Page 114 of Verses

After rolling down the road a few more miles, I said, “So it’s hard for me to say anything nice about my mother…because her life choices mademylife hard. And Phil’s not a horrible guy—probably the best partner my mom ever had. He always had a job and we never went hungry. He never laid a hand on me or my siblings.”

“Just water torture?”

“Yeah.” As we got closer to La Junta, I wondered why the hell I’d even stayed in contact with these people over the years…but I knew why. My little sister and brother had never done anything bad to me, and I wanted to continue our relationship—and, until more recently, that couldn’t have happened without my mom and Phil’s involvement.

And time had allowed my wounds to…well,healwasn’t the right word…but maybe they’d scabbed over a bit.

Maybe someday I could forgive them. In the meantime, I’d tolerate them and keep moving forward. At least today I’d have an ally by my side.

CHAPTER 31

The rest of the drive to La Junta was pleasant. After I told Wolf that my little sister was twenty and attending the community college to go into nursing and that my little brother was an athlete, most recently on the high school football and basketball teams, he said something that made me feel more loved than I ever had.

“Songbird, we all have roots—and even if we have negative feelings about them, it helps us to know where we came from, because it guides us to where we’re going. And I feel honored that you would trust me to see it all.”

Basking in the warm glow of his thoughtfulness, I said, “I’mhonored that you cared enough to take me there…and you are gonna be the best part of the day.”

Smiling, he took a sip of his coffee. “This is the first time in a long time that I’ll actually be celebrating Christmas, so I want to thank you for that.”

No matter how cold it was outside, it was warm inside my heart.

When we arrivedin La Junta, the skies were clear and a soft blue. It was a sunny day, beautiful even amongst all the brown everywhere. Had it been blanketed in snow, it would have been prettier.

As I got out of Wolf’s truck, I said, “God, I’m so glad I didn’t move here with them.”

“Why? I mean, besides the obvious reasons.”

“Because I can’t even see the Rocky Mountains from here. It’s flat and brown as far as the eye can see.”

“Yeah. If I’d stayed active in the Wickeds, this is one of the places I might have wound up.”

“Seriously?” I asked, looking at the front door to my parents’ house but still not stepping toward it.

“Yeah. I’m pretty sure this is one of their major towns of operation.”

Once we had our hands full, I said, “One thing is for sure—Phil and my mom own a bigger house here than anywhere else we ever lived. Maybe it’s because of his promotion.”

“Cost of living might be lower here too.”

“Yeah…‘cause no one wants to live here.”

Wolf laughed as we walked toward the front door. “La Junta’s a lot bigger than Charlotte.”

“That doesn’t mean anything.”

“It just means more peoplemightwant to live here.”

He wasn’t wrong…I just couldn’t understandwhy, aside from agriculture. Not that it mattered. I knew my family had moved because of Phil’s job—and they probably stayed because life here was better for them.

My life might not have been easy, but having that distance from my family took off some emotional pressure…meaning my life was also better.

Before we could even knock on the door, my little brother opened it.

But he wasn’t so little anymore.

“Holy shit, Derek. You have to be at least three inches taller than the last time I saw you.”

He towered over me now. “Maybe if you saw me at least once a century, you could keep up.” Grinning, he started to hug me but quickly hooked my neck in the crook of his arm and rubbed my head with his knuckles.

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