Total pages in book: 116
Estimated words: 112249 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 561(@200wpm)___ 449(@250wpm)___ 374(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 112249 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 561(@200wpm)___ 449(@250wpm)___ 374(@300wpm)
A fresh, clean place to sit.
She did, quieter than before.
Gracen never had much to say to her mom and dad, and because she didn’t really have another place to go where she felt like they could hear her, the guilt chewed her alive the longer she sat there in silence. It wasn’t like she forgot about them because she didn’t visit often and only saw this as their resting place—how could she?
That wasn’t the problem.
Here, she found reality.
A stark, harsh truth.
She buried both parents, had little to no extended family, and the world seemed a lot more big and lonely because of it, too. Why, when she ventured out and found someone she might want to show her desolate life, did she get knocked back on her ass?
Was she destined to be alone?
“I really miss you guys, too,” Gracen whispered, her sandals swishing back and forth in the grass under her feet.
“Sorry,” came a new voice from the rolling knoll where she’d previously walked, “did you want me to let you know I was here first?”
Sonny, in a silk dress shirt, tie, and slacks, rocked on his heels on the hill. He shoved his hands in his pockets and glanced back the way he’d come—Gracen couldn’t see that far.
“I wasn’t sure you’d come, actually,” she admitted.
He swung back in her direction, smiling awkwardly. “Of course, why wouldn’t I? When I said if you ever needed anything then call me, I meant that, Gracen.”
She didn't have his number in her phone, but it wasn’t hard to find. Before starting her first client that morning, she sent a text to Sonny after a quick internet search provided his publicly listed number as a realtor. He’d replied to her request to meet up at lunch in the cemetery without even asking why.
“To be fair,” she said, standing from the bench and wiping away the wetness from tears she’d pretended didn’t exist, “I don’t exactly need you.”
“I know as much without you pointing it out.”
“Thank you for keeping that promise, though.”
Sonny stiffened on the walkway as Gracen came closer. He tried to roll his shoulders in a shrug like it wasn’t a big deal. “I mean, maybe that’s the least I can do. Except for leaving you alone otherwise, but you’ve made that side of things clear. Trust me.”
Maybe.
“I don’t hate you, Sonny. I just don’t like you. “
He nodded once. “Yeah, I know.”
She didn’t look back at her parents’ graves when she joined Sonny on the path. His gaze remained fixed over her shoulder on the matching headstones and connected bench.
“It’s quiet here, huh?”
“I think they’d like it,” she returned.
Sonny’s bobbing head agreed, but his mouth said nothing. He was yet another person in her life who came after the accident, and didn’t stay. He’d never known her parents. Only the stories and her memories. Sometimes, she dared to think she had shared too much with her ex. Every private fear and painful truth.
He’d been a good listener, if anything.
“I guess I should ask what you want, then,” Sonny said, “if there’s nothing you apparently need.”
Right.
The whole reason she’d reached out after saying she wouldn’t do so, and he should do the same for her.
Some things couldn’t be helped.
“Why were you at the end of my driveway this morning?” Gracen asked, getting right to the point.
Sonny couldn’t hide his surprise, but he tried by glancing away and running his fingers through his short-cropped hair. “Uh ...”
“I have a video of it.” Gracen reached in her bag, pretending to go for her phone. “Do you want to see?”
Sonny laughed under his breath. “No, thanks, I—”
She wasn’t interested in yet another deflection.
“You met up with Malachi.”
“Actually, he met up with me after I learned he was in town,” Sonny corrected, meeting Gracen’s stony gaze, unfazed. “Imagine my surprise when he agreed, gave me a time that should be fucking illegal, and topped it off with your address, to boot. What a way to start my day, eh? A head’s up might have been nice.”
She didn’t even blink. “For what?”
“You guys?” Sonny shrugged. “I didn’t know you were even a thing.”
Gracen held back a laugh.
Barely.
“Sorry. I didn’t realize I—or we—had to tell you anything about us,” Gracen said, not hiding the oozing sarcasm.
Sonny rolled his eyes. “That’s not what I mean, okay?”
Frankly, she didn’t care. His feelings on the matter were insignificant, if not practically nonexistent.
“Go back,” Gracen said, popping one hand to her hip. “You asked to meet up with him?”
“You know, the guy’s got a phone number that works if you’ve got questions to ask him.” Sonny put up his hands as if to surrender, but it still came off defensive. “I’m just saying.”
“Yet, here I am, asking you.”
Sonny sighed and scrubbed a hand down his clean-shaven jaw. Eyeing the pathway behind him once more, he came back to Gracen with a wave. “I got worried, all right? He had that chat with Alora at the manor when she was going on her break, and all I could think was the last time—”