Total pages in book: 69
Estimated words: 69537 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 348(@200wpm)___ 278(@250wpm)___ 232(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 69537 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 348(@200wpm)___ 278(@250wpm)___ 232(@300wpm)
But as I buckled in and the plane’s engines started up, I had a sinking feeling that I was doing the wrong thing.
I ignored it, though.
But the feeling never left.
Not for six whole months.
I may be blind but I can still hear you.
—Bindi’s secret thoughts
BINDI
“Gee?” I croaked. The first person that popped into my head was the man who saved my life.
What kind of romance novel was I living in? It sounded like the beginning of a romcom.
“Oh, baby.” My mother’s voice broke through the quiet. “I’m here. Daddy’s here, too.”
“Is Gee?”
“No, he’s gone, honey,” she apologized. “He had a flight to catch. Daddy exchanged numbers with him, though. We’ve been giving him updates on you for a couple of days now.”
A couple of days?
What?
My heart started to pound. “My job!”
“Honey.” My mother patted my hand. “Your job is the least of your worries right now.”
A sinking feeling started in my belly, reminding me what had happened to get me here.
“My eyes,” I whispered.
My mother’s hand squeezed mine. “Honey.”
“Am I blind?” I asked.
There was a pause and then my dad took my other hand.
I hadn’t even heard him move.
“You had severe damage to your optic nerves. When that rock fell and hit you on the head, it caused brain bleeding in your skull. The bleeding put pressure on your optic nerve, and the blood flow was lost to them,” he explained. “There was nothing they could do. Not to mention, when they got in there, they were worried about other things, and not that. The bleeding was controlled, but they had to induce a coma to help reduce the brain swelling. Over the last couple of days, your eyes have gone from the greenish blue that you’ve had since birth to the same color, but with a whitish tint to it. I’m sorry, baby girl, but you’re never going to see again.”
I swallowed hard past the lump of emotion that welled up at his words.
I’d never see again…
“Okay.” I breathed. “Okay.”
“You’ll be perfectly fine,” he promised. “We’ll make it so.”
I blinked, and it was only then that I realized that my eyes had been open, and not closed, the entire time.
“What now?” My voice cracked.
“Now,” my dad started but didn’t get to finish when an angry male voice, and a bitchy female voice, from outside halted his words. “Shit.”
“I just want to see her, damn. It’s not that hard,” Joseph grumbled as if it wasn’t a big deal.
“Has he even shown up in all this time?” I wondered.
“No,” my mother replied. “He hasn’t.”
Of course he hadn’t.
“Will you get rid of him?” I asked. “I don’t want him anywhere near me.”
“Done.” I heard Dad’s chair scoot against the floor.
Seconds later, I heard Dad say, “You need to leave. You’re not welcome here.”
“I’m not welcome?” Joseph laughed. “That’s my fiancée in there. Of course, I’m welcome.”
“No,” Dad disagreed. “You’re not.”
“We’re not going anywhere,” I heard my ex-future mother-in-law’s voice say. “We’re here to see Lea.”
“Her name is Bindi, you stupid bitch,” I heard my mother mutter under her breath.
I snorted.
“You’re leaving, because you almost killed my daughter with your negligence. Nor have you even tried to show up the last three days. Three. Days,” Dad pushed. “Now, please leave.”
“It’s not a big deal. I mean, you were already here. What was it that I could do?” Joseph asked. “I mean, I was already in town, so I might as well get the hikes in before you needed a ride home.”
Asshole.
This utter asshole.
“Joseph,” I said calmly. “You don’t have to wait for me anymore. My mom and dad are going to go home with me.”
I mean, we hadn’t discussed it, but I knew they’d be coming with me.
“And we’ll be packing all your shit up and moving you the hell out of her apartment,” Dad grumbled.
“What?” Joseph asked. “Why?”
This selfish piece of shit had no clue why my dad would do that?
Really?
“Because you’re moving out,” my mom said calmly. “You’ll also need to find a new place to live and announce to the rest of your family that you won’t be marrying our daughter.”
“What?” Joseph’s voice rose. “Why?”
“Because you left me,” I replied quietly.
“I mean, it wasn’t really that big of a deal,” Joseph grumbled. “It was just for like an hour. We would’ve come back and gotten you.”
“It wasn’t that big of a deal?” Dad’s voice started to rise. “My daughter got hit in the head with a fuckin’ boulder, for Christ’s sake. Then, you decide to finish your fucking hike instead of taking her to the emergency room or using that fancy-ass satellite phone to call 9-1-1 like you should have. While she sat there, terrified out of her mind and unable to see to get down on her own, in pain and suffering, and she was bleeding out in her brain. Two strangers had to carry her off that mountain because you were too much of a selfish cunt to do it. When she got here, they said that she was minutes away from dying. She actually coded in the ER when she got here. And you’re wondering why it’s that big of a deal? Maybe if your selfish ass hadn’t left her there and instead gotten her medical care faster, she could fucking see right now!”