Count on Me (Petal, Georgia) by Lauren Dane Read Free Book Online

Mindy and Shep against her so they’d refuse to see her like they did their father’s family?
    She took a deep breath. “I have to skirt the elephant in the room to keep the peace. We—that is my siblings and I—experienced the death of our mother very differently. I was far older than they were so I had a more developed relationship with our parents. And their families too. We’re very different and my grandparents… Well I suppose I believe they’ve used that to their advantage to keep that gulf between me and the rest of them.”
    “Why do you think that?” Not a judgmental question.
    “Look, I’m not knocking their grief. I lost her too. But my grandmother is every bit of the control freak I am now. She was given a story of what happened and that is that. To even question it is to choose a side in her mind. Feeding Mindy and Shep an absolute is a way to keep them on my grandmother’s correct side of things. It makes it easy to control them, where they go to school, who they see. What they believe. I’m a wild card. I’m a messy bed and unfolded laundry, and as you might imagine, Abigail Lassiter doesn’t like either of those things. I wanted to see my sister and brother. I wanted to keep this part of my life alive, even if strained. So I danced to her tune.”
    “But you’re going to change the record now?” One corner of his mouth quirked up.
    “I guess you should know this up front, before we go out again or anything like that. I have spent a huge portion of my life, especially the last fourteen or so years, trying to prove my father’s innocence. I don’t push it in my siblings’ faces, but if it comes up, I speak the truth. The truth as I see it. The truth as I’ve pieced it together after combing through every little piece of evidence I come across over and over. He’s dead now. That he lost his wife, his children and his freedom and ultimately his life to the acts of a person who is still out there is something I cannot remain silent about. They kept saying I should move here, my grandparents I mean, so I have. But I’m not Mindy. I’m not easily controlled. And they’re old enough to deal with me as adults now.” She shrugged.
    “First things first. There will most definitely be more dates and things like that .” He snagged one of the last onion rings off her plate, and she snorted. “I like the way you smell. I like that you’re up front with what you want and how you feel. You have no idea how fucking refreshing that is. Sexy too. As for the rest? I don’t know the whole story, and as we get to know one another, I’d like to hear your side, what you know. Whatever the reasons you’re back, I’m glad of it.”
    That easy acceptance of her—of the way she felt and her right to feel it—should have been commonplace but it wasn’t. She was Caroline Mendoza, the daughter of a convicted murderer.
    Back in Petal, there was a thin line, the sharpest she’d ever walked. While she’d been able to build relationships in her life in Los Angeles and Seattle, they hadn’t experienced the events surrounding her mother’s murder and the trial in the same way people in Petal had. They had an ownership over the history, up close and personal that others didn’t.
    She’d been pitied and reviled. Humored and ignored. But being believed, or at the very least given the space to have her own feelings and beliefs, well that was rare and it made her appreciate Royal even more.
    “Thank you for that. If you have questions, ask them. I’ll answer them the best I can.”
    He kissed her fingertips. “I think we need to finish our beer and food, blow out of here, grab something sweet and maybe smooch a while.”
    “I’m totally on board with that plan.”
     
     
    After they’d finished, the sheer volume in the room had risen as it had gotten past nine on a Friday night. People played pool in the back, servers shuttled through the room with pitchers of beer, and there was a lot of laughter,