With Love from Rose Bend by Naima Simone

Author:Naima Simone
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: HQN Books
Published: 2021-12-13T19:50:17+00:00

CHAPTER FIFTEEN

OWEN GRABBED THE knob of his front door and twisted it, the hated but familiar chunk of ice setting up residence in his gut. Resentment. Anger. Anxiety.

Love.

They all congealed together, and he couldn’t begin to separate them if he wanted to. God knew he wanted to. Just take a blowtorch to it.

With Leo’s curious gaze burning a hole into the side of his face, he ground his teeth and pushed open the door. Immediately, the murmur of voices from the living room reached him, so he headed in that direction. When he stepped into the high, arched entrance, he paused, that ice spreading like cracks on a windshield.

Celeste lounged on one end of the love seat, and Sherrod settled on the arm. Across from them, his mother perched on the couch, space between her ramrod spine and the back of the sofa, her hands clasped in her lap. His father stood in front of the fireplace, an elbow propped on the empty mantel, posture as stiff as his wife’s, expression as warm as the dormant fire behind him.

This was typical—this coldness, formality, underlying tension. What Owen had known for most of his life.

At least until he’d turned seven and his father realized Owen’s potential for football.

Then, over the years, his father had slowly stepped back, and Owen had gained a constantly critical coach.

Nothing had changed except geography.

His father just criticized him long-distance now instead of over the dinner table and at the football field.

“Mom. Dad,” Owen greeted, voice carefully even. Flat.

Behind him, a delicate hand settled on his lower back. And the scent of lilacs and fresh rain teased him...soothed him. For the space of a heartbeat, he relaxed into that hand, allowed that scent to comfort him, fortify him, for the battle ahead.

Because he didn’t dupe himself into believing his parents had traveled the hundreds of miles from Indiana to Massachusetts for a nice family vacation. One, Troy Strafford didn’t do family vacations. No time for them when it was either football season or Owen could be training for football season. And two, Owen hadn’t given them the location of where he’d gone after he’d left New York. So their unannounced appearance here had a specific purpose.

Owen swallowed a low growl.

You can’t throw your parents out of your house. It’s rude.

That reminder wavering in his head, he moved farther into the room. His mother rose from the couch, the hazel eyes she’d bequeathed him lighting up. A smile tipped the corners of Charlene Strafford’s pink painted lips as she stretched out her hands toward him. Dutifully, he enfolded them in his and, leaning forward, kissed her cheek. Roses and powder. The makeup. The perfume. Even the carefully styled, dark brown, chin-length bob. All the same.

Comfort at the sense of familiarity wrapped around him even as sadness at the stagnation squeezed his diaphragm.

“It’s good to see you, son.” His mother’s gaze flickered over his scars then quickly resettled on his eyes, firmly staying there.

The gust of pain blew through him.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.