Total pages in book: 129
Estimated words: 121871 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 609(@200wpm)___ 487(@250wpm)___ 406(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 121871 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 609(@200wpm)___ 487(@250wpm)___ 406(@300wpm)
Chuckling, I scooted over and patted the bench. “Sit. Let’s start.”
The teen looked at the space beside me and I held my breath, wondering if she was going to reject me already. Thankfully, she let out a little sigh and plopped her butt down next to me.
“So … what do you already know about playing?”
She shrugged. “I can read music and I know what all the keys are, including the raised flat notes.” She pressed her finger down on middle C. “Middle C.” And then her forefinger on the raised black key between C and D. “C sharp. D flat. Do you need me to prove I know more?”
I shook my head, trying not to laugh at her deliberately snarky tone. “That’s wonderful. So, you just need me to help you get back into practice?”
Kelly shrugged. “I suppose so … you said you’d teach me ‘All Too Well.’”
Glancing down at her T-shirt, I tried not to smile too hard. “I’m a big fan too.” When I didn’t get a response to that, I explained as I placed my right hand on the keys, “Thumb on middle C, pinkie on G. So, it’s C, G, and then we move down for an A minor chord, thumb on A, middle on C, pinkie on E.” I did it a few times and then gestured for Kelly to try.
She did it with such ease, I sped up a little as we moved through the opening verse.
Growing more comfortable as I saw Kelly enjoying herself, I started to sing the lyrics to help her find the right melody. After a clean run-through of the first two verses, Kelly turned to look at me speculatively.
My lips twitched at her comically surprised expression. “What?”
“You have a really nice voice.”
Pleased, I nudged her with my shoulder. “Hey, thanks.”
“You and Dad’s voices would probably complement each other.” As she said it, she frowned down at the keys.
I wasn’t quite sure how to respond to that.
“Nothing bad happened,” she suddenly said before I could speak.
“Nothing bad?”
Kelly looked up, her gaze darting from mine to out the window. “I know Dad and Nana are worried that maybe something bad happened to me at Mu—at Jill’s.”
I didn’t comment on the fact that she’d called her mother deliberately by her name. If that’s what she needed to do, then she should.
“The police asked me questions like that.” Kelly shrugged, her lips twisting as pain strained her features. “But one, I never trusted Mum not to let something like that happen, so I used to barricade my bedroom door all the time. And two, one of the guys who was always hanging around Dorian used to really creep me out.”
“Creep you out how?” My heart picked up speed.
Kelly’s expression tightened with remembered fear. “His name was Connor. He used to try to talk to me all the time and even Dorian told him to back off me one day because he kept touching my hair and my arm. If I saw him coming, I’d run to my room and barricade myself in. The night I called Dad, it was him who was trying to break in. It was Connor.”
I felt sick to my stomach. “Do you know his full name?”
Kelly shook her head as she met my gaze. “I know you know what it’s like to have a parent not care about you …” Her lips trembled as she continued, “But you don’t know what it’s like to have a mum who doesn’t just not care about you but couldn’t care less if someone hurt you. I’ve heard and seen things I wished I’d never seen.”
My heart thundered in my chest with anger and empathy. “What things?” I asked, not to torment her but to give her a space to purge it.
“I saw them snorting and injecting drugs … I saw and heard s-sexual stuff.” Kelly shrugged almost violently. “Like, I grew up on an island with farm animals. It’s not like I didn’t know some stuff. I’m fourteen. Some kids in my class have already had sex. So I know some stuff. Connor would say things that I didn’t understand but I knew, felt, were wrong. And … him, Dorian, the other guys that were around, they treated Mum and the other women like … like that’s all they were to them. Objects to have sex with instead of human beings. It was … it was totally degrading,” she spat as her tears finally spilled over. “Who lets their daughter see and hear that? Like, what is wrong with her? Why does she hate me?”
At her final sob, I wrapped my arms around her, my tears leaking free at the way her harsh cries caused her body to shudder and jerk against mine. Kelly clung onto me, her nails digging into my back, but I didn’t care. I just held on for as long as she needed.