Total pages in book: 107
Estimated words: 100750 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 504(@200wpm)___ 403(@250wpm)___ 336(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 100750 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 504(@200wpm)___ 403(@250wpm)___ 336(@300wpm)
When Kiran and Grayson declared it was time to work, Nadia asked if Reid wanted to go to the mall. Before she could answer, Lynnea stated yes: Reid absolutely wanted to go to the mall with them. If Reid thought things would be awkward, she was mistaken. Within minutes of being with the Karlssons, she could easily see why Grayson was so smitten with the girls. They were nice and kind and treated Reid like she was part of the family.
Throughout the day, Lynnea never left Reid’s side, and Gemma asked for her opinion on clothes or jewelry she liked.
“Grayson speaks very highly of you,” Nadia said when they stopped for a caffeine pick-me-up. They took their coffee and the girls to the indoor play place and sat down. “I’ll be honest, when he first showed up, I thought he was there in an attempt to rekindle things. You read about long-lost love and all that, and I came home one day and there he was. But as soon as I asked about his life, he showed me pictures of you. When he says your name, there are stars in his eyes, and you can tell how much he loves you.”
“I’ve loved him for a long time,” Reid said. “We’ve only been together for a year.”
“When you know, you know, right?”
Reid looked down at her ring and nodded. “He couldn’t commit . . .” She trailed off, wishing she could take the words back and fearing the conversation was headed toward a path it shouldn’t.
“Because of his heart?”
Reid looked at Nadia, who kept her eyes focused on the girls.
“He got sick a couple of times in high school, and I remember his mom really freaking out. I saw the pills in the bathroom, and she used to harp on him about germs, taking the meds, and being careful. Grayson would never come out and say something was wrong, but I saw the names of the meds and figured it out.”
“Nadia—”
“My girls love him,” she continued. “Lynnea, she’s struggled a lot since Rafe died. My dad and Reuben have been there a lot for the girls, but it’s not the same. Then Grayson shows up a couple of weeks ago, and my angry little girl who lost her father has light in her eyes again. I try to warn her, to tell her he’s got his own life, but she tells me he reminds her of Rafe. Gemma says the same thing. And then I see it: the way Lynnea sits with Grayson, always pressing herself up against his chest, and I wonder.”
Reid was at a loss. She had no idea what to say or if she should say something at all. Was it her place?
No, it wasn’t.
“I think you should talk to Grayson.”
“I’m afraid,” Nadia told her. “I’m scared to know if what I think is true.”
Reid reached for her hand and gave it a squeeze. “Let’s go back to the house.”
Nadia nodded and told the girls it was time to go home. The drive back should’ve been silent, but Lynnea and Gemma sang along to the radio, with Reid and Nadia following them. As she turned toward the back and sang with the girls, Reid surmised that if someone had told her yesterday that this was where she’d be, she would’ve laughed. She didn’t want this—not for Grayson, for herself, or for this family—but there they were, weaving lives together in the most chaotic and yet beautiful way possible.
When they got home, they found the men hammering away on the porch. Nadia paused, looked at Grayson and Kiran, and asked them to meet her in the dining room. Grayson eyed Reid, who nodded, hoping that was enough to tell him Nadia had her own suspicions.
The three of them went into the dining room, while Nadia got the girls situated with a movie in the catchall room. She returned with a folder, set it down on the table, and then took a seat.
“On April eighth, my husband set out to run a ten-mile road race from Heartbreak Hill to Harvard Square. Something he’d done for years. Last year, he was determined to win. It would take him fifty minutes from start to finish. Blocks away from the finish, a car somehow made it through the crowd after losing its brakes. There was a runner who wore those big over-the-ear headphones and didn’t hear the honking. Rafe pushed her out of the way, but he was unable to get himself to safety.
“When I was waiting for him at the finish line, I heard the screaming and the horn honking but didn’t think anything of it until I saw the ambulance blocking everyone’s view. I knew my husband was there. I could see his location. So, I went there, but I couldn’t find him. One spectator said the man in the ambulance wasn’t going to make it. I watched on my phone as my husband’s blue dot moved farther and farther away from me. Deep down, I knew the spectator was talking about Rafe, but I didn’t want to believe it.