Total pages in book: 104
Estimated words: 101466 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 507(@200wpm)___ 406(@250wpm)___ 338(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 101466 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 507(@200wpm)___ 406(@250wpm)___ 338(@300wpm)
“The rest was true. You are everything I said and more.”
We were quiet again. “How did it feel seeing her again?” she asked.
I shrugged. “It felt like nothing. I had no memories, no fond recollections. All I thought was she looked old and tired.”
“Maybe living with your brother isn’t as wonderful as she thought. She was looking at you like she wanted to eat you. And glaring at me for being able to do so.”
I laughed.
“No doubt living in your in-laws’ basement takes a toll.”
“What?” I gasped, quickly looking at her again, before focusing on the road. That was news to me.
“Oh, ah, I might have looked them up when you told me about them.”
“Tell me what else you found out,” I asked, wanting to know, for some unknown reason.
“Your brother left the firefighting game. He never made it. He works for a security company—like a rent-a-cop.”
“Jesus,” I muttered. “How the mighty have fallen.”
“From what I saw, he quit before he was told to leave.”
“Wow. It’s fucking hard to get into the job. I was lucky. He used every favor he ever stored up to make it.”
“He didn’t last.”
“Interesting.”
“He and Miriam only have the one son. They live in your parents’ basement and have done so since he changed careers. She works at a local grocery store.”
“Holy shit. She had never worked while we were together. Even in high school, she didn’t have a job. Her parents footed all the bills.”
“Her parents live in Thailand now.”
“Jesus, Casey. You knew all this and didn’t tell me?”
“I wasn’t sure you wanted to know.”
“Anything else?”
“Not really. Your dad retired, and your mom sells Tupperware.”
I shook my head. “Should I ask how you found all this out?”
“I, ah, have skills.” She squeezed my hand. “I don’t think your ex is living the life she thought she would.”
“Don’t care. They deserve each other.”
“Good.” She paused. “Please tell me you feel a little vindicated?”
I pulled into the driveway, turning off the lights. “I feel grateful I have someone in my life like you. I feel the need to take you inside and show you how grateful. I have the desire to take you out again to make up for tonight.”
She shook her head. “I loved tonight—even with them being there. It gave me a chance to say what I thought.”
“You said it well, Pixie. You were fierce.” I leaned over and kissed her. “Now, no more talk about them. Let’s finish the night off the way I wanted to.”
“Which is?”
“Buried inside you, listening to your little noises that drive me crazy, then holding you until you fall asleep.”
“I approve of this plan.”
“Then let’s go.”
Chapter Thirty
JESSE
Casey slept in her usual position, curled on her side, her hand over my heart. As I often did when I watched her, the oddest thoughts came into my head. Tonight, it felt as if she were protecting my heart—the way she had fiercely protected me earlier.
I’d wondered on occasion how I would feel if I ran into a member of my family—or Miriam. I certainly hadn’t thought I would run into them all at once the way we did tonight. I’d dreaded the possibility, worried about the emotional impact. I’d thought it would bring up the painful memories and the recollections of that terrible span of time when my entire life turned upside down.
Yet, all I felt when I looked at them was relief. I felt no lingering emotions for any of them. Miriam had killed any tender thoughts I’d ever had of her. My brother had always been difficult to deal with—his constant need to one-up me on every level left me exhausted, so the only feeling I had toward him was one of ambivalence. I didn’t care at all. In the time after my parents had informed me it was more important to have Miriam around than my hurt feelings, I had delved into my life growing up, being their son. I had realized, somehow, I had never been treated the same as Ryan. Never loved the same, if even at all. I knew my mother and her father had bad blood between them, and in retrospect, I wondered if because I looked like him, she found it difficult to be close to me.
Whatever the reason, when I walked away, I felt free. No longer the son who didn’t quite meet their expectations. And seeing them tonight, I felt only the briefest flash of sadness.
I was a different person now, and I no longer needed their approval.
Casey stirred, muttering a little under her breath, and I watched as she curled in closer, her arm tightening on my waist. She liked to be held when she slept. And surprisingly, I liked holding her. She smelled sweet, and her body felt right pressed into mine. It relaxed me.
I tucked a strand of her long, dark hair behind her ear, recalling her strength earlier. Her cutting words to the people who had hurt me so much. I had meant it when I told her no one had ever stood up for me that way. My parents always took Ryan’s side. When I thought about it later, so had Miriam. She always encouraged me to let it go, to be the bigger person. I never realized it until it was too late.