Hearts Pursuit by Lyra Winters

Author:Lyra Winters [Winters, Lyra]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2024-01-18T00:00:00+00:00

HEART-O-METER PROGRESS

17

ALDERIDGE

“Alderidge?” A masculine voice jolted me from my obsessive thoughts of Prim.

One thing I knew the moment Prim had left our date was that I’d screwed up.

The pit in my gut had grown exponentially. So much so, I’d tracked down Uncle Arthur with every spare moment I had, which wasn’t much. My parents didn’t keep any records, and my grandparents passed a long time ago, so finding him had been difficult. It wasn’t something I could delegate, either. Doing so would have alerted my parents, and I knew they wouldn’t have wanted me to speak with him.

They loathed the man.

But I finally found him, after an entire month of searching. I had located him in a town a few miles away from the academy. I reached out and asked him to meet me, for the first time, at a coffee shop near campus.

He wore a brown suit, and his hair was as orange as mine. I’d always wondered who I got my hair color from. His was longer than mine, straight and worn down. But he had the same bright blue eyes as my father. That was the only similarity between them.

He didn’t look depressed, though. He looked happy.

“That’s me.” I stood and reached my hand out to him. “And you’re Arthur.”

“That’s me.” His brows raised, but he hesitantly shook my hand before pulling back. “You’re Jack’s kid.”

“I am.” I nodded. “And you’re my uncle.”

He let out a strained breath as he sat down across from my seat. “Not since Jack and our parents disowned me.”

“Yeah… Thanks for meeting me here,” I rasped, rubbing my hands over my face as I sat back down.

Him agreeing had been a surprise. My parents talked so badly of him I was sure he’d want nothing to do with their child, but he had been open to meeting me.

“What’s this about?” He crossed his arms, his gaze holding nothing but distrust.

I let out a shaky breath. “It’s no secret that my parents hate you and your wife.”

“And my two brother-husbands.” He quirked his lips into an amused smirk. “No surprise he left that part out.”

“He didn’t.” I swallowed a lump in my throat.

“Bet he left out the fact that he was my brother-husband at one point, too.” Arthur raised his hand toward the waitress, beckoning her over to order us both a coffee.

I cocked an eyebrow as surprise washed over me, and the waitress left with his order for us. “He what?”

“Renee was a woman we shared with two other men. She had four of us. Now, she has three,” Arthur explained, flashing his wedding ring. “Your father broke her heart when he chose Kelsey over her.”

“Chose my mom?” My brows furrowed as the waitress dropped off the cups of coffee. “I was told they had been childhood friends and fell in love. They only had eyes for each other.”

“They were childhood friends,” Arthur agreed. “But your dad only saw Kelsey as a friend. Their heart-o-meter is at a one, I think. But he and Renee had five hearts, just like the rest of us had with her.

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