Total pages in book: 65
Estimated words: 64910 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 325(@200wpm)___ 260(@250wpm)___ 216(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 64910 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 325(@200wpm)___ 260(@250wpm)___ 216(@300wpm)
I smiled into Wake’s chest as he hugged me tight, then moved toward Dutch as I gave her the very same hug.
“Oh, it’s good to see you up and moving,” Dutch said. “You had me so worried.”
“I had myself worried,” I admitted. “There for a second…” I let myself trail off.
The baby chose that moment to scream at the top of his lungs, and Dutch’s smile went nuclear.
“Ohh,” she whispered. “I’ve been wanting to get my fingers on that little baby for so long.”
Immediately after being released from the hospital, we’d gone home to Intercourse.
Nobody from our life in Accident, not even KD or Dutch, had a chance to meet Harker.
Until now.
Dutch moved over to Bram, but it was the man behind Wake that had me smiling. “KD.”
“Davis,” he corrected me from six feet away. “You’re lookin’ good, darlin’.”
I smiled. “I feel pretty good.”
The only thing left on me that was proof that I’d been hurt at all was the cast on my arm.
Soon, even that would be off, but I know I have some intense rehab ahead of me on that hand.
I moved to KD and threw my arms around him. He didn’t care when my cast hit him with a thunk.
“Are you okay?” I asked him.
“I’m just fine,” he rumbled.
His chest vibrated beneath my ear.
“I’m so glad,” I said softly.
KD had taken quite a bit of damage himself as he’d all but hauled me away from the bomb. Though not anywhere near as much as me. Turns out, debris falling on him was a good thing.
“You ready for this?” he asked quietly as he pulled away from me and looked down.
I shrugged. “I guess I’m as ready as I’ll ever be.”
“About that…” Wake said as he moved in closer to us, speaking up so that the other half of our group would hear. “That’s why I’m here. Why I met you at this weird place with pudgy mermaids and bat houses and shit. Turns out, Travis decided not to go along with his trial after all. He hung himself in his cell this morning. Guards found him as they were about to prepare to move him to the courthouse.”
“Ten bucks says the shitty sheriff has one hundred percent everything to do with that,” Shine grumbled. “Fuck.”
“Fuck,” Bram agreed. “That’s just bullshit.”
But, for me, that was the only closure that I needed.
I looked blankly at all the bats that were snuggled up in their bat houses, then turned to look at my husband.
And felt nothing but relief.
Everything that had been in this world to harm me was finally gone.
There was nothing left that could hurt me.
Nothing left to stop me from living my life exactly how I wanted it but me.
“It’s over,” I said to the man that was holding our son against his chest.
Bram gave me a lopsided grin and said, “So it is.”
“What the hell are you going to do now?” Wake asked curiously. “Thinkin’ about coming back to Florida?”
I looked at my friend and shook my head. “Actually? I’m gonna do something crazy.”
He frowned. “What’s that?”
I licked my lips. “I think I’m going to become a medical doctor.”
CHAPTER 30
Not everyone is going to think you’re gorgeous, amazing and magical. They’re wrong, though. Dickheads.
-Text from Bram to Dory
DORY
Eight months later
“Did you know that if you’re in a high velocity car accident, you need to scream and pee? Because both of those organs can explode.”
“Darlin’,” Bram said with a hint of laughter in his voice. “If you’re in a high velocity accident, you don’t need to worry about your bladder or lungs exploding. You need to worry about your head not whippin’ straight off your body.”
He had a point.
A very good one, might I add.
But still…
“It’s just what I read in my book. That your bladder and lungs can explode during an accident.” I shrugged.
This doctor thing was hard.
I never thought I’d get into the program to begin with. I mean, I was just applying because my brain and my heart were, for once, in line with each other. And I thought… what can it hurt?
And here I am, eight months later, in my first semester of medical school.
I didn’t know what had changed my mind about working as a child’s psychologist, but luckily, all of my schooling somewhat ‘transferred’ to the medical program. Which meant I had a whole lot fewer classes to take than I would have had I come in fresh.
At least, that was what I kept telling myself.
In reality, I was just trying to justify throwing away a perfectly good career that’d taken me a very long time to get.
In Bram’s words, ‘who gave a fuck?’
I was trying to follow his words of wisdom.
I was also trying to raise a baby, go to school, and be there for my husband while I was at it.