Bittersweet Wreckage Page 27

  I took the report and read the affirmation. “What about the rest? It adds up.”

  “Oh, Ivy. I wished you’d come to me sooner. I’m so sorry I’ve burdened you with so much.” She hugged my wrecked body. I didn’t reciprocate. I wasn’t ready, not that I had energy to lift my over-burdened arms. She released me. “The hoodie belongs to the gardeners. They left it behind and I hid it from your father to return to them later. You know how he demanded everything in its place in the garage. As for the checking account, I’ve been stashing away a little money here and there for years. I got sick of your father doling it out as if I was a child on an allowance. So I socked away every leftover dime to use whenever, even sent some to Kristen when he wouldn’t increase her allowance.”

  “Oh, Mom… I thought—” Tears rolled down my cheeks.

  “I won’t make further excuses. I take full responsibility.” She squeezed my hand and continued. “Your father thought due to his new VP status he needed more insurance. He asked me to put the papers in a safe place. You found my safe place.” She chuckled wryly. “Not very safe, was it?”

  “Maybe to others.” I uttered a grim laugh. “What about N and the marina?”

  “My therapist’s name is Neal. I was seeing him for therapy before the accident. I needed to wake up and smell the coffee, as you’ve pointed out numerous times. He holds a group meeting every Friday at Marina’s restaurant downtown.”

  “Were you seeing him before… before Dad died?” Are you as much of a hypocrite as Dad? And me?

  “Only on a professional basis. Nothing developed between us until afterwards. I respected my marriage, and Neal’s professionalism didn’t allow him to consort with clients.”

  “But you’re consorting with him now?” My eyebrows hiked north.

  She blushed a healthy shade of pink. “Only because he released me as his client and Anita referred me to someone else.”

  I needed a Spitini to rinse the taste of foot out of my mouth. “I overheard you tell him about making plans with the insurance money. What plans?”

  “To launch a home and party decorating business. I was hoping you’d help with the finances. It’s something we could do as a team. Maybe even involve Jade, and possibly expand to catering.”

  My relief slid the last of the wet mountain of sand off my shoulders, and I drooped against the chair arm, limp and dazed. “Oh. I’m such an idiot.”

  “No you’re not.” Jesse smiled my smile, sending my pulse into the stratosphere.

  “Maybe a little.” Jade laughed.

  My two best friends. Friends I believed I’d never draw into my world of one. Our lives and relationships wouldn’t be perfect by any stretch. I mean, Jade would turn into a pregnant dragon girl, and we’d all laugh about it. In eighteen years. But I didn’t want to live without them in my life.

  Jesse read the police report, Jade hanging over his arm to read it too.

  “I remember that leaking tank the last time I was on the boat,” he said. “I told Dad he needed to repair it.”

  I rose and leaned over his shoulder to scan the report. The tank had exploded. Dad and Ms. Jerome never had a chance. There was no evidence that they were stoned or drunk. Another mountain of relief slid off my back.

  Chapter 33

  Jade leaned against Jesse for support and boosted by all the confessions, she said haltingly, “Alice. I need to tell you something more. I’m so sorry.” She covered her mouth. “I’m pregnant.” The words came out strangled, and Mom’s eyes bugged out.

  Once Mom tripped over the initial shock and Jade’s insistence on no abortion, we discussed Jade’s one option. We didn’t need to suggest the other option. Mom sunk it. Hole in one.

  “You’re too young to have a baby. I understand abortion’s not for you. But I refuse to let you give your baby up. I just know you’ll regret it forever.” Mom spoke matter of fact. For the millionth time, who was this masked mother? I didn’t see any more doormats for her to lie down upon. “What if you had the baby and I raised it here, the four of us together? I can enroll you in a homeschool program so you don’t need to go to school until after the baby’s born. Does that work for you? It’s time I became a real mother. Let me do this for you.”

  Stunned, I knew no words to describe the warm pride I felt for my mother stepping up again to a place she had no obligation to go. It felt right to give this up to her, nice to surrender that burden.

