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CHAPTER SEVEN
I jolt awake in a pool of sweat. I’ve been having nightmares since I’ve left Nevada, but usually they involve Jet hitting Leyla. Which is weird because I don’t remember him ever touching her. This one was more vivid than the others. It’s also the first time she’s spoken to me. I touch my cheeks and realize I’ve been crying in my sleep.
While I’m peeling the soggy sheets from my body, my nose catches something that smells amazing. Freshly brewed coffee and waffles, I think. I love coffee. There’s no other way to start my day. And even though it may not be the best thing for my anxiety, I welcome the roasted beans into my mornings. Every morning.
My stomach growls angrily at me. I haven’t eaten much since I left Saddlehorn. Even at the diner I barely touched the fries and milkshake.
I can’t help smiling when I see the dining table loaded with coffee, juice, waffles, fruits, and eggs arranged around a beautiful centerpiece of tulips and orchids. Do they eat like this every day, or is this all for me? It seems a little too planned out for me. Like they’re preparing to tell me some bad news. Maybe they’ve decided they don’t want me to stay. Yeah, I bet that’s it. They’ve been too nice. I should’ve known it was all too good to be true.
Bud waves me over. “We figured that once you caught a whiff of Stelle’s special banana-walnut waffles, there’d be no way you’d oversleep.”
“It smells good.” I walk hesitantly to the same chair I took last night. I guess that if they’d decided to keep me, this would’ve become my spot. It’s only been one day but I already feel like I’ll miss it. I devour everything Estelle puts in front of me. As soon as I finish one plate, she’s already replacing it with another, saying, “I’m glad you like it.”
Finally I can’t take it. What am I doing? I’m acting like nothing’s ever happened. Like nothing’s happening now. I put down my fork and stand up. “You guys don’t have to go to all this trouble. If you’re just going to tell me you want me to leave, I get it. I don’t need the pity. I’ve been through a lot worse, you know.”
They stare at me as if I’ve just kicked them in the stomach as hard as I kicked Mel’s car.
Estelle bursts into tears. “Why would you think that?”
“Why would I think that? Why would you want me now after all this time? You guys have been so nice to me. It doesn’t make sense.”
Bud pushes himself up from his chair and walks over to me. He puts his hand on my shoulder and kneels down on one knee beside me. “Gavin... buddy... we’re never letting you out of our sight again. Never.”
I shove his hand away. “So why’d you do it in the first place? What was the point if you were going to see me after all these years and act like nothing ever happened. It’s bullshit!”
“We had to!” Estelle sobs. “They would’ve killed you!”
“Killed me?” Whoa. I was not expecting that. “Who?”
She shakes her head andrushes into the kitchen.
“It wasn’t something we were proud to do,” he says angrily before walking over to her in the kitchen.
YOU ARE READING
THE PHOTO TRAVELER (THE PHOTO TRAVELER SERIES - BOOK 1)
Teen FictionSeventeen-year-old Gavin Hillstone is resigned to being miserable for the rest of his life. Left alone in the world after his parents died in a fire when he was four, he was placed in foster care, which for him meant ending up in an abusive home wi...
