Total pages in book: 121
Estimated words: 117820 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 589(@200wpm)___ 471(@250wpm)___ 393(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 117820 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 589(@200wpm)___ 471(@250wpm)___ 393(@300wpm)
“I need a breather.” Walking away, he slams the door behind him and I listen to his heavy booted feet get more and more distant.
I don’t know if he’ll come back. I’m almost hoping he won’t. But then seeing him is sparking just a little piece of the old me that I once knew. The old me that he helped me create.
I clean the mess he made, carefully wiping away coffee and scraping up fragments. It’s therapeutic and helps me gather my thoughts. Cleaning isn’t my most favorite thing to do but thankfully I don’t despise it.
My phone vibrates, it’s Marshall. Why am I not surprised?
Marshall: How is it going?
Immy: You’re asking me how your betrayal is going?
Marshall: Yes. Exactly.
Immy: I hate you.
Marshall: We’ve been through too much together; you could never hate me.
Immy: Shut up.
Marshall: So it’s going well then?
Immy: Kane needed a breather.
Marshall: I bet. Were you nice to him?
Immy: No.
Marshall: Can you try and be nice to him?
Immy: I just talked about it. You know how I get when I talk about it. Or when you try and talk about it.
Marshall: Poor Kane.
Marshall: But seriously, Immy. He’s in this now too. Cut him some slack.
Immy: You do realize that you have just selfishly burdened him with years of maddening pain and unanswered questions?
Marshall: He deserved to know.
Immy: Deserved to know what? A kid he’s never going to meet?
Marshall doesn’t reply and I stuff my phone into my pocket. Then I check the time and pull out my laptop.
Like I do every day, I send an email to Webber and ask him for updates. My daughter is now considered to be a cold case. A cold case. She could be dead for all I know. And that’s the worst part. Not knowing.
The door swings open around half an hour later and Kane strolls in like he owns the place. He starts looking around like he has a right but for the most part he completely ignores me.
I watch as he goes into my room and listen to him yank open my drawers. I don’t ask, I just give him his breather. He’s figuring something out and I’m not about to interfere with that.
When the final drawer slams shut he returns and yanks open the cupboards beneath my flatscreen.
“You’ve got nothin’,” he snarls like that’s supposed to mean something to me.
I give him an incredulous look. “Huh?”
“Nothin’,” he repeats, raising his hands. “You have got nothin’.”
“Still not following.”
“No pictures.”
“Nothin worth photographing.”
“No trinkets and Immy you used to fucking love trinkets. Had to drag you out of every shop we ever went by to stop you from buying a stupid fridge magnet or a postcard. Or those stupid fucking bean bag baby stuffed animals.”
I feel my jaw tick but I keep silent. He’s right but it’s not a memory I want to cherish.
“You fuckin’ said I was in every bad memory.”
“I said that,” I confirm, turning in my seat and pulling my knees up to my chest. My ankles cross as I hug my legs and watch him move around my space.
“But I bet your fuckin’ ass I was in every good one.”
He’s got me there. I look away, I don’t need to feed his ego by admitting that.
“I’m not to blame for what happened to you. I looked, Immy.”
“I know.”
“NO YOU FUCKIN’ DON’T!” he booms, grabbing my arms and dragging me to my feet. “I stopped going to school. I put up fliers. I called radio stations and put in reports. I used to make my daddy’s Renegade’s fuckin’ take fliers with them. There were fliers beggin’ for you to call me all across the state. Not one call. I knew somethin’ wasn’t right so I didn’t stop looking for you.”
“You want me to thank you?”
“I want you to know that you didn’t save me from pain and questions. My life has been nothing but pain and questions because of you…”
I blanche. “Is Marshall feeding you my texts through a fucking wire?”
“Naw, to my fucking phone.” He tosses said phone on the couch. “Don’t know why I ever loved you Imogen Hardy. Still don’t know why I ever loved you. But I did. You didn’t deserve it. You don’t deserve it. I didn’t deserve you. We were two fucked up kids that never should have been anythin’ to each other.”
“So why are you doing this to us both? I gave you an out. I gave you a reason.” I’m so eternally confused. “If you don’t know why you loved me then why the fuck are you here?”
“Because I needed answers and now I got my answers I’ve gotta deal. Somewhere out there we got a kid. I’ve got a kid.” His face gets in mine, his eyes are wild and angry. “AND YOU FUCKING KEPT HER FROM ME!”
“Are you insane?” I shout and shove him back. “I didn’t fucking keep her from you!”