Total pages in book: 146
Estimated words: 143842 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 719(@200wpm)___ 575(@250wpm)___ 479(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 143842 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 719(@200wpm)___ 575(@250wpm)___ 479(@300wpm)
Her window was nothing but a blackened square, but I swore, there was something about it that glowed.
A beacon I should ignore.
A beacon I had to ignore because I’d seen what was in her father’s eyes when he’d caught me talking with her yesterday.
I should have turned my back, walked out, made an oath to never speak to her again, and instead, I was sending her calamitous texts insinuating something along the lines that I might want something more than a one-night stand.
Motherfucking stupid.
Reckless.
Hailey Wagner was the absolute last person I could seek, even if I ever was in the position to allow myself to fall which was highly un-fucking-likely.
I had to stay away from her.
Problem was, I was terrified there was something about her that promised I couldn’t.
The lawnmower whirred as I pushed it in perfect rows up and down the front lawn. Heat already saturated the air even though it was only nearing nine in the morning, sweat soaking my tee and running down from the edges of my cap.
I made the last turn and pushed it up the edge of the flower bed sectioned off by decorative rocks up close to the house, then I killed the roar of the engine when I made it to the sidewalk that cut up the middle of the yard.
The screen on the door clattered shut, and I looked up to the stoop of my childhood home to see my mother step out, a towel in one hand and a glass of lemonade in the other. She watched down on me with that same adoration she’d watched me with my entire life.
“Would you come inside? You’re likely to melt out here in all this heat.”
Affection bound my chest, and I swiped my forearm across my face to gather the sweat. “You act like I don’t spend every single one of my days exactly like this. It comes with the territory.”
“Well, you could take a day off of it if you didn’t think you had to show up here to mow my lawn every Saturday morning.”
I grinned as I started her direction. “And what else would I do with myself?”
“Oh, I don’t know…sleep in? Especially considering I know the way you like to spend your Friday nights.”
She didn’t try to hide the insinuation.
Funny, I hadn’t been in the mood for it last night.
I took the two steps onto the porch and leaned in to peck a kiss to her cheek. “And miss out on seeing your beautiful face? I don’t think so.”
Her scowl was playful as she passed me the towel. “It’s not like you won’t see it at Sunday breakfast.”
I used the towel to mop up the sweat on my face, running it around to the back of my neck, my grin slow. “Saturday and Sunday mornings right here with my momma. Best hours of the week.”
She tsked. “Are you trying to flatter your momma? You always knew how to butter me up.”
“Speaking nothing but God’s honest truth.” My smile was wide, and she was shaking her head, though something tender slipped into her features.
In my opinion, there wasn’t a better human being on this planet than my mother. Her eyes warm and brown, her hair frizzy, her clothes plain. It sometimes gutted me looking at her because I knew every single one of the lines written on her face were carved of the worry she’d carried for us, with the grief that had knitted itself so deep in her spirit she’d never found a real way of healing.
But she’d taken that grief and weaved it into the love she had for us.
The devotion she’d poured into us.
She’d never wanted me and my two sisters to suffer when our lives had been upended after my father had passed, and she’d worked her fingers until they’d literally bled. I had zero fucking regrets that I’d given it all for her, even though she didn’t have the first clue.
Reaching out, she set a hand on my cheek, gaze emphatic as she brushed her thumb over the scruff. “You do too much for me, Cody. You always have. You’re young. I want you livin’ your life. With everything you’ve got. I want you to find joy. Love. Your reason.”
My throat grew thick, and I reached up and curled my hand over hers, voice gruff when I murmured, “I already have, Mom. It’s right here.”
And I needed not to fucking forget it.
NINE
HAILEY
It was just after five-thirty when I hopped into my Durango that Friday evening.
A sigh of contentment fluttered past my lips as I turned over the ignition.
It was hard to believe I’d already been working at Cambrey Pines for two weeks. Those two weeks had been productive. Both exciting and terrifying, the hope of freedom whispering around me while a piece of my spirit still toiled and warred.