Fixing Fate: A Pleasant Valley Novel by Anna Brooks

Author:Anna Brooks [Brooks, Anna]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: A Pleasant Valley Novel
Publisher: Anna Brooks
Published: 2017-01-30T18:30:00+00:00

* * *

“Mellie.” I awake to Smith’s gravelly voice and his lips next to my ear. He says my name again, and I giggle.

“That tickles.”

He kisses my cheek, and I sit up. “What time is it?”

“Five twelve.”

“Why are you waking me up so early?” I fell asleep watching The Golden Girls, and the next thing I knew, I was being carried to bed. His bed. He curled up around me, and I don’t remember anything else. A full night of sleep... marvelous.

“I wanted to show you something.”

My sleepy eyes take in the t-shirt he threw on and the yoga pants he’s holding out for me. After sliding them up my legs, he ushers me out of the bed. I hold his hand as he walks me through the house, loving it’s something that comes naturally to him. He grabs a mug of coffee off the kitchen counter and hands it to me then takes one for himself. When he opens the back door, I shiver from the slight chill but stop and look up. No words... I have none for the picture before me. “Wow.”

“Pretty, right?”

“It’s beautiful.”

He slides open the glass door the rest of the way, and we walk onto the deck. My skin even has a reddish tint from the bright colors reflecting everywhere. He leads me to the steps and sits on the top one. I rest my hand on his shoulder and continue standing. The sun slowly rises, and the world becomes a little brighter. A few frogs croak in the distance and birds sing their morning melody.

I finally sit and lean against him. Smith doesn’t say anything, and I don’t either. For the life of me, I can’t remember when I just sat and watched the sunrise. Sat and enjoyed anything, really. I’ve missed so many beautiful things because of the ugly in my life, and I’m determined to surround myself with only beauty from now on.

“I don’t think I’ll ever be able to move.” He breaks the silence, and I sit next to him.

“I can understand that.”

“When I was little, I didn’t want many things when I grew up. Material things don’t mean anything to me... They never did. I always enjoyed building something or fixing it and making it work again. But I wanted to be a cop, and I accomplished that. I would have done that forever. When I came back to take over the business, I struggled because the one and only thing that I ever wanted got taken away from me, if that makes sense.”

“Why did you quit?”

“Family emergency.” I want to ask him about what, but he continues talking, clearly avoiding the subject. “I swear, Mellie. Until I saw you, I thought I was going to become a bitter old man, sittin’ on his porch along with a shotgun and his dog.”

I laugh at the image.

He wraps an arm around my shoulder and pulls me closer. “I’m not letting you go.” He kisses the top of my head. “And I’m not letting anybody or anything take you from me.

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