Total pages in book: 151
Estimated words: 145823 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 729(@200wpm)___ 583(@250wpm)___ 486(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 145823 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 729(@200wpm)___ 583(@250wpm)___ 486(@300wpm)
“In that case,” Sam sang, “I’m going to leave her with you so I can run to the store. We’re out of ice cream, and that’s not good for anyone.”
Morgan nodded, and Sam gave me a half smile and a mouthed good luck before she headed out the door.
I grabbed one of the stools from the side of the breakfast bar and sat, keeping the bar between us to give her whatever space she needed. As much as it grinded my ass to admit, she wasn’t mine tonight. She was his.
She pushed the demolished cabinets to the end of the kitchen, and I locked my jaw to stop from asking her to let me help. This was the same girl who hadn’t wanted me to screw down the plywood on her landing. She sure as hell didn’t want me stepping in here.
Then she put her glasses back on, picked up the sledge, and swung it at the row of cabinets next to the space where the refrigerator had been. A quick glance showed that she’d moved it to the dining room.
“I bet you think I’m insane, right?” she asked, then swung the hammer again.
“Not at all.”
She looked at me over her shoulder, then swung the hammer, getting it stuck through the face of the cabinet door. “Shit!”
Don’t move. I folded my hands on the counter as I watched her struggle to free it, then let out a breath when she did.
“You should. I feel insane half the time. Did you know that Will and I weren’t even together? Not really.” She swung again, and the door fell.
“You said something about a quasi-boyfriend,” I recalled.
“He never wanted me. Not really. I fell for him when I was in high school, and he only had eyes for Peyton.” Another swing. Wood cracked. “And Peyton didn’t want him. I never could understand that girl. Will followed her to West Point; that’s how much he loved her.” Another swing. The cabinet splintered at the bottom, and the sledge fell through to the counter beneath.
Fuck, I wanted her in a hardhat and some sensible boots, not shorts and sneakers.
“He was a West Pointer, huh?” I asked, just to keep her talking. I hated ring-knockers, as did every servicemember I’d ever met.
“Through and through.” Her breaths were ragged as she pulled the sledge off the counter and let the business end fall to the floor. “And when Peyton died, he found the next closest person to her to love, who happened to be her little sister. My best friend, Paisley.”
My eyebrows shot skyward. Holy shit.
Morgan’s ponytail swished as she raised the hammer and swung it through the cabinet next to the one she’d already massacred.
“That had to suck.”
She scoffed. “It was what it was. He didn’t want me. I was too loud, too brazen, too much…everything. And Paisley is the sweetest person you’ll ever meet, so it’s not surprising that he fell for her. Everyone does. Hell, I love her more than I love myself.”
But this was the first time I was hearing her name.
She put the hammer through the door again, then struggled to get it free. “I couldn’t tell her that I loved him. That would have put her through hell, and her heart couldn’t take that. She had a condition back then—the same one that killed Peyton. I mean, what was the point of staying behind for college with her if I just killed her because I was too selfish to keep my mouth shut?” She yanked the hammer free with a grunt, stumbling back a few feet.
I stood but quickly sat again when she regained her balance.
She turned, leaning on the sledge as she looked at me with a mix of sadness and anger. “And then Paisley met Jagger, and she left Will. And he was so damned hurt, and she was so damned happy! And it slipped. I never meant for her to know, but then she did.” Morgan yanked her safety glasses off. “And, of course, she wasn’t mad that I’d been secretly in love with her ex-boyfriend, but then again, I’d loved him for far longer than she ever had.”
I kept my eyes locked on hers and tried to appear as relaxed as possible.
“And Will. God, Will. I was good enough to be friends with. Good enough to help him study before he got all buddy-buddy with Josh. I was good enough to pin his wings on graduation day when his mama couldn’t stand straight, and by God, I was pretty enough to kiss the night he took me to the flight school graduation ball. But I wasn’t enough for him to actually want.”
She put her glasses on, turned around, and swung three times, bringing two cabinets completely down to the counter beneath before she turned back around. Her chest heaved.