Total pages in book: 90
Estimated words: 84071 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 420(@200wpm)___ 336(@250wpm)___ 280(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 84071 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 420(@200wpm)___ 336(@250wpm)___ 280(@300wpm)
“I can’t believe you’re leaving.” I know she’s trying to change the subject. “The house is going to be so empty without you.” She reaches for my hand.
I smile at her. “Charlie is planning on turning my room into a man cave.” I inform her of the plans my brother started to make the minute I told my parents I was moving out.
My mother throws her head back and laughs. “He did mention that he thinks we should knock down the wall between your rooms and make a huge en suite.”
I shake my head. “Well, I don’t think you have to ever worry about him moving out, like ever.” I smile.
We turn and start to walk back toward the barn. “It’s not going to be the same without you.”
“I know.” I look down at my feet. “I’m going to miss this too.” I look over my shoulder at everyone. “Even though I can’t do anything without someone knowing something.” We both laugh.
“I was wondering if you forgot about me.” I look over to see my father walking out of the barn. He’s wearing jeans and a T-shirt, his trusty old worn cowboy boots covered in dust and dirt.
“I’m not talking to you,” I say right away, and he stops mid-step.
“What did I do?” he asks, then looks over at my mother, who pretends to look around as if searching for something.
“Did you tell Grandpa Casey where I was going to live?” I ask.
“Um…” he says. I see it written on his face that he’s trying to think of something to say.
“I specifically said to you, ‘Please don’t tell anyone because I didn’t want to make a huge fuss about it.’”
“Gracie.” He uses my nickname he gave me when I was a baby. “He asked me where you were staying. What kind of father would I be if I didn’t know where his only daughter would be living? Besides, do you think you could have kept it from him?” His eyebrows rise as he waits for me to answer his question.
“The point is, I didn’t want to make a big deal out of this. I wanted to move into the place and make it my own. I wanted to move into the place and find out who my neighbors were, not be given a spreadsheet about them.”
“Did he send you his report?” he asks, shocked.
“There’s a report?” I shriek. Throwing my hands up in the air, I look over at my mother to see if she knows about this report, but I know right away she does when she avoids looking at me and instead looks down at her feet and then off to the side. Basically, she looks anywhere but at me.
“No.” My father covers his mistake. “Of course not.” He pffts out. “He wouldn’t do that.”
“Unbelievable.” I put my hands on my hips. “Well, it’s a good thing I didn’t tell you where I’m working.” He then glares at me. “Or else I’d be showing up to work, and surprise… my grandfather owns the company.”
“He’s only done that once.” My father holds up his hand. “And it was a good investment.”
“He bought a hockey team.” I throw my hands up. “He’s never even been on skates.”
“That was because…” My father stops talking to hold up his finger. “There was a good reason for that.”
“There is no good reason for that. Not one good reason for it besides trying to strong-arm Sofia’s husband.” I mention my cousin and her new husband. I actually got the apartment from his cousin’s best friend, Levi.
“I don’t want to fight with you on your last day here,” my father says. “Now let’s get going since you have a flight to catch.” He turns to walk into the barn. “Unless you want to borrow the jet, or we can drive you there.”
“Quinn,” my mother grumbles between clenched teeth, “at this point, she’s not going to come home, ever.”
My father gasps, putting a hand to his heart. “She would never.”
I smirk at him. “Never say never, Dad.” I tilt my head to the side. “Never say never.” I walk past him toward the stable that holds my horse, never thinking those words would come back to haunt me.
two
Caine
“Chop-chop,” I prod as I walk out of the house with Meadow behind me. I wait for her to step out of the doorway before I shut it behind us. She is already down two steps when I join her, holding out my hand for her to take as we make our way toward the BMW SUV.
“Chop-chop, Daddy,” she echoes, looking up at me. Her pigtails are already starting to fall, one lopsided. One hand on the railing, the other is in mine until we get to the bottom of the steps, where she lets go of my hand. “Choppy-choppy.” She claps her hands, mimicking how I usually do chop-chop when we need to run out of the house. I shake my head at her as I walk to the SUV and open the back door. I wait to see if she wants me to lift her to put her in or if she’ll do it herself. She grabs my hand before stepping up into the car and getting into her car seat. I toss her little pink backpack onto the seat next to her before I buckle her in. “Chop-chop,” she repeats, and I smile at her, looking into her blue eyes that are exactly like mine. “Daddy.”