Total pages in book: 128
Estimated words: 127712 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 639(@200wpm)___ 511(@250wpm)___ 426(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 127712 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 639(@200wpm)___ 511(@250wpm)___ 426(@300wpm)
“What time are they getting home?”
Nova is making us breakfast, even though it’s two in the afternoon. Eggs, toast, bacon. She’s wearing a pair of panties and a tank top, no bra. I want to slap her ass as she butters the toast. “Back… from?”
“From the beach. With Veda.”
She looks over her shoulder at me. “You really don’t know?”
“Know what?”
She drops both hands to her side and turns to me. “Are you completely self-absorbed or just indifferent?”
“You’re gonna need to be more specific, Nova. I’m not sure what you’re talking about. What time is Olsen getting back with Veda? I haven’t seen him in a while and I don’t—”
“He’s not coming back, Michael.”
Wow. I must’ve triggered something here because I think this is the first time she’s ever called me Michael. It sounds so foreign coming from her mouth, I have sudden doubts that it’s actually my given name. “What are you talking about? Why wouldn’t he come back?”
I get a sick feeling in my stomach and want to take the question back immediately. But it’s out, and she’s answering. “He lives there.”
“Lives where?”
“At the beach. Veda is spending the week with him.”
Sick feelings never fail to deliver the bad news. “Why would she be spending the week with him?”
Nova shrugs. “Because it’s his week. Because they like each other. Because he’s one of her fathers.”
And there it is. The bomb.
“His week? He gets a week?”
“She knows, Michael.”
“Stop calling me that. It’s Locke. It’s been Locke for fourteen years. It’s always gonna be Locke.”
“You get your time, your way. And Olsen gets his time, his way.”
“Are you telling me—”
“Yes.” She cuts me off. “Olsen has been coming to see her at least four times a year since I moved here.”
“How is that possible?”
“What do you mean?”
“I mean, I’m here four times a year. Sometimes more. So how come I didn’t know this?”
“Yeah. And sometimes I tell you to get lost.” She almost snorts. “It never once crossed your mind that someone else was already here?”
“So he lives a few hours away? And has, for all this time?”
She slides eggs onto a plate with toast, then adds three pieces of bacon and hands it to me. “Why are you so surprised? You don’t think he loves me enough to follow me across the country?”
“No. I mean, I don’t know if he loves you or not, but why keep it a secret?”
“It’s not a secret. You’re here, he knows you’re here, and you know he was here and now he’s not.”
I accept the plate, take it over to the other side of the island and sit on a stool. Trying to parse this out. Trying to make it fit. Give it reason and meaning.
“Does it upset you?” Nova sets her plate down on the island too. She is across from me, mossy eyes twinkling with mischief. “Are you jealous?”
“No. I’m not jealous.” This is not a lie. “I’m just surprised. Why wouldn’t you mention this? I mean, all this time, Nova. We could’ve—”
“We could’ve what? Been a little family?”
“Would that be so bad?”
Her mischief fades and her expression becomes serious. “I don’t forgive you. I don’t forgive him, either. But I’m stuck with you both. And there’s nothing I can do about that.” She throws up her hands. “There’s nothing I can do about any of it. This is just how it is.”
There are digs in there and they are not well hidden. But I’m not touching that. We haven’t talked about it since she walked out on us almost five years ago and today is not the day we break that tradition.
“Do you want to leave?” she asks.
“No. I don’t wanna leave.”
“Then stop overthinking things, Locke.”
She almost sneers my name. And not for the first time, I wonder, why do I always get most of the blame?
Nova sighs. “It’s always about you, isn’t it?”
“It’s not.” But I can’t stop the guilty smile that leaks out with those words. I am a self-absorbed asshole and everyone knows this.
She points her fork at me. “Eat your breakfast. We can talk about this later if you want. But not now. We had a good morning.”
“We had a great morning.”
“So let’s forget about… everything. And just be present.”
This is something I can agree to. I’ve been working on this, actually. I’m always so wrapped up in my head. But I have one more question before I can let it go. “What about Mercer?”
“What about him?”
“He doesn’t come visit?”
She guffaws. “No, Locke. Mercer does not come visit.”
Is it terrible that I feel relief at this revelation?
Probably.
But also, I don’t care.
We change the subject and eat our breakfast.
CHAPTER THREE – NOVA
FIVE YEARS AGO
I do not pause.
I do not stop walking, I do not think about anything, and I certainly do not feel rejected.
I didn’t even get his name. Our encounter was so short, I doubt I’d be able to pick him out of a lineup. Is this the man, ma’am? The man who invited you into the woods and encouraged you to jerk him off?