Total pages in book: 98
Estimated words: 90778 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 454(@200wpm)___ 363(@250wpm)___ 303(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 90778 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 454(@200wpm)___ 363(@250wpm)___ 303(@300wpm)
“You look good, wet,” she said with a soft laugh.
I watched her laugh and a smile tugged at the corners of my lips.
That was the start.
CHAPTER 6
RAVEN
The late evening sun filters weakly through the curtains, casting long, golden streaks across the floor as I fold the last of my clothes. The closet is practically empty now—just a few hangers swinging like lonely skeletons on the rail. My hands pause over a faded hoodie, the fabric soft and worn, holding more memories than I’d like to admit. It’s ridiculous how something as simple as an old sweater can feel like a thread to a past life, one that now seems impossibly far away.
Sunny, my best friend’s voice crackles over the speakerphone, grounding me back in the present.
“I’m just saying,” she says, her tone light but deliberate, “you have to talk to Earl. He used to be so easy to talk to. Friendly, even. He can’t have changed that much.”
Easy to talk to? Friendly? Not anymore. The man I married looks like Earl, but he is a stranger.
“I don’t know, Sunny,” I say, shaking my head as I shove the hoodie into the bag. “He’s... different. Colder, harder. It’s like he’s carrying something, something dark, and I don’t know what it is. But one thing is for sure he is very angry with me.”
“With you? Why? He was the one who ghosted you and vanished off the face of the earth.”
I frown. “I know.”
“You have to ask him about it,” Sunny says firmly. Her voice crackles slightly over the speakerphone, but her conviction is loud and clear. “I know it looks like an unsolvable mess, but you have to try. What worries me is that you’re moving to Charles’s former home. It’s so weird. This entire thing feels like some sort of prank, and I keep waiting for the guys with the cameras to jump out.”
This makes me smile despite myself. “Same here, but I’m willing to play along, as long as my father gets his treatment.”
“I do think, though, that Earl came back for you. Why else would he come back to this shitty town when he is done well for himself? And why else would he snatch you away from Charles at the altar like that? There’s something there. I’m convinced he’s still in love with you. Just … talk to him, okay? Find out what’s going on in that thick head of his. He used to be so kind, but from all the wild talk flying around town, anyone would think you married the devil himself. For what it’s worth, I think he looks even more dreamy than he did before. And he was already a ten out of ten then.”
“Raven?” My mom’s voice cuts into Sunny’s monologue. I glance over my shoulder to see her standing in the doorway, worry etched into her face. Her hair is pulled back, and she’s wearing that tired look she gets when something is weighing on her mind.
“Gotta go, Sunny,” I say quickly and end the call. I turn to face my mom, brushing stray strands of hair out of my eyes.
She steps into the room, her gaze flicking to the half-packed bag on the bed. “Are you sure about this?” she asks, her voice heavy with concern. “Your father... he feels terrible about all of this. He’s worried.”
“Yes, I’m sure, Mom,” I say, though my voice trembles under the weight of the lie. I force myself to meet her eyes, straightening my shoulders in an attempt to seem confident. “We’ve been... talking,” I add quickly, glancing away as if that could make the lie less obvious. “Before today. I know the wedding was a bit of a scene, but things were always good between us. We understand each other and we’ll work it out somehow.”
The words taste sour as they leave my mouth, but I can’t bring myself to admit the truth—that I am just as shocked as everyone else is.
My mom doesn’t look convinced. She steps closer and lowers herself onto the edge of the bed. “And do you know why he disappeared all those years ago?” she asks gently, folding her hands in her lap.
I swallow hard and under the guise of grabbing another sweater from the closet, look away. “Issues with his dad, I think,” I mumble, forcing nonchalance into my tone. “But the main thing is he’s back now.”
A thick unnatural silence stretches between us. When I finally look back at her, she’s studying me, her expression unreadable.
“I always liked Earl, but he just seemed so different … so furious,” she says.
“It’ll be okay, Mom. I promise. Earl was once my world, my anchor and nothing has changed.”
She nods, stands, and places a hand briefly on my shoulder, a warm, fleeting touch. “The reason I came here is to tell you that a sleek black town car is parked outside, the kind you see in movies or TV shows, with a driver standing beside it in a crisp suit.”