Total pages in book: 105
Estimated words: 98538 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 493(@200wpm)___ 394(@250wpm)___ 328(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 98538 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 493(@200wpm)___ 394(@250wpm)___ 328(@300wpm)
One late fall day, as I walked up the road that led to our trailer, pulling my sweater around me as the wind whipped through my hair, I spied Kyland walking a ways ahead. Suddenly, Shelly Galvin went running past me to catch up to him, and he turned and nodded his head at her as she walked beside him, acknowledging something she’d said. They turned at a bend in the road, and I got lost in my own thoughts. A few minutes later when I rounded the curve, they were nowhere in sight, but as I passed a grove of hickories, I heard Shelly giggle and stopped to peer through the brush. Kyland had her pressed up against a tree and was kissing her as if he were some wild, untamed animal. Her back was to me so I could only see his face. I don’t know why I stood there, staring at them, blatantly interrupting their privacy rather than moving along. But something about the way Kyland’s eyes were closed and the raw, heated look of concentration he wore as he moved his mouth over hers made me clench my legs together as heat flooded my veins. He moved his hand up to her breast, and she made a moaning sound in the back of her throat. My own nipples pebbled as if it were me he was touching. I reached out to grab hold of the tree right next to me, and the small noise of my movement must have caught his attention because his eyes popped open and he stared at me as he continued to kiss her, his cheeks hollowed slightly as he did something with his tongue I could only imagine. And imagining I was. Hot shame moved up my face as our eyes locked, and I was unable to move. His eyes narrowed. As reality came flooding back, I stumbled backward, filled with humiliation.
And jealousy. But I hardly wanted to acknowledge that. No—trouble I did not want any part of.
I turned and ran all the way up the mountain to my trailer, flinging the metal door open and rushing inside before falling onto the couch, gasping for breath.
“My goodness, Tenleigh,” my mama singsonged, as she stood in the tiny kitchen, stirring a pot of something on the electric hot plate that smelled like potato soup. I glanced over at her as I got hold of my breathing. I groaned internally to see that she was wearing a negligee and her tattered Miss Kentucky Sunburst ribbon across her chest. Today was shaping up to be a very bad day. In more ways than one.
“Hi, Mama,” I said. “It was cold outside” was all I offered in explanation. “Need any help?”
“No, no, I’ve got it covered. I’m thinking of bringing something warm into town for Eddie. He loves my potato soup, and it’s going to be such a chilly night.”
I grimaced. “Mama, Eddie’s at home with his wife and family tonight. You can’t bring him potato soup.”
A cloud moved over my mama’s features, but she smiled brightly at me and shook her head. “No, no, he’s leaving her, Tenleigh. She’s not right for him. It’s me he loves. And he’ll be cold tonight. The wind…” She continued stirring the soup, humming some nameless tune and smiling a small smile to herself.
“Mama, did you take your medicine today?”
Her head snapped up, a confused look replacing the small smile. “Medicine? Oh, no, baby, I don’t need medicine anymore.” She shook her head. “That stuff makes me want to sleep all the time…makes me feel so funny.” She wrinkled her cute little nose as if it was just the silliest thing. “No, I’ve gone off that medicine. And I feel wonderful!”
“Mama, Marlo and I have told you a hundred times you can’t just go off your medicine.” I walked over to her and laid my hand on her arm. “Mama, you’ll feel good for a little while and then you won’t. You know I’m right.”
Her face fell just a little as she stood stirring the thick soup. Then she shook her head. “No, this time will be different. You’ll see. And this time, Eddie will move all of us up to that nice house of his. He’ll see that he needs me with him…he needs all of us with him.”
My shoulders sagged as defeat made my limbs feel heavy. I was too tired to deal with this.
My mama patted her deep chestnut-brown hair—the same hair she’d given me—and smiled brightly again. “I’ve still got my looks, Tenleigh. Eddie always says I’m the most beautiful woman in Kentucky. And I’ve got this sash to prove he isn’t lying.” Her eyes grew dreamy as they always did when she talked about her Miss Sunburst title, the one she’d won when she was my age. She turned toward me with a smile and lifted a strand of my hair. “You’re as pretty as I was,” she said, but then frowned. “I wish I had the money to enter you in some pageants. I bet you’d win them just like I did.” She sighed heavily and went back to stirring the soup.