  “This baby is a blessing.” Mom encouraged Jade to accept her offer—the offer of a cohesive family born from the ruins of two families set adrift, bound under the machinations of a man who did more for us in death than he deserved credit for. I’d always remember Dad for what he did to us as much as what he did for us. We might never understand him or what he’d done. But we’d never be him. Never ever. Eventually, before hell froze over, we’d forgive him.

  Jade nodded. “I’ll do everything you ask. I’ll help around the house and not cause problems.”

  A new crying-fest began and we all hugged it out. Jesse, who’d taken his sister’s condition better than expected, was pleased and epically relieved with the outcome, his eyes bright with acceptance, his shoulders relaxed.

  He dragged his fingers over my wrist in a loose clinch. I tingled for the touch of his skin on mine, for the promise he represented in another life, a life that may exist in less than a year. Dare we wait? Dare we not? We still had an eight-hundred-pound father riding on our shoulders, primed to destroy my mother’s generosity.

  Like the strings on Jesse’s guitar, we were separate, yet when we quivered together making music, we became one with the song we made. Absent the guitar in his hands, chords of us still hovered in the air, apart and alone.

  Rising, I reached for his hand. Hesitantly, he let me twine my fingers through his, glancing warily at Mom. I leaned my back against his chest, giving him the invitation and the approval to wrap me in his arms, granting him my silent response. I wanted him. I refused to give him up and dance around him in this house until we turned eighteen. Or sneak around in our forbidden relationship any longer.

  “No. No.” Crimson staining her face, Mom hurtled up, her arms flinging widely. “I told you this wasn’t happening under my roof.” Her voice deflated as if she knew she was outvoted and out of line. “I thought you were dating Will.”

  “I never led you on about Will. Besides, he likes someone else.” I nudged Jade’s arm. “Jesse and I love each other. We can’t help it. This is what Dad’s BS wrought.” I squeezed Jesse’s hand and clung to my life raft. “We’ll be together either here or somewhere else, and we won’t wait until we’re eighteen. Please, Mom.” I stopped short of falling to my knees and begging.

  “What are you implying? You’ll move out?” Mom fingered the strand of pearls I hadn’t seen her wear in years. Dad had deemed them matronly.

  “I’ll join them.” Jade moved closer to us in our defense.

  “I promise we’ll be responsible,” I pleaded, my meaning implicit. “Jesse and I have a connection I’ve never experienced with anyone.”

  “I swear we’ll keep it cool, not give you any reason not to trust us.” Jesse touched his fingers to Mom’s bare arm.

  She sank onto the couch. “I can’t deny I’ve seen you come out of your shell since your father died. You were forced to take on more than your share of responsibilities around here. In part, that was my fault too.”

  “I won’t be like Dad any longer, hiding Jesse and me from you. We’ve all suffered and come too far to time-travel to Leo’s emporium of tricks.”

  Would she dare destroy the delicate balance we’d just achieved, and force us to tip our hand?

  Soul-eating eons later, Mom haltingly approached the three of us standing in our tight triangle, a circle I never imagined I’d stand in. She scrutinized my resolution and challenge, and Jade’s defiance, gripped in the pale fear of losing her newfound family. Although I couldn’t see Jesse’s face, I knew dark green flecks of intensity dotted his eyes, reveal
ing myriad emotions too complex to unravel.

  “You kids are amazing. I’m proud of you for opening up and trusting one another. Trusting me.” She folded us in her arms. “After all the crap your father put us through, you still found some good from his ashes. I can’t help but love you all. And no one’s moving out of this house, ever.”

  Mom released us and stood, hands on her hips, her gaze darting from me to Jesse. “I’ll enforce rules.”

  “Mom,” I chided. “I said we’ll be responsible. Same rules as before, right?” I winked at Jesse and mouthed for his view only, “Nothing changes. I love you.”

  “I won’t stop your PG public displays of affection. God knows we could all use some PDA in this household.” Mom kept talking as if I hadn’t just said three words I’d never said to anyone.

  Jesse whispered in my ear, “Nothing changes. Pool house?”

  Everything had changed. Life happened. It had happened to the Jerome-Lynwoods in the most unexpected way. I was dying to trade summer highlights with Mariana. For once, I had a million tidbits to tell her that didn’t revolve around books, music, the beach, or avoiding my father. Senior year didn’t look half bad now that Jesse and I would share it together. And it’d probably ramp up my social cred to flaunt him around for the princess squad Mariana had insisted on joining. Bonus!

