Total pages in book: 143
Estimated words: 133878 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 669(@200wpm)___ 536(@250wpm)___ 446(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 133878 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 669(@200wpm)___ 536(@250wpm)___ 446(@300wpm)
“Because you found something good. Do not let anyone take that from you. Don’t let shame lead you. Tell your brothers what happened and why you feel like you can’t fight. Let it be their choice to give you permission to move forward or to ask for you to sacrifice this for their kids. And then when you know what you want, we go to Stef or Seth and make a plan.”
It felt like failure, but she wasn’t going to argue with Gemma. “You came here after you got fired. How long was it before you knew it was right to stay?”
Gemma seemed to think about it for a moment. “I suppose when I looked up at the stars and I really saw them for the first time. I laid back on the grass outside of Jesse and Cade’s cabin and I realized I never looked up. I never let myself be. I was so worried about the future that I had never once enjoyed the moment. The present is all we truly have. The past is sweet memories and the future, well, it comes faster and faster now, and then it’s the present, and I was still moving the goal posts. I’m still ambitious, but my ambitions are about helping people more than acquiring a bunch of stuff that won’t make me happy in the end. I love this town. I love my husbands. I love that my mom is healthy and happy. And I love me now in a way I did not before, and D/s helped me find all of those things. Because D/s taught me to trust not only my partners, but myself. Tell me something, and be honest about it. Even if it’s only with yourself. How did it make you feel?”
“Powerful. Beautiful. Worthy.” She dabbed at her eyes with her napkin. “But I don’t see how I could make it work with them.”
“You don’t have to. Sweetie, when was the last time you weren’t working toward a goal?”
You are going to college, kiddo. I do not put on that sheriff’s uniform so you can work at Stella’s.
Don’t you worry about a thing, Brooke. Rye and I will make sure everything is okay. All you need to worry about is getting into a good school and getting a good job.
Oh, they hadn’t meant to do it, but her brothers had flipped a switch inside her with the words. They were trying to let her be who she wanted to be, but in trying to do that, she’d simply wanted to make them proud, and that had become her ambition. “I don’t remember.”
“Then breathe, Brooke. You are in a unique position. You don’t need a job right this second. You can take some time and enjoy a summer.”
“I kind of have a job, not that it pays much. Cleo asked me to take over the wardrobe department for the rep theater. She’s under the impression that I’ll be gone in a couple of weeks, but I don’t think she’d be upset if I stuck around.”
“And how does that make you feel?”
Brooke shrugged. “I used to love costume design, but by the time I got into Parson’s, I was set on high fashion.”
“Because you loved it?”
“Because it was the best.”
“The best for who?” Gemma asked, but kindly. She reached out and put a hand on Brooke’s. “I have seen so many people come to Bliss to find themselves. Stop listening to the negative voices in your head. Stop listening to a society that will never serve you properly. I wanted to be the best. The best lawyer. The most successful person my family had ever produced. I figured out the only thing that matters is being the best Gemma I can be. The best friend and partner and daughter. The best me possible, and I work on it every day. And I’m still sarcastic and I still don’t want kids, even though I love my friends’ kids to death. I didn’t fall into some small-town dream life. Bliss helped me make my own paradise, one I built from the ground up, but it started by figuring out who I really was. Who I am. Just because you grew up here doesn’t mean you’ve ever once given in to the real magic of this place. So take the summer and see Bliss through new eyes, and maybe you’ll find a new you, too.”
She squeezed Gemma’s hand. “Do you think I should suck it up and apologize to my brothers?”
Gemma shuddered like that was the worst plan ever. “Why would you do that? They sicced a PI on you. They need to apologize.”
They weren’t known for apologies. They would think they were in the right, and the fact that she was in trouble proved it. “So I can have a place to stay.”