Love's Destiny (Love Trilogy #2) Read Free Page B

everything seemed so fragile. I realized how easily my entire life could change in a heartbeat. Everything I had could be taken away from me. I had never experienced so much fear.
    Eight months later Chance Michael Carter came into this world without a single complication. My mother swore that he smiled at the nurse who delivered him.
    “Already has his Daddy’s charm.” She boasted.
    I wasn’t sure what to think about having a little brother at first. For the previous eight months I’d been riddled with panic and the fear of losing my mother, I hadn’t really thought about what it would be like to have a sibling.
    Now that the worst was over and I knew Mom was safe, I began to finally consider the possibilities of being a big sister. Of course I thought immediately of how obnoxious Tyler always was, but when I looked down at my new baby brother I just couldn’t believe anything so tiny and cute could ever be that bad.
     
     

Chapter 2: The Cabin
     
     
    “Tyler, did you remember to pack your toothbrush?” my mother asked me for the third time.
    “No, I think I’m just going to let my teeth rot. All the kids are doing it these days.” Mom just rolled her eyes at my sarcastic comment as she wandered off looking for Dad, probably to make sure he’d packed enough underwear.
    I zipped up my suitcase and lugged it out to the car. As I passed my parent’s room I could hear Mom badgering poor Dad.
    “Do you think we should pick up some more sun block before we leave town? I don’t want Tyler to burn.” I was the one to roll my eyes this time.
    Sometimes I wondered if she realized I was 12 years old now. I wasn’t a baby. I didn’t need her to remind me to pack my toothbrush, and I could worry about my own sun block. She was always a little overprotective, but every year when we took our annual trip to the cabin it went into overdrive.
    I knew once we hit the road she’d finally mellow out and I was glad we were leaving soon. I couldn’t take much more of this. Dad had amazing patience. He always just smiled at her when she was being neurotic. Nothing ever fazed him. I hadn’t inherited that gene. I loved my mom but sometimes she really drove me nuts.
    Every summer for as long as I could remember we’d gone to the cabin. It belonged to my dad’s best friend, Uncle Mike. He wasn’t really my uncle, but I’d known him my whole life and that’s just what my parents had always called him. Uncle Mike was cool and so was Aunt Katherine. They had a daughter Destiny that was just a little older than me. She liked to act like she was way older but it was really barely a two year age difference. They also had a little boy named Chance who was three.
    Destiny was cool, most of the time. I liked to hang out with her when she wasn’t acting all prissy. I guess she was kind of like a sister to me but less annoying because we didn’t have to live together. Not that I would have minded living with them. They had an awesome house. It was huge! Dad said Uncle Mike inherited a bunch of money when his dad died a long time ago.
    Uncle Dan and Aunt Amy came to the cabin every year too, they had twin 4 year olds, Jaime and Kenzie. I wasn’t really related to any of them either. Aunt Amy had been friends with Aunt Katherine for like ever, just like my dad and Uncle Mike, and so all our parents had been inseparable before any of us were born.
    Now it was time again for the annual trip to the cabin. I liked going to the cabin, there was a cool lake close by and lots of fun hiking trails. I wondered if Mom was actually going to let me hike on my own this year. Last year she was convinced I’d get kidnapped if an adult wasn’t within and 10-foot radius of me at all times. This year I was going to put my foot down. She needed to accept the fact that I was getting older and could do things on my own.
    I finished loading the back of the car with my suitcase and headed back into the house to see if there was anything else I could