Read Online Thirty Days: Part One by Belle Brooks - Free Book Online
Authors: Belle Brooks
Tags: Romance
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down my cheeks. “Please, Daddy! It’s not fair. I can’t survive this.”
Bella escaped my breakdown, opting to lie in the garden under the shade of a fern. The afternoon glare from the sun was harsh. It pierced my eyes with a burn, causing more tears to fall.
“He said he loved me. He asked me to marry him. I’d bought my dress. It was perfect, Daddy, one you would have wanted to walk me down the aisle in. Mike has taken everything. He has stolen his words back. He’s not allowed to steal them back, is he? Why doesn’t he want me? What did I do? Tell me. What did I do? Please!” Sounds resembling a wounded animal wailed from my mouth.
I needed my dad to save me, and he couldn’t. I laid my head on the patch of grass in front of the garden and sobbed. My heart was broken, and I was homeless. No longer a girl with a fiancé because my love was not enough.
“Daddy, make this pain stop. You’re supposed to protect me. He’s broken your little girl’s heart,” I pleaded. There was a long pause. “Answer me!” A piercing scream followed. “Daddy, please.”
***
My head shakes, snapping me back into reality. It seems like a lifetime ago, yet that day is one that will never be erased.
“I was okay after that day, Dad. You would have been proud. Tough skin got me through.” Sighing, I wonder how in the world I’d managed to move on and kept going and then how the hell I ended up such a mess now. “That is until six months ago. Everything changed. Mike is getting married, and no, it’s not me. Maybe I should gift his new bride my unworn dress…what do you think?”
Visions of Dad laughing hysterically make me smile.
“Yeah, you’re right, not such a great idea.” Cynical laughter drifts on the breeze, my laughter.
“Hi. