Total pages in book: 87
Estimated words: 87911 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 440(@200wpm)___ 352(@250wpm)___ 293(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 87911 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 440(@200wpm)___ 352(@250wpm)___ 293(@300wpm)
All of them Kurt’s.
“Hey, Mom,” she said.
“Hey, sweetie. I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to wake you. I’m making such a racket.” Lily shook her head, tucking her long blonde hair behind her ears. She’d inherited her mother’s blonde hair, only hers didn’t have that sheen that her mother’s did.
“It’s okay. Do you want some help?”
Lily laughed. “Moving your father out of the house? No, this is something I need to do myself.” She stepped over the mess and pulled her into a hug. “I love you so much.”
“I love you too, Mom. Do you think you’re making the right decision?”
“I can’t help but think I’m screwing up something.” Lily sniffled. “I’ve been with him nearly twenty years. I’ve loved that man for what felt like a lifetime.”
“Then don’t kick him out.”
“The thing is, baby girl, he loves that club more than he ever loved me. When they needed him, he ran away. He came home and curled up in my lap, telling me how sorry he was with how pathetic he was.” Her mother’s tears broke Chloe’s heart. “I never wanted to divorce him. I didn’t fall in love with him because of a leather cut. I loved him long before he thought he wanted to be a biker.”
“But you still love him.”
“And I’m tired of the love not being returned. There’s only so much empty I can take.” Her mother tucked Chloe’s hair behind her ear. “You’re so beautiful.”
“I’m not.”
Lily sighed. “I hate the way you feel about yourself.”
“I’m fat. You don’t have to pretend I’m not.”
“You’re a beautiful woman deep where it counts. So you have a few extra pounds, but that doesn’t make you who you are. Anyone who only sees the weight, they don’t know the real you.” Her mother held her close. “Don’t ever let a man think you’re any less than who you are. You’re perfect just the way you are.”
She held her mother a little tighter. “I love you, Mom.”
“I love you too.”
“I’ll go and make you a hot chocolate.”
“I’d love that.”
Chloe stepped out of the room and looked back to watch her mother sit on the edge of the bed, one of her wedding photos in her hand.
This wasn’t supposed to happen, but she knew things hadn’t been going well between her parents for a long time.
The club was always getting in the way.
Giving her mother some privacy, she took a few steps, hearing the painful cry as Lily released it. She stopped in her footsteps and turned to go back, but paused. If her mother wanted to have someone to hold her, she would have cried while she was still there.
Chloe hated walking downstairs, but she did it. Going to the stove, she grabbed the milk out of the fridge, pouring a mugful into the saucepan.
Putting it on the heat, she grabbed her mother’s favorite chocolate. She looked up and saw her reflection in the toaster.
Lifting her hair off her shoulders, she pouted her lips, turning left then right, before shaking her head.
When the water was hot, she added the chocolate, a splash of vanilla, and a spoonful of sugar. She stirred it all together, and the bruise on her wrist caught her eye. Putting the spoon down, she wrapped her fingers around the marks, covering them.
She hadn’t thought Alfie was that strong, and yet, he’d left his mark.
If her mother hadn’t turned up, what would he have done? She tried not to think of what ifs, but like now, she couldn’t help but wonder.
Would he have touched her?
Shaking her head, she pushed those thoughts out of her mind, and served up the hot chocolate.
To garnish, because her mother loved it, she placed a single cinnamon stick in the hot chocolate and carried it upstairs.
When she returned, the suitcase was packed, and in the trash bin she saw the shattered glass of the wedding photo.
She couldn’t help but think her mother was acting too hastily.
If she wasn’t careful, she could live to regret what she’d done.
“That looks lovely,” Lily said.
Handing the chocolate over, Chloe looked back at the trash bin. “Why did you throw your photo away?”
Lily loved to look at it, and had spent hours doing it in the past eighteen years.
“I don’t need a reminder of my failure.” Lily lowered herself down onto the edge of the bed, pushing some hair off her shoulder before cradling the cup. “I thought we were it, you know? He told me I was his life. Then you came into the world, and we were complete.” She sniffled. “They’re all lies.”
“I think Dad still loves you.”
“Oh, I have no doubt. Just not as much as he loves the club. I’m not going to do it anymore, sweetie. I’m not going to let him constantly let us down.”
The doorbell went, and her mother sighed.
“Who’s that?” Chloe asked.