Total pages in book: 101
Estimated words: 97037 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 485(@200wpm)___ 388(@250wpm)___ 323(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 97037 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 485(@200wpm)___ 388(@250wpm)___ 323(@300wpm)
She lets out a soulless laugh, her eyes dull. “Oh, I’m an utter mess.”
Tears burn my eyes. “I’m sorry I wasn’t here.”
Kitty squeezes my hand. “Oh, my darling. I helped you find your wings to fly, not to keep you in a gilded cage.”
A tear slides down my face as I hold her eyes that mirror mine. “How can I help?”
She runs her thumb along my knuckles. “Watching you skate did that. I miss watching you, and seeing you on camera was so soothing. Just having you here is helping.”
Her words hit me like a ten-thousand-pound weight. Surely she isn’t asking me to stay, because I don’t know how to say no. Soft footsteps sound in the hall, and we both look back as my mom enters the kitchen. Her dark-green eyes move between us, annoyance in her gaze.
“What are you doing?” she asks me, not her mother-in-law, since Kitty doesn’t take her shit at all.
I sip my water as I take in my mother. She has aged a lot since the last time I saw her. Wow, it’s been almost six months. I hadn’t even realized until right now when I’m staring at a very tired-looking woman. She was close with my grandpa. He helped a lot with the forest things she did since he was a logger back in his younger days. Unlike me, her hair is a yellow blond that curls in all kinds of crazy ways. She is skin and bones, her sleep dress two sizes too big. She presses her lips into a line, making the wrinkles along her mouth visible.
“Just visiting,” Kitty says, flashing her a dark look. “Can we not visit?”
“Sure, but maybe you should scold your golden child for being late.”
Kitty rolls her eyes. “She showed up, didn’t she?”
“On her own time, making a fool of herself running up a hill in a dress way too tight.”
I shrug. “Hey, I made good time up that hill.”
“Yes, then flashed the whole town when you kicked off your heels.”
I wonder if Jett saw. And if he noticed my tats? His grandma is a tattoo artist, so I know he’d appreciate my art. So many times, I’ve wanted to reach out to him over the years, but I never could get myself to do it.
“Showing off those horrid tattoos.”
Mom hates tattoos.
Mom hates everything but trees.
“My tattoos are classy.”
“In a trailer park, maybe,” Mom says under her breath, and Kitty glares.
“Leave her alone, Elena,” my wonderful grandmother says, always coming to my defense. “She’s stunning, no matter what.”
She chucks my chin, and I smile only for her. Mom doesn’t want to listen to Kitty, but she does, surprisingly. “We should all be in bed. We have an early morning.”
Unable to keep in the snarkiness, I snap, “What? Why?”
I mean, I’m thirty-eight years old. I can rave all night, crash out at two, wake up, and do it again. Not that I will, but I could. I’m a grown-ass adult. I bring in my brows. I was planning on leaving in the morning after I woke up and had one last skate. Maybe I’d run into Jett… Not that I am holding my breath, but I’d like to maybe say hi. Catch up. I don’t know.
Kitty clutches my hand. “For the reading of the will.”
My stomach drops. “I have to do that?”
“Yes, we all do,” she says softly. “Our lawyer, Jami, will be here at eight, and so will Jett.”
My heart pounds like a kick drum. “Jett?”
“Yes, my darling, he’s included too.”
“Of course. Since he was always Phillip’s favorite,” Mom mutters, shaking her head. “Doesn’t make any sense to me—a Cook included in a Winthrop will.”
Kitty glares over at her once more, pure disdain in her gaze. “That Cook has done more for this name than you have ever done,” she snaps, her body vibrating. I squeeze her hand, hoping to calm her, but Kitty isn’t done. “You will never speak of their family that way again. They are the best people I’ve ever known, and I’m proud to have Jett take over. He will do right by what Phillip built.”
Mom only rolls her eyes. “Okay, Kitty. No reason to get all up in arms. No one is going to take anything away from your precious Cooks.”
As my mother leaves the kitchen, shaking her head, I meet Kitty’s gaze. She squeezes my hand once more and then pats the back of my hand with her other hand. “Let’s go to bed.”
I don’t agree or disagree. I only follow like a little puppy. Because my mind is reeling, and my heart is lodged up in my throat. Jett is coming here. For the reading of my grandfather’s will, which he’s included in. There will be no reason for us not to speak to each other.
I have no clue what I’ll say.