Total pages in book: 82
Estimated words: 79440 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 397(@200wpm)___ 318(@250wpm)___ 265(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 79440 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 397(@200wpm)___ 318(@250wpm)___ 265(@300wpm)
What was supposed to be eighteen months turned into two years, and I still have yet to receive an explanation as to why she left without saying a word. Her message, the one that’s sitting on my phone, haunts me. It’s taking everything I have not to call her and demand to see her. However, I hold strong. Today, my family needs me, and if I’m being honest, I need them.
I don’t know what it means that she’s back in town. No matter how bad I want to, I know we can’t just pick up where we left off.
It’s not that simple.
I love her just as much today as I did the day she left. When she left, I second-guessed myself. I thought maybe she wasn’t my one. That maybe she wasn’t the only girl for me, but no matter how hard I tried to forget her, I just couldn’t. She walked away without a word, and communication has been minimal since she’s been gone, but here I am, still madly in love with her.
I love her.
But the hurt is still there.
She broke me.
It doesn’t help that my brothers are dropping like flies. Marrying the women that they were meant to spend the rest of their lives with. They're having babies, and our family is growing, but I feel as though I’m standing still. As if I’m the same Ryder from two years ago, who knocked on his girlfriend's door only to be told by her roommate that she’s gone. Left for Paris without a goodbye.
Shaking out of my thoughts, I put myself into the moment. Archer shifts his stance as he waits for Scarlett to appear. I push all thoughts of Jordyn as far out of my mind as I can, but let’s be honest, she’s always there. When you love someone, you can’t just forget, but I can pretend for a few hours. I can plaster on a smile and appreciate my family, enjoying the moment of yet another one of my brothers pledging to love his girl for the rest of his life, and hug my new sister.
It pains me to ignore Jordyn, but maybe a dose of her own medicine is what she needs. Besides, her message was simple and to the point. She didn’t ask to see me. It was simply a for-your-information kind of text. I hate it, and the way my phone sears against my skin, even through the fabric of my pants—demanding I acknowledge her.
Jordyn: I’m back home. In Atlanta. I wanted you to hear it from me.
That’s it. Not asking when we could meet up, or that she missed me, just that she was back and wanted me to know. Fuck. My heart starts to race when I think about seeing her again. I feel a hand clamp down on my shoulder, and I turn to see my dad smiling widely. He nods to the back and I see Scarlett appear.
Yeah, Jordyn is just going to have to wait.
“Uncle Ryder, it's your turn.”
My niece Blakely rushes toward me. I brace myself to catch her, lifting her into the air. “My turn for what?” I ask, placing a loud smacking kiss on her cheek, which makes her giggle. Blakely turned seven in May, and she’s a little fireball. She was the first of my nieces and nephews, the first grandchild for my parents, and she remained that way for a few years. We’ve spoiled her rotten, and none of us would have it any other way.
“To dance with me. Mommy says it’s a dance card, but I don’t have a card, just a lot of uncles.” She shrugs, looking more like a seventeen-year-old than a seven-year-old.
“It’s my turn, you say?”
She bobs her little head up and down. “Yep. Didn’t you see me with Uncle Archer? He used his arm porn to lift me high in the air. Way, way high.” Her eyes are round with excitement and wonder.
“You mean like this.” I move my hands to her hips, and hold her in the air over my head, before bringing her back down. She’s a tiny thing at seven, but it’s still not as easy to do as it was a few years ago. There’s a pang of sadness in my chest. She’s growing up so fast. It bothers me so I can only imagine how her dad, my brother Declan, feels about it.
“Good job, Uncle Ryder.” She places a kiss on my cheek and hugs her arms around my neck.
She wiggles, trying to get me to put her down. “What are you doing?”
“I have more uncles on my dance card,” she tells me.
“We didn’t have our dance yet.”
She shrugs again. “We kinda did, like that movie Mommy and all my aunts watch.” She taps her index finger to her chin. “You know, the one with all the dancing and her name is Baby?” She giggles.