Page 75 of Where the Little Birds Are (Little Bird Duet 2)

Not once did I think about Corbin Callum.

It goes as expected when I drop the news. Badly. The blank stares are tolerable compared to the yelling. And there’s lots of that.

“You need to contact someone in admis

sions and reverse that paperwork,” Mom informs me once her jaw unlocks from the intense stare down she gave me.

“Mom—” My voice cracks under the pressure of her disapproval. It leaks out of her tight expression.

“No.” She stands and shakes her head. “I don’t understand what you’re doing. You’ve only got two more years left, Kinley.”

“But I’m not happy there.”

She blows out a breath and closes her eyes, lifting her hand when I try to speak. Shaking her head, she walks away from me, leaving me with Dad and Gavin.

“Kid,” Dad murmurs, “do you really think this is a good idea? There’s a lot that can go wrong, and your mother is right. You’re already halfway done with school. Why not just finish it off?”

This is just one big full circle going nowhere fast. “Because I never wanted to go in the first place. Mom isn’t right, but Parker is. I only went there to make Mom happy, but I’m miserable. School isn’t for everyone. Why should I rack up more student debt for no reason?”

Dad’s lips twitch, but he doesn’t say anything to argue my point. It isn’t an unreasonable one to make, no matter what I’m springing on them. At least he can see that.

Gavin on the other hand? “Are you really going to chase after some guy you’re not even dating?”

My eyes widen in hurt, my heart aching over the assumption I should have known he would make. “I’m not chasing after him. He made good points I couldn’t refute. We’re both happier there and I’ll have more opportunities.”

“And if you two get into a fight?”

“Why would we?”

“You’ll be living together,” he says slowly, brows arching. “You’ll always be together and that means you’re going to get on each other’s nerves. Trust me.”

He moved in with Kayla almost six months ago and still winds up here to help Dad with random projects in the garage or house for hours. I always wondered why he showed up out of the blue. Kayla would always come, talk to him, and they’d leave shortly after.

“We’ll be fine.”

“Are you dating?”

“That’s none of your business.”

“You’re my little sister, so it is.”

I scoff, pushing myself up. “I’m doing this and I’m sorry that upsets you. Jamie thinks it’s a great idea, too. She said she can get local bookstores to do signings with me since I’ll be closer. It’ll be great exposure.”

Nothing. Like always, they say nothing about something as exciting as that. And it crushes me little by little to know something I’m proud of is buried under the things they disapprove of me doing instead.

Mom walks back in just as I stand up. In her hands is a steaming cup of coffee filled to the brim. She won’t look at me.

“Mom,” I murmur, stepping toward her.

Nothing.

“I don’t want to disappoint you.”

She finally, finally looks at me. With distant eyes that are carved with hurt, she says, “I don’t know what to tell you then.”

And the hurt in her eyes soaks into me over the very words nobody wants to hear. But it doesn’t stop me from looking at my father, brother, and mother, before tipping my head once and walking out their front door.

Those words will haunt me for life.

---