Holding onto Hope by Nicki Edwards

Author:Nicki Edwards
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: smalltown romance, contemporary romance, clean and wholesome, medical romance, rural romance, western romance, australian romance, beachside romance
Publisher: Nicki Edwards
Published: 2019-12-31T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter 17

While Hope was in the bathroom, Mitchell zoned out of the conversation going on around him.

Sitting beside Hope was half bliss, half torture. Part of him wanted to whisk her out of the pub, away from watching eyes, take her in his arms and kiss her until tomorrow. The other part of him wanted to run the other way so he didn’t risk hurting her again. But he’d made a promise to himself there would be no more running.

The first time he’d run was when social services picked him up when he was barely old enough to read. After that he’d run from school, from his foster parents and from the police. He no longer bolted when things got difficult. It had taken a long time, but he was finally at peace with his past and in a good place emotionally and physically.

Mitchell blamed his mother. She’d always run. One day he’d come home from school and she was gone. No one knew where, and he never heard from her again. His father, whom he’d never met, was in jail and there was no other family Mitchell knew of.

He was only six-years old when they took him away so it was no wonder he grew up to be a bitter, angry young boy—a boy who became more hostile and more rebellious the longer the foster system shunted him from house to house, from family to family.

When the Simpsons took him in and showed him nothing but love and acceptance—and forgiveness every time he stuffed up—he slowly started to change.

One day, not long after he turned thirteen, he made a conscious decision he was not going to end up like his mother—someone who ran when the going got tough. But somewhere in a tiny recess in the back of his mind, a voice warned him he’d never be able to outrun his DNA.

He grew up watching Beth and Bill, paying close attention to how they treated each other. But it had been for nothing because in the end he’d still ruined things with Hope.

During his twenties, he went out with a string of women, but he was always honest with them, making it clear he wasn’t interested in anything long-term. After a few failed relationships, he decided it was easier to stay single. It was also easier to tell people he didn’t believe in true love—that it was a Hollywood invention—but it wasn’t what he really believed. He’d seen true love modelled by the Simpsons, and he wanted the same thing with all his heart.

Over the past few years, prodded by Lachlan and Jordy who’d grown impatient with his bachelorhood, he’d reluctantly dipped his toe into the dating pond again, but no one had caught his interest until Anna. She was the first woman he’d taken out on more than two dates but, even then, there’d been no lasting spark.

But at least he’d shown Anna respect, which is more than he’d done for Hope after he’d slept with her. She’d given herself to him, body and soul, and in return he’d acted like a jerk.

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