shy about asking to see the “good stuff.” She’d even used a drawing class excuse to try and get me to pose naked for her. She was...interesting. Harmless.
“So?” he queried.
“Sure, why not?” I agreed. I could use a night off from refining my pining and drinking abilities. I didn’t intend to go pro, so all this practice was truly unnecessary.
“Great.” Jack slapped me on the back and stood. “Oh, and when you meet Bailey, remember broken noses and jaws.”
My eyes stopped mid-roll and I started choking on the swig of beer I’d just taken. Did he say...?
I coughed. “What’s your sister’s name?”
Jack was walking out the door but yelled back, “Bailey.”
Chapter 3
Bailey
“I ’ve been here a month, don’t you think it’s time you went back to your own home? Dad told me you didn’t even spend this much time here when you were in high school.”
Dad. It was crazy weird to toss that word out there in everyday conversation when I would have given anything to have been able to talk about my dad when I was growing up. I’d loved my mom more than anything in the world, but I’d missed out on so much by not having him around. When she was diagnosed with breast cancer my senior year of high school, I let go of my yearning to know about my father and focused on taking care of her. I changed all my plans and switched to a local college, staying at home instead of in the dorms so I could care for her.
Things were looking up by the time I graduated with my bachelor’s degree and teaching license. Mom was nearing the five year anniversary of her last chemotherapy treatment, and I quickly landed a position at the elementary school I’d attended as a child. Then we got the call that changed our lives—again. The breast cancer hadn’t come back, but she was diagnosed with leukemia, a side effect of the original treatment she’d received.
It was a battle she lost this time around, and she made a deathbed confession that left me reeling. She’d never told my father about her pregnancy. When they met, he’d been a widower with a young son, and she was fresh out of a broken relationship. They found comfort in each other while they healed, but it had never been a love match. She’d discovered she was pregnant after she’d moved away and decided it was better to keep the ties severed and uncomplicated.
When she realized she wasn’t going to survive the leukemia, she hired a private investigator to locate him so I’d have the chance to meet him, if I wanted to. Less than three months later, here I was, sitting on the couch with my older brother in our dad’s home in Nebraska—still struggling with the fact that my mom had kept me from them my entire life.
“Hey.” Jack flicked my ear to gain my attention. “Do you want to get rid of me so much that you’re going to ignore me now?”
“Sorry,” I sighed. “I got lost in my head for a minute there, thinking about my mom.”
His grin quickly turned into a grimace. My mom was a topic of conversation we avoided since he and my dad pretty much hated her for the decision to keep her pregnancy a secret. But, they respected my grief and the fact that, no matter what, she was still my mother, enough to keep their opinions mostly to themselves. As much as I loved her, I couldn’t defend what she’d done. Not after what she’d cost all of us.
I needed to steer the discussion back on track because I didn’t want to ruin everyone’s dinner. “So what were you saying that was so important you needed to inflict bodily harm on me?”
He raised his hands up, palms facing me, an innocent expression on his handsome face. “Who? Me? I’d never hurt my sister.”
“Uh-huh,” I drawled, slugging him lightly on the arm. “Lucky for me, I never said anything about not hurting my brother.”
“Hey!” he protested, rubbing the spot I’d hit. “No fair. It’s a good thing I’ve got reinforcements
“So?” he queried.
“Sure, why not?” I agreed. I could use a night off from refining my pining and drinking abilities. I didn’t intend to go pro, so all this practice was truly unnecessary.
“Great.” Jack slapped me on the back and stood. “Oh, and when you meet Bailey, remember broken noses and jaws.”
My eyes stopped mid-roll and I started choking on the swig of beer I’d just taken. Did he say...?
I coughed. “What’s your sister’s name?”
Jack was walking out the door but yelled back, “Bailey.”
Chapter 3
Bailey
“I ’ve been here a month, don’t you think it’s time you went back to your own home? Dad told me you didn’t even spend this much time here when you were in high school.”
Dad. It was crazy weird to toss that word out there in everyday conversation when I would have given anything to have been able to talk about my dad when I was growing up. I’d loved my mom more than anything in the world, but I’d missed out on so much by not having him around. When she was diagnosed with breast cancer my senior year of high school, I let go of my yearning to know about my father and focused on taking care of her. I changed all my plans and switched to a local college, staying at home instead of in the dorms so I could care for her.
Things were looking up by the time I graduated with my bachelor’s degree and teaching license. Mom was nearing the five year anniversary of her last chemotherapy treatment, and I quickly landed a position at the elementary school I’d attended as a child. Then we got the call that changed our lives—again. The breast cancer hadn’t come back, but she was diagnosed with leukemia, a side effect of the original treatment she’d received.
It was a battle she lost this time around, and she made a deathbed confession that left me reeling. She’d never told my father about her pregnancy. When they met, he’d been a widower with a young son, and she was fresh out of a broken relationship. They found comfort in each other while they healed, but it had never been a love match. She’d discovered she was pregnant after she’d moved away and decided it was better to keep the ties severed and uncomplicated.
When she realized she wasn’t going to survive the leukemia, she hired a private investigator to locate him so I’d have the chance to meet him, if I wanted to. Less than three months later, here I was, sitting on the couch with my older brother in our dad’s home in Nebraska—still struggling with the fact that my mom had kept me from them my entire life.
“Hey.” Jack flicked my ear to gain my attention. “Do you want to get rid of me so much that you’re going to ignore me now?”
“Sorry,” I sighed. “I got lost in my head for a minute there, thinking about my mom.”
His grin quickly turned into a grimace. My mom was a topic of conversation we avoided since he and my dad pretty much hated her for the decision to keep her pregnancy a secret. But, they respected my grief and the fact that, no matter what, she was still my mother, enough to keep their opinions mostly to themselves. As much as I loved her, I couldn’t defend what she’d done. Not after what she’d cost all of us.
I needed to steer the discussion back on track because I didn’t want to ruin everyone’s dinner. “So what were you saying that was so important you needed to inflict bodily harm on me?”
He raised his hands up, palms facing me, an innocent expression on his handsome face. “Who? Me? I’d never hurt my sister.”
“Uh-huh,” I drawled, slugging him lightly on the arm. “Lucky for me, I never said anything about not hurting my brother.”
“Hey!” he protested, rubbing the spot I’d hit. “No fair. It’s a good thing I’ve got reinforcements
Similar Books
Out of the Blackout
Robert Barnard
Do or Die
Barbara Fradkin
Death of a Darklord
Laurell K. Hamilton
The Walk-In
Mimi Strong
Valkyrie
Kate O'Hearn
Slip of Fate (Werelock Evolution Book 1)
Hettie Ivers
Decompression
Juli Zeh
Tarry Flynn
Patrick Kavanagh
Shamanspace
Steve Aylett