Total pages in book: 78
Estimated words: 73774 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 369(@200wpm)___ 295(@250wpm)___ 246(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 73774 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 369(@200wpm)___ 295(@250wpm)___ 246(@300wpm)
“Bad dream?”
She nods, and I jut my chin, silently telling her to join me. She plops into the chair next to me, and I pass her my joint. For a second, she eyes it wearily, then takes a hit, choking on it slightly.
“First time?”
She glances over at me and shakes her head. “My husband used to smoke back in college, but it was never really my thing.” She takes another hit, and her body relaxes. She hands it to me, and I take a hit before passing it back.
We take turns, silently passing the joint back and forth until her eyes are damn near closed, and I know the joint did what I was hoping it would do. It relaxed her enough to go to sleep.
I take one last hit, then pick her up and carry her to bed. As I watch her chest slowly rise and fall, I wonder where her husband is or if maybe he’s the one she’s mourning for. Then I push the thoughts away because Sadie isn’t my business, and tomorrow, she’ll be gone.
CHAPTER TWO
SADIE
When I wake up wrapped in soft sheets with a man snoring softly next to me, I forget where I am for a second. My brain automatically takes me back to before my entire world was taken from me, and for a split second, I imagine I’m in my bed, in my home. The man snoring is my husband, and it’s only quiet because our son is still sleeping. My hand goes to my belly, and for a moment, I pretend there’s a bump there, and my precious little girl is still growing safely inside. I lie still, enjoying a moment of reprieve, the escape, until there’s a knock on the door, followed by, “Hey, Gage, I picked up breakfast. Get out here and eat… I miss you.” My little escape is blown to pieces, and I’m back in reality.
No soft sheets.
No home.
No husband.
No son.
No baby growing in my belly.
I jolt up and glance at the guy apparently named Gage, but he doesn’t stir at all.
“Gage, c’mon,” the woman says. “I’m not letting you hide forever.”
Making sure I’m dressed—which I am in clothes that definitely aren’t mine—I drag myself out of the comfortable bed and quietly pad over to the door to make my escape. But before I open the door, I see my clothes folded in a neat pile in the corner with my license and bank card on top. I snag the pile and slip my sandals on, then open the door and step out, closing it quietly.
“Oh, hey,” the pretty blonde says, still standing there. “I didn’t know Gage had company. I’m Kaylee.”
“Sadie,” I murmur. “He’s, um, still sleeping.”
She gives me a once-over, and based on the look in her eyes, she’s assuming I’m doing the walk of shame. I could correct her, but it doesn’t really matter since I’ll never see her again.
“There’s plenty of food.”
“Thank you, but I really need to get going.”
“Okay.”
Without another word, I leave as quickly as possible, not stopping until I’m outside the front of the building. I’ve lived in New York for the past ten years, since coming here for college, so I immediately recognize where I am and know which train I need to take to get back to where I belong.
Thirty minutes later, I walk through the gates of Eternal Cross Cemetery. I use their bathroom to change back into my freshly laundered clothes, and then I head straight over to where my entire world is.
“Hey, sweetheart, I’m sorry I left you.” I choke up, something I do more often than not. “I can’t promise I won’t leave again since the mean people want to keep me from you, but I’ll be here as long as I can be.” I bring my two fingers to my lips, then place them on the headstone. “Mommy loves you so much.”
CHAPTER THREE
GAGE
Don’t do it.
Mind your own fucking business.
That woman is not your damn problem.
You’re not some superhero, for God’s sake.
I tell myself all this and more, yet nothing I say stops me as I walk through the gates of the cemetery less than a week after I woke up to find Sadie and her clothes gone. I told myself it was for the best, and for a few days, I stayed away. But then I ran into Kaylee, and when she asked about Sadie, that prompted my thoughts to go to her. No matter how high or drunk I got, I couldn’t push her out of my head.
I don’t visit Tori often. It hurts too much. But that’s the excuse I gave myself as I got dressed and headed out to the cemetery—I was going for Tori. But the truth is, I’m going to check on Sadie because I can’t stop fucking thinking about her.