Into the Fire (Bridge Book 2) by Meredith Wild Read Free Book Online Page B

club months ago worked a million hours a week and danced her ass off every weekend. I want to know that one who sings karaoke like a pro. Where’d you learn to sing like that? I’ve never heard anything like it.”
    “My mom. I never had voice lessons, but she and my dad were both musicians, so I guess it’s in my blood. We didn’t have much when I was growing up. For a while, we didn’t even have a TV, so my mom and I would sing songs she’d learned on the road. She’d play her guitar and teach me the lyrics.”
    “So why are you working on Wall Street with a voice like that?”
    She shrugged, her focus narrowing toward the melting colors of the sunset ahead. “I love to sing. Don’t get me wrong. But it’s not something to pin my future on. Didn’t really work out so great for my mom.”
    “Why is that?”
    “When my parents were still together, they were on the road a lot. Toured at different little clubs and bars all over the country. That kind of life wasn’t really conducive to parenthood, so when my mom got pregnant, it came as a bit of a surprise. Her last stop on the tour was a little bar outside of Pensacola, not far from Callaway where I grew up. My mom was eight-and-a-half months pregnant, so she came home to her parents. My dad said he’d come back after a few more shows to be with her. He never came back.”
    “You never met him?”
    “No, I’ve met him a few times, in New York when he was coming through town. He’s a fun guy. Very charismatic. Talented too. I’ve seen him play a couple shows.”
    “So you get along. That’s great.”
    She shrugged. “Sure. Talking to him is like talking to a friendly acquaintance. I know he’s my father, but I don’t think I feel the way I’m supposed to about him. The relationship we have is very casual. Disconnected in a way that doesn’t bother me as much as maybe it should. That’s weird to say, but he was never around. He has no idea how to be a parent. I guess I just accept that.”
    “Sounds kind of refreshing. Maybe Diane and Frank can pick up a few tips.”
    “Were you ever close with your parents?”
    “Yeah, way back. Way, way back. I think I was nine when we started to see less of my dad. We moved out of the city but he commuted in. The more he worked, seemed like the less happy my mom was. For some reason it didn’t bring us any closer, but Cam and Liv and I sort of bonded together from that point.”
    She leaned into me a little. “Seems like there’s been tension between them and Cam, from what Maya’s told me.”
    “Oh, yeah. They’re uptight with too much money on their hands. The way my dad sees it, he worked as hard as he did so Cameron, Liv, and I could have the best of everything. Go to the best schools, marry into the wealthiest families, get the best jobs an Ivy League network can buy, and on and on and on.”
    “Doesn’t sound like a bad life.”
    “It doesn’t. But it’s their life. Not mine.” I couldn’t hide the spite in my tone.
    Why be a firefighter when I could be a banker? Why live in the heart of Brooklyn when I could have a house in the Hamptons? True enough, some people would give their left nut for the life of privilege that Frank Bridge wanted to give us. What those people didn’t see was how the light left my mother’s eyes a little more every weekend he stayed away working on a deal or schmoozing some new client. He lived and breathed work, and for my mother, no amount of vodka could replace the husband who’d left her to raise a family and keep up with the image of a banker’s wife. For as long as I could remember, I’d wanted to be as far away from that life and lifestyle as I could get.
    While my mind spun, Vanessa had grown silent beside me. I gave her hand a little squeeze.
    “Truth is, I’ve never felt comfortable wearing boat shoes. I’d look terrible on a yacht.”
    Her jaw fell a fraction. “Your parents have a yacht?”
    “No. Plenty of their friends do though. Keeping them