  I wasn’t alone anymore. I had a real family now, who’d help each other and count on one another. With all our flaws, this was our perfect family.

  Love surrounded me and I wanted more. I lifted on my toes and kissed Jesse, keeping my hands on his upper arms when I wanted them under his shirt, caressing his chest into a heat zone.

  Jade’s giggling rose up, a heady sound of friendship and acceptance. “Gross, Vine. Get a room.”

  “No. No room.” Mom waved her arms madly.

  “Ah, come on. It’s PG.” I grinned. “Don’t force me to break out my crown.”

  My own fantasy life had just materialized and my happily ever after was in my grasp. The door on my cage had been ripped off and destroyed, and I had joined the seeds of freedom blowing on the wind. Those lost puzzle pieces that represented us earlier that summer now fit together on the board. The edges were a bit frayed, but the fragments now had a tenuous connection, and the picture of us became clear. So began the new beginning I wouldn’t trade for all the sanity in the world.

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  DRAGONFLY NIGHTMARE

  To be a normal teenage girl.

  To forget about the past.

  To fall in love for the first time.

  Is that too much to ask?

  Sixteen-year-old Allie Bailey just wants a break—a break from her overly-protected life. And Dragonfly Meadows summer camp is the answer. A summer away from her parents in the California Sierras with her best friend is exactly what she needs.

  But once at camp, Allie notices that things are a little off. Paid excursions are cancelled and staff is replaced with shady new people. When the camp's founder goes “missing,” Allie starts to worry. Unable to let it rest due to her past, she starts to investigate, enlisting the help of Logan Montgomery, her best friend's older and adorably geeky brother.

  When hauntingly familiar flowers appear in Allie’s cabin, she’s not sure what to think—has her past caught up to her? Yet, after Allie stumbles across a murder conspiracy and chases down the truth, she becomes a target. Pushing through her paranoia and fear to find strength, it’s up to Allie to save herself and the campers from a deranged killer before it’s too late.

  Buy or read more about DRAGONFLY NIGHTMARE

  Books by Erin Richards

  Psychic Justice Series

  Chasing Shadows, Book 1

  Twilight Rising, Book 2

  Stealing Twilight, Book 3

  Seducing Darkness, Book 4

  Forbidden Legacy Series

  Forbidden Thirteen, Book 1

  Wicked Paradise

  It’s In His Kiss – Anthology (FREE)

  Young Adult

  Vigilante Nights

  Dragonfly Nightmare

  Bittersweet Wreckage

  Updated Book List

  About the Author

  After lamenting the lack of young adult books to read, award-winning and USA Today best-selling author, Erin Richards, wrote her first novel at the age of eighteen hoping to shift the tide. But the only tide she shifted was moving from high school to college. Then everyday life took its toll on her writerly dreams until she couldn’t ignore the writing bug any longer. By then, she had immersed herself in reading adult fantasy and romance novels. Writing suspenseful paranormal and fantasy romance was a no brainer and she went on to publish two adult romance novels and hasn’t stopped since. But her muse wanted to give that YA writing gig another chance, and Erin finally realized her lifelong dream of publishing a YA novel with the debut of Vigilante Nights.

  Erin lives in California. In her spare time, she enjoys reading (of course!) and re-landscaping her backyard, even though she hates digging holes…unless she’s burying fictional bodies! She also confesses to a fascination with American muscle cars…and reality TV shows!

  Please visit Erin Richards online at:

  www.ErinRichards.com

  Copyright

  BITTERSWEET WRECKAGE

  Erin Richards

  Copyright © 2018 by Erin Richards

  All rights reserved under the Pan-American and International Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the nonexclusive, nontransferable right to access and read the text of this eBook on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, downloaded, decompiled, reverse-engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of the copyright owner.

  This is a work of fiction. Names, places, characters, and events are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

  Any trademarks, service marks, product names, or named features are the property of their respective owners and are used only for reference.

  Print ISBN: 978-1943800124

  Digital ISBN: 978-1943800117

  Cover Designer: Robin Harper @ Wicked by Design

  Editor: Serena Clarke