Saving Ever After (Ever After #4) Read Free

was also a little nervous about not knowing anyone. As
much as I relished the anonymity here and the chance to be whoever I wanted, at
least I knew what to expect from the people back home and what I had to do to
fit in. Everything and everyone here was an unknown. Time to suck it up though.
I took a deep breath and then plopped down on the couch. “What do you want to
talk about? If you’re going to give me the no drinking, drugs and sex talk, you
don’t need to worry. I want this to be a fresh start for me just as much as you
do. I’m not going to blow it by going wild. At least not on my first night,” I
joked.
    Sadie forced
a soft chuckle and dropped down beside me. “No, that’s not what I need to talk
to you about. I know you’ll do great here. It’s about Mom and Dad.”
    “What about
them?”
    “I talked to
Dad yesterday, and he said they haven’t been able to work things out, that it’s
only gotten worse between them,” she said solemnly. It wasn’t surprising
though. Things between Mom and Dad had been strained for a while. They put on a
good front, but it was just that, a front. The tension and arguing had gotten
progressively worse over the past several months since my accident.
    That wreck
hurt a lot of people. The damage was widespread.
    “What does
this mean?” I asked her, not sure why she wanted to talk about it now.
    “Dad said
they’re officially filing for a divorce. He moved out yesterday.”
    “Oh.” I
wasn’t sure what else to say. While it wasn’t news that our parents weren’t
getting along, I never thought they would get a divorce. Even through all the
arguing and disagreements, a lot of them about me, I’d never doubted that my parents
still loved each other above all else, including their children. I figured with
me out of the house now, they’d figure out how to work things out. Not to
mention that divorces could be so humiliating in my mother’s circle. If nothing
else, I thought they’d stay together forever simply to preserve their good
image. Guess I was wrong.
    “Dad says
it’s for the best, that it’s what they both want.”
    “Mmhmm,” I
mumbled, still trying to process. Obviously things had been worse than I
thought, or maybe I’d just been too naïve to see this coming.
    “Dad wanted
me to make sure that you know it’s not your fault, Mia.” I looked up and met
her eyes. Concern reflected in them.
    “I know. Of
course it’s not,” I said automatically, but I couldn’t help but think that if I
hadn’t been so difficult, if I hadn’t caused so much trouble the last couple
years, especially this last one, they wouldn’t have fought so much. Mom and
Sadie could have probably made up too, if Mom hadn’t tried to blame Sadie for
being a bad influence on me.
    “It’s not,
Mia,” Sadie repeated as if she could read my mind. “It’s nobody’s fault but
their own. It’s their problems and differences that caused this. Not you, not
me, not any of us, okay?”
    “Yeah, I
said I know.”
    “Okay, good.
Now I have to go, but you can call me if you need anything.”
    I promised
her I would, and then she left. I sat there and looked around my room. My room.
My life. This was my chance to make something of it, to not be the
disappointment so many people thought of me as.
    Here, I
wasn’t Mia, the youngest Pierce girl and the troubled one. I wasn’t party-girl Mia,
the girl who survived the drunk driving accident that killed two other students.
I wasn’t Mia, the wild child, the rebellious one, or anything else. I was just
Mia, for now, until I figured out who I wanted to be.
    This was
going to be good. It didn’t matter that my family was a mess. Nothing mattered
but taking this opportunity for what it was – my chance to prove not only to
everyone else, but to myself, that I wasn’t all of those things. All of the bad
was behind me now. Only good things from now on, I promised myself.
    My mood
slightly improved and, feeling more optimistic, I