Total pages in book: 65
Estimated words: 60933 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 305(@200wpm)___ 244(@250wpm)___ 203(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 60933 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 305(@200wpm)___ 244(@250wpm)___ 203(@300wpm)
At those last four words, a lump did form in my throat. My nonna had loved me enough to make up for not having the love of either parent. She had been my mother and my father. She had been my lifeline and protector. Oddly enough, she had been that for Gunner, too. She loved him like her own.
“He’s too young to raise a kid,” I managed to say.
Nonna sighed wearily. “I said the same thing, but Chance is set on it. He won’t hear of anything else. You’ve lived with your mother, Willa. You know what it is like. Chance has been that child’s everything since she was old enough to walk. He’s the one who made sure she was fed properly, he’s the one who got her ready for school and took her to school, he’s the one who holds her when she’s hurt. He’s been her parent since he was fifteen years old.”
My chest hurt thinking about it. Deep down had I known all this, but it was something I had chosen to ignore. That wasn’t my world. It never really had been. Even when I lived in that house, I wasn’t part of the family. But Chance was my family and ignoring his reality had been wrong. Had I truly believed that his life was different with our mother or had I wanted to believe he was fine? That the sister I had never met was loved? Facing the truth was more than a slap in the face. It felt more like a heavy weight had been placed on my chest and I couldn’t take a deep breath.
CHAPTER TWO
GUNNER
Nash looked up from the paperwork on the kitchen table in front of him when I walked inside his house. He ran a hand over his head and groaned. “Thank God for a distraction,” he said.
I looked down at the papers in front of him. “Looks fun.”
“It’s applications for the camp,” he replied. “This shit ain’t easy. I want to take them all.”
“Is Willa back yet?”
He shook his head. “No.”
I walked over to the fridge and got a bottle of water before going to sit down across from Nash. “She’s visiting her nonna. I figured I’d give them a visit without me. They don’t get that often,” I said, then took a long pull from my water.
“Where have you been?” he asked.
I thought for a moment. I wasn’t sure I was ready to tell anyone what I had been doing. It was something I had a hard time believing myself. I lifted my gaze from the water bottle in my hand to meet Nash’s curious expression.
“You wouldn’t believe me if I told you,” I said with a smirk.
“Now you have to fucking tell me,” he replied.
“No one knows about this, and I don’t want them to. Not until I tell Willa.”
He nodded. “My lips are sealed. Spill.”
“Not even Tallulah,” I added. “The girls can’t keep secrets from each other. They do too much chatty shit.”
“Not even her,” he agreed.
“I just made an offer on the estate,” I told him.
His eyebrows drew together. “The Lawton estate? The place you sold?”
I nodded. “Yep.”
Nash leaned back in his chair and let out a long, low whistle. “Holy shit,” he murmured; then a smile spread across his lips. “You’re fucking coming home.”
I shrugged and took another drink of my water.
Nash laughed out loud. “Damn, this is good news. First Asa and now you.”
“It’s home for both me and Willa. I tried running from it, thinking I’d find somewhere else that worked for us, but this is home. Willa misses her nonna and worries about her. Hell, I do too. The woman can cook. Bryony is the only blood relative I have that I care about. I want to be in her life. She’s growing so fucking fast.”
“And then there is me,” Nash added, still grinning.
“Sure, keep telling yourself that,” I drawled.
“So you think Willa is going to want this? The Lawton Estate? Moving back without talking to her?” Nash asked.
I nodded. “Yeah, she is. It’s not something she brings up a lot but when she talks about the future she mentions moving back here. Taking care of her nonna. Being home. I think this is ultimately where she wants us to be but she won’t tell me that. She thinks I am happy with our current plans.”
He slapped his hand on the table and stood up. “This calls for a celebration. Let’s day drink.”
“They haven’t accepted my offer yet. The place wasn’t on the market,” I told him. When we had driven into town and Willa’s eyes filled with emotion as she sighed and said “We’re home.” I’d decided then to make an offer on the Lawton estate. If this place made her that happy, then it was what I wanted too.
He cut his eyes back at me. “Yeah, but you offered them enough to make them want to sell.”