Always Conall (Bitterroot #2) by Sibylla Matilde Read Free Book Online

seemed frail and fragile to my ears. “She needs stability. Not a father who’s going to flit in and out of her life. So, until you’ve figured out whether you want her or not, you should probably just stay away and not fuck with her head.”
    I glanced over at him with an icy glare and could almost see every syllable hit home. It was sickly almost gratifying that he even flinched once or twice.
    “Sage, it’s not that I don’t want her,” Conall started.
    I had to get away. My eyes burned with the need to cry, but I cleared my throat to project a strength I didn’t really feel.
    “I’ve gotta go. It’s getting late. Just, um…” I murmured as I began to turn away, “just let me know what to expect, okay?”
    “Sage,” he called as I started back down the path towards my car, “I’m really sorry … for everything.”
    A blast from the past. The same thing he uttered five years before. I didn’t look back. The tears that had begun to gather in my eyes again began to overflow and trail down my cheeks. I was so tired of crying over this man.
    “Some things never change, I guess,” I said lifelessly as I walked away.

Chapter 4 ~ Unsettled
     
     
    Sage
    The blazing sun beat down on my shoulders as I watched Mattie skipping through giant, metal spraying flowers and dumping buckets at the water park. I loved her squeals of delight when the sun made rainbows in the mist and reflected in the sparkly stars on her little purple swimsuit. The smoke was almost nonexistent in the air, revealing the wide blue skies with only a few scant clouds. I leaned back in my lounger, soaking up a few rays and doing my best to relax.
    Unfortunately, I was not succeeding.
    My life had been simply exhausting for what seemed like forever. Long hours and hard work to finish high school. Long hours and hard work to finish nursing school, and working the whole time. Two jobs towards the end. In addition to bartending at Hyper, I got an intern position with St. Thomas Hospital after my first round of clinicals. It was a great opportunity to get my foot in the door, but it meant making my chaotic schedule even worse.
    Eventually, this grueling pattern and lack of sleep started to show up in my grades, which horrified me. Since scholarships and grants covered my tuition and fees, I had to have excellent academic standing, so I couldn’t let my grades slide. And, while that funding covered my tuition and fees, I still needed money for food, rent, and bills. I needed money to take care of Mattie. So, in my last semester, I finally caved and took out student loans for living expenses, quitting my job at Hyper. I scrimped and scavenged to avoid a huge loan debt, and things were far from easy, but it allowed me to focus more on school.
    Now, a few months after finishing nursing school, there was a light at the end of the tunnel. The hospital had brought me on full-time right after graduation, still an intern, but with better benefits. And a major bonus was the hospital daycare (or night care, as my shifts were all over the map) for employees, catering to all the weird hours we worked. Knowing she was close by took a huge load off my shoulders. That I could drop her off and go to work and she was right there, safe and sound.
    So, really, things should be a lot easier right now. For the first time in two and a half years, I didn’t have to study. I’d taken my NCLEX and my preliminary results indicated I’d passed. I should have the official letter in a few weeks, and then I could officially call myself a registered nurse. With that credential, my job would change and I would start making a living wage.
    After years of doing what I had to do to survive, I could start doing what I wanted to. I could finally start… living .
    So, I lay in the sun telling myself over and over that I should be relaxing.
    Yet, I just couldn’t.
    I couldn’t escape the nervousness that pervaded my senses. My pulse was consistently accelerated, and a skittish