was unlike any other baby I’d ever met.
She’d always taken medication well. Even the daycare had commented on it.
The doctors loved seeing her because she never complained about anything. Not shots. Not the doctors examining her. Not even the wait in the office before we saw them.
She was literally the best baby I could’ve ever asked for.
I went back home, and the moment that I pulled up in front of the house, a feeling of utter wrongness filled me.
I knew if I went into that house today, something would go wrong.
Something bad.
And with Anleigh as sick as she was…
I looked at Anleigh, leaning her head miserably against the car seat at my back, and looked back at the house.
I could faintly see the outline of my father sitting on the couch through the sheer living room curtains.
I moved my gaze from him to the bedroom that Anleigh and I shared.
And suddenly, I knew what I had to do.
Chapter
Ten
Poundtown is fun until you end up with a little pound cake in the oven.
—Bryson to Jeremiah
JEREMIAH
I watched the snow fall from the huge plate-glass window of my apartment.
I was one of four apartments in the newly renovated downtown area.
Five years ago, when the idea to revitalize the downtown area had been brought up among my siblings, Noel, Ginger, and Christopher, I’d loved the idea of these kinds of apartments.
I also loved the idea of giving back to my community.
So with Ginger and Noel’s help, Christopher and I had started planning.
Christopher with his construction company, and me with the money that I had to back it, we totally revitalized the street that we now lived on from top to bottom.
Then, our revitalization of our downtown street had then sparked the city to also revitalize the rest of the downtown area.
Now it was the most quaint little Christmas village downtown area that I’d ever seen. And the snow that was falling down only made the Christmas wonderland thing even more gorgeous.
The snow made all the colors along the roofs, around the light poles, and along the shop windows pop.
But even as beautiful as it was, it wasn’t enough to get my mind off of the woman that I’d met at the arena.
Then again at her candy store.
When she’d walked into my grandmother’s bathroom with her daughter, I’d known she was meant to be someone important in my life.