Damaged Goods: A Small Town Romance (Ravenswood) by Talia Hibbert

Author:Talia Hibbert [Hibbert, Talia]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Nixon House
Published: 2018-06-13T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter Twelve

Laura wouldn’t have picked up the phone, only she thought it was Ruth.

Which was, in hindsight, ridiculous. Ruth never called. Ruth hated phone conversations. She was a text-only kind of girl.

But Ruth also had this uncanny knack for knowing exactly when Laura was having an emotional wobble, and sending a perfect… what did she call them? Memes? A perfect meme, or whatever, to make Laura smile.

So when Laura got out of the shower, and put on her pyjamas in the en-suite, and tried not to think about Samir showering somewhere in her house, or Samir kissing her, or what all of these feelings meant, the trill of her phone should’ve been Ruth. It should’ve been Ruth coming to rescue her from emotional free-fall.

It wasn’t.

“Why aren’t you answering my texts?”

Laura sighed. “Hi, Hayley.”

“I’m serious. What’s going on with you?”

“Nothing’s going on with me.” Laura put her phone on speaker, set it on the counter, and picked up a hairbrush. She was certain she’d need to keep her hands occupied during this conversation.

“So why are you ignoring me?”

“Hayley. We spoke this morning. Like, eight hours ago. What more could I possibly have to tell you?”

Her sister gave a derisive snort. “I know you texted Trevor today. You’re always texting him. It’s weird.”

“He’s my father-in-law.”

“Not for long.”

“He’s my baby’s grandpa. And what do you mean not for long?” Her heart leapt. “Has Daniel changed his mind? Is he signing the Acknowledgement?”

She would’ve been divorced months ago, if her husband would accept the fucking petition. But even though he despised her, even though he didn’t want her baby, even though he’d hissed the words at her a thousand times, he refused to sign. Because of him, they had to do things the hard way.

He claimed he didn’t want her taking half of his money. Which was ridiculous, since the money was his father’s anyway.

Hayley’s voice was heavy as a baby’s thrust-out bottom lip, and twice as petulant. “How am I supposed to know?”

Laura sighed. “I don’t know. Sorry. It was just the way you said it—”

“Oh, whatever. Look, babe, I think you should come home.”

The hairbrush caught on a particularly tight tangle in Laura’s hair. She winced as it dragged at her scalp. Bump chose that moment to wake up and dance about, which made her feel slightly nauseated, desperate to wee, and kind of comforted, too. “Home?”

“Yeah. Back to Ravenswood.”

Funny, but the word home didn’t command images of the town she’d spent most of her life in. For some reason, when Laura thought of home, she thought of here. The beach house. The kitchen. The table. With Samir sitting—

Okay, that was enough of that.

“I told you,” Laura murmured, easing the brush through her tangled hair. “I’m staying here. It’s relaxing. Anyway, you and Mum will be here in September, right?”

“Well, that’s the thing,” Hayley sighed. “I spoke to Mum, and she doesn’t think it’s a good idea. She doesn’t want to come.”

Laura blinked. In the mirror, her reflection’s flat gaze lit up. Her lips spread into a genuine smile.

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