Total pages in book: 64
Estimated words: 61576 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 308(@200wpm)___ 246(@250wpm)___ 205(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 61576 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 308(@200wpm)___ 246(@250wpm)___ 205(@300wpm)
“Jake, no–”
“Yes, Sadie!” Jake’s voice booms. It’s so loud it actually startles me.
He stands up and looks down at me. He’s so tall, so strong. “Sadie, you have to stop with this shit. Whatever you think you’re doing to protect yourself, all you’re doing is putting your life on hold. I know it, your mom knows it, and you know it.”
I look away from him. Why can’t we just be here on vacation or something? This would be such a nice house to stay at on vacation. But then again, going on vacation with Jake would be breaking my rule too.
I don’t know what to do. My hands are starting to quiver.
“What is this place, Jake?” I ask, my voice low. “Where are we?”
Jake doesn’t answer right away. Maybe he was expecting me to argue with him or put up some kind of fight. But when he finally does speak, there’s a sadness in his voice unlike anything I’ve ever heard from him before.
“This is the cabin I used to bring my wife and daughter to,” he says. “My wife saw one similar online and joked that we should get one. So I saved up every penny I had and surprised her with it. She absolutely loved it.”
“That’s so sweet, Jake,” I say. I can’t help but smile slightly. Jake truly is a kind man.
He nods, a faint smile on his lips. “Her name was Sarah.”
“Was?” I ask.
Jake pauses. He looks down. It’s the longest pause Jake has ever taken when talking to me. I can see part of him doesn’t want to go where this is going. But he’s still going to. Not because he wants to, but because he wants to share it with me. And that makes me feel special.
But it shouldn’t. I shouldn’t be feeling any of this, because I shouldn’t even be here right now. Everything going on between Jake and me was supposed to be nice and casual. How did it get to this point?
Finally, Jake takes a breath and looks at me. I see pain in his eyes—a pain that I wish I had the power to wipe away.
“She gave me a daughter too. They both died in a car accident.” I feel his pain in my chest. “My daughter’s name was Ava…she was seven.”
“I—I’m so sorry, Jake.” It’s nowhere near enough, but what else can I say?
“Hey, it’s not your fault, right?” he says with a shrug and a smile that’s clearly meant to lighten the mood. Even now, when he’s reliving an immense pain, he’s doing his best to keep things from being awkward for me.
“I know, but…” This is what he was trying to tell me back at his house when I cut him off and told him we couldn’t talk about personal things. God, I’m such an idiot.
Jake turns and goes to the window and looks out at the trees. The log on the fire is starting to blaze now, filling the cabin with the scent of pine.
“I was like you, Sadie,” he says. “After they passed, I swore I would never date again. I would do anything to avoid feeling that pain.”
Suddenly what I went through with Howard doesn’t seem like anything.
“Jake…”
He turns to face me. “But then I met you, and all that changed.”
His words go straight into my heart. Part of me is overwhelmed. I’m flattered at the same time. No man has ever said something so sweet to me. But another part of me is in full-on panic mode.
This conversation is leading me places I know I should not go, and a piece of me is screaming Run!
The only problem with that is that I’m somewhere in the middle of the Vermont woods, and Jake has my phone and the keys to his truck.
“But how do you know, Jake?” I ask.
Jake looks at me with a confused look on his face. “What?”
“Better yet, how do I know?”
“Know?” he repeats, clearly confused. “Know what?”
“That I’m the one?” I ask. I see Jake open his mouth, but before he can speak, I’m already blathering on. “And how do I know I can even trust you? You seem like a nice man, but so did Howard–”
“I am not Howard, Sadie,” Jake snaps, a stern look on his face. “And I would never betray you.”
He looks deadly serious, and so much of me wants to believe him. But there’s still that part of me that can’t.
Why am I like this? I wonder as I feel myself closing off to him. Why am I so broken?
“I’m sorry, Jake,” I reply, averting my eyes. “I can’t. I just can’t…”
“Sadie–”
“Take me home, Jake,” I say. “Or when I get back, I…I’m going to tell the police you took me here against my will and held me hostage.”
The words feel like poison coming out of my mouth, but I have to say them. I have to go home, and I have to end this thing with Jake for good—whatever it is. I guess I can only blame myself for letting him get closer than he should have in the first place.