Total pages in book: 145
Estimated words: 140184 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 701(@200wpm)___ 561(@250wpm)___ 467(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 140184 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 701(@200wpm)___ 561(@250wpm)___ 467(@300wpm)
But I know it’s not true because I am loved, just not by her.
It makes sense that some people just aren’t cut out to love me.
But she’s the one person in my whole life who was supposed to.
I found love where I wasn’t supposed to find it.
I can imagine the things she says about me to her friends. How she bashes me and makes up things that never happened about me tempting her boyfriends, and how I’m living with the one that gave in to the temptation. I can imagine the sympathetic headshakes. Poor her. What a backstabbing slut of a daughter she raised.
I wish it didn’t sting knowing the way she sees me. I know it shouldn’t. Most of the time it doesn’t, it’s just right now and only because I saw her…
Will I have moments like this all my life? Breaks in the happiness when her poison seeps in through a crack and reaches me. We live in the same damn town. We’re bound to cross paths every once in a while, and even if we don’t, just knowing I might see her... I’ll be looking over my shoulder, on my guard every time I go somewhere I know she goes, too.
The thought makes me sick.
I wish she’d just go away.
I wish I never had to see her again.
She can take her bullshit narratives and her complete ineptitude as a parent and fuck off right out of my life.
She’s already out of my life, I remind myself.
Today was just a ghost sighting. Maybe I won’t be haunted forever.
Maybe someday she’ll leave, or maybe we will. We could get a house on the beach. I loved being at the beach.
“Do you think we’d ever move?”
Since my question comes seemingly out of the blue, Milo looks over at me. “Move?”
I nod, looking out the window instead of at him. “The boys are both old enough that they’ll be moving out on their own eventually, right? Jonathan graduates this summer, and Jet will head to Massachusetts for college in the fall. It’ll just be us in this big house.”
“Do you not like the house?” he asks lightly.
“I love the house, I just…” I trail off, realizing I’m being ridiculous. He isn’t going to sell the house he’s raised his family in and move just so I don’t have to see my mother on occasion. “Never mind. I was just wondering if it’s something you ever thought about.”
He considers it for a moment, then says, “Well, my work is here, but we have offices all over. I didn’t plan to move when the boys did, but plans can change. If this isn’t where you want to live, then we’ll talk about it, look at the places you’d rather be, see if we can make it work.”
Finally, I look over at him. “Really?”
His gaze locks with mine. “Of course. You’ll be my wife, Kennedy. Why would we stay somewhere that doesn’t make both of us happy?”
He sounds so genuine when he asks that, like it would never cross his mind to stay somewhere I didn’t want to be, even if it’s a place he’s attached to.
I really hit the jackpot with him.
“I love you,” I tell him, shaking my head in disbelief at my luck.
He glances over, startled by the sudden profession of love when a moment ago I didn’t even want to look at him. A slow smirk claims his lips and his blue eyes glint with amusement. “I love you, too.”
___
When we get home, Milo helps me unpack the groceries and offers to help get dinner cooking, but I need the busywork so I tell him I don’t need any help.
I’m feeling much better now that we’re home. I just want to focus on following a new recipe for a bit to banish her even farther from my mind.
I can tell Jet’s a bit worried about me because he sticks around and helps me unpack groceries, too. I love Jet, but he lives in his own world. Before today, I don’t think it has ever once occurred to him to help someone unpack groceries without being asked to.
He does so he can keep an eye on me. Once he’s sure I’m fine, he heads upstairs to tinker for a bit before Jonathan gets home and we summon him back down for family time.
I’m checking the dinner recipe I have open on my phone to make sure I measured out the right amount of seasoning when I see Milo has airdropped me something.
I glance up with a mild frown, but he merely nods at my phone.
I tap the screen to accept whatever he’s dropping me. My phone opens up to a video of a beautiful house in Worcester, Massachusetts. It has a bold red front door and aged brick exterior. It’s nestled in the woods like a storybook home. I watch the video tour. The interior is gorgeous, but it’s huge with more bedrooms than we need.