Nick S. Klaus by Katie Mettner

Author:Katie Mettner [Mettner, Katie]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Goodreads: 27386765
Published: 2015-10-29T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter Thirteen

I could see Mandy outside the doors of the center looking at her phone. I stepped out into the cool autumn air and looked around. No one I knew was within visual distance, so I snaked my arms around her waist. "Hey, sex…" Her elbow landed in my ribs and I grunted instead of finishing the word. She spun and I grabbed her arm as she was ready to roundhouse me in the jaw. "Mandy, it's me!" I shouted louder than I wanted, but it got her attention.

"Oh my gosh, Nick! What were you thinking?" She swatted me on the back of the head with her words. Now I was rubbing the back of my head and my gut.

"I was thinking I wanted to give you a hug," I said, winded from the elbow in my ribs.

She led me to a small bench and I sat. "Not smart to come up behind a woman in a big city. You can get away with it in Snowberry, but not here."

I rubbed my head. "I'm starting to see that. Did you take self-defense courses or something?"

It was her turn to grunt in a half snorting manner. "I have three brothers, I don't need self-defense classes."

I held up my hand for a small high five, "You win that round," I chuckled.

"Are you okay or did I really hurt you?" She was worried and wrung her hands together as though trying to figure out what to do.

"I'm fine," I insisted as she sat next to me. "I saw you looking at your phone; did you hear from the kids?"

She nodded. "Esther is helping her grandma with the wedding decorations and Ben is helping Jacob get the grounds ready, which I'm quite surprised about." She held up the phone and Ben was waving back in the picture. He didn't look like he was having too much fun, in my opinion.

"Why does that surprise you?"

She shrugged and tucked the phone back in her purse. "Jacob usually doesn't spend much time with Ben when he's there; I'm not sure why."

I stood and pulled her up, then put my arm around her shoulders. "I might know why."

She looked up at me and raised one brow, "Do you have a psychology degree, too?"

I smiled and squeezed her shoulder. "I don't need one. Remember when I told you Ben came over last week and talked with me a little? He told me he had a very hard time forgiving his dad for what he did to your family. He said he thinks he's hypocritical to do what he's done and then to stand in a church and tell others not to do it."

"Jacob is a hypocrite. I thought he was too young to fully comprehend what happened. I had no idea he harbors that kind of resentment towards him."

"He doesn't want you to know because you deal with enough, but he hates going to Jacob’s. He knows he has to go because of the court, but he also doesn’t want to send Esther by herself.

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