Total pages in book: 77
Estimated words: 74589 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 373(@200wpm)___ 298(@250wpm)___ 249(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 74589 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 373(@200wpm)___ 298(@250wpm)___ 249(@300wpm)
Sometimes I feel like I abandoned her back then, like I left her to deal with Momma and all the boyfriends on her own, and I wonder if that’s why I’m so protective of her now.
I’m making up for all my past failures and mistakes. I owe it to Momma to look after Kady, even if it isn’t always easy, because I’m the reason Momma’s dead.
Something I’ll never forget and never learn to live with.
It also helps that Kady’s my sister and I love her so much it’s like someone’s trying to squeeze my heart with both hands.
But guilt can be as strong as love sometimes.
“Have you heard from Jaxson lately?” I ask before I spiral into my own negative self-reflection.
She shakes her head. “Nope, not a peep. Does that mean whatever Nolan did worked?”
“I hope so.” I don’t add that it might’ve started a much worse war and we could be in for a very bad time. There’s no reason to make her worried.
“What’s wrong?” Kady stares at me over her tea, cradling it in both hands. “You’re making that face.”
“What face?”
“The face you make when you’re bottling it all up. Your thinking face.”
“I’m not bottling.”
“You’re bottled so tight I think you might explode. I bet your head would fly up into the sky if I shook you up. What’s the deal, Cora?”
I close my eyes and sigh. “I’m working for Nolan now.” I open them again and Kady’s watching me carefully, looking skeptical. Which is a better reaction than I expected.
“Is that a good idea?” She asks it real slowly like she’s talking to a little kid.
“No, it’s definitely not.”
“Then why?”
“He offered me eighty thousand a year plus insurance.” Kady leans back in shock and looks about the way I felt when he made me the offer. “I got him up to ninety.”
“Cora!”
“I know.” I grin at her and hope she doesn’t notice my hands shaking. “It’s a big deal, right? That kind of money can change our life and I’m pretty sure I can add you to my insurance. Imagine having health insurance for the first time ever? I’m sorry, I should’ve told you right away, but it’s just that—”
“It’s Nolan. I get it.” He sips her tea and drums her fingers on the mug, visibly excited. “That’s the last man anyone should be working for. He’s going to pay you, but what’s he going to ask in return?”
“Nothing illegal. It’ll all be above board. He wants me as his secretary.”
“Executive assistant,” she corrects and I grin at her. “I’m feeling some very mixed emotions right now. I remember what happened the last time you two got tangled up and how bad you were afterward.” She looks away and doesn’t mention Momma, which I’m grateful for. “But damn, health insurance.”
“I’m feeling some mixed emotions too, if I’m honest.”
“Jaxson’s gone and you’re working for a mobster. All this in a couple days. And here I was thinking I had the bad taste in men.”
“Life’s looking up for the Stone girls. Except I’m not getting involved with Nolan past working together. This time I’m drawing some very tight lines.”
She laughs and snuggles tighter against the porch swing. “Yeah, sure, super tight lines. Not leaky boundaries at all.”
I flip her off and laugh and she grins back before I stare out at the woods, my smile fading away, because Kady’s right—no amount of money will change the fact that I’m now working for Nolan, and there’s a war coming with the ORB club, and all the memories I have with that man still haunt me even though I’ve done nothing but try to erase them.
The door to the neighboring trailer slams and drunk John and drunk Colleen take their fight indoors, which means things are progressing on schedule. Give them another fifteen minutes and Colleen’s going to be screaming like she’s in heaven. It’s gross, listening to your neighbors have sex, but sort of sweet too? They fight but they love each other, which is more than a lot of folks have around here.
“Can I ask you something?” I don’t look at her as I say it and focus on the wine in my hands.
“That’s what people say when the question’s about to be unpleasant. Can I say no?”
“You can say no,” I whisper. “I wish you would.”
“Go ahead, ask me.”
“Did you hate me? After Momma died?”
She doesn’t answer. Each second of silence is like a stab to my guts. I force myself to look over and she doesn’t seem upset, only thoughtful. She puts her mug in her lap and curls around it like a cat, sighing, and shakes her head.
“I wanted to,” she says with a little smile. “God, I really wanted to.”
“Why didn’t you?”
“Come on, Cora, you remember how you were, right?” I shudder to think about it and Kady goes on. “I remember two days after, I found you standing out in the woods curled up under a tree wearing the same sweats you’d had on for days. I screamed at you, do you remember that? I called you everything horrible I could think of, and do you know what you said to me? You said, Kady, I love you but I came out here to die. God, that pissed me off so much that I dragged you back to the house, dried you off, and got you wrapped up in bed. You stayed there for another three days, and it took me a while to realize you weren’t kidding, you really had gone out there to die, and it was right in that moment when I decided I could forgive you because I didn’t want to live without you. It was hard, Cora, really hard, but you’re my sister.”