Total pages in book: 94
Estimated words: 94903 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 475(@200wpm)___ 380(@250wpm)___ 316(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 94903 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 475(@200wpm)___ 380(@250wpm)___ 316(@300wpm)
“Do you know what I don’t get?” she asks.
“What’s that?”
“Why is my teacher so mean? What did I ever do to her?”
I hand her a drink and sit back down. “Honestly? Who knows?”
“It’s unfair.”
I take a long drink, letting the water cool me down before I respond.
“You’ll never be able to figure out why people act as they do,” I say. “Mostly because it has nothing to do with you.”
“Of course, it does. She acts that way to me. It’s all about me.”
“It’s not,” I say, chuckling. “Think of it this way—you say that I treat you differently than your dad. Right?”
“For sure.”
“Okay. In each situation, what’s different?”
She furrows a brow.
“You are the same person. The situation is the same. So what’s different?” I ask.
“Well, it’s you and Dad.”
“Right.” I point at her. “Your dad is a single dad. He must keep you alive and healthy. You are his whole, entire world. He worries about you every single second of every day. He’s not just thinking about this event—he’s wondering how it’ll affect you a year from now. A decade from now. When you’re retiring from your job and collecting Social Security.”
Kennedy laughs. “No, he’s not.”
“I assure you that he is. But me?” I shrug. “You’re a friend’s kid, so I don’t have the same concerns for you that he does. But I had similar situations growing up, so instead of worrying about how this will affect you in high school, I’m thinking about how you feel today. Same problem. Two different angles.”
“Oh. Okay.” She nods as if it makes sense.
“So how we react to what you do has nothing to do with you,” I say. “We react the way we do because of the things we’ve experienced. Do you see what I’m saying? How people act comes from a place of fear, pain, or worries you could never know because you haven’t lived their life.”
“I’m using that in reverse. ‘You don’t even know my life.’ I’m going to say that to the next person who suggests I should be a morning person or that a party isn’t the place for me.”
She watches me with a twinkle in her eye. Something about it makes my stomach tighten.
“What?” I ask.
“Do you think there’s any way that you’ll stick around when Gram comes home?”
“We’ll hit the road in a little while. If I can keep Lonnie from stopping every mile, we should be home tomorrow afternoon sometime.”
Maggie’s words from earlier today, before I was summoned to the school, roll through my brain. She’s coming home tomorrow.
“Do you want to?” she asks me.
It’s such a loaded question—do I want to stay here with her and Chase?
A large part of me wants to remain in this house and see if it could be my home. I think maybe, possibly, it could. But saying that out loud is equivalent to putting a bull’s-eye on my back. It feels like standing on a rug and giving someone the corner, taunting them to see if they can pull it hard enough to knock me off.
“But maybe it’s not weird, Megan. Maybe this is …”
I gulp.
My hand trembles as I tug on the end of my shirt.
“We’ll take it slow.”
I grin. We took it anything but slow. Things with Chase were hard and fast. He hated the idea of me. I didn’t love the idea of him. But we couldn’t stay apart.
There’s no reason I should’ve landed in Peachwood Falls, yet here I am. And not only does this town, this house, and this family feel like my new comfort zone, but it also feels like an end zone. This is where I catch the last touchdown.
“Maybe,” I say, answering her question. “I can’t promise you anything.”
“But you want to stay?”
I grin. “Maybe.”
She laughs. As she speaks, headlights shine through the kitchen. Kennedy looks at me and blinks.
“Who’s telling him?” she asks.
“This is your thing. If you want me to help break the ice, I will. But I think you need to take the lead on this.”
She groans. “But if I say something, he’ll blow up. There won’t be a chance for me to explain. But if you say something, he’ll at least pause before he yells at me.”
“He’s not going to yell at you.”
She doesn’t look convinced.
“Fine. Does it make you feel better if I say something first?” I ask.
She nods emphatically. In the distance, Chase’s car door slams.
“Hey, Megan?” Kennedy asks.
“Yeah?”
She glances out the window and then babbles. “I want you to know that I know that you and my dad are … I don’t know what you call it when you’re old, but I know you’re … kissing.” She makes a face. “So if you need to kiss him to make this work out better for me, I won’t freak out. I already know. So lay one on him, and I’ll stand back here and smile like an angel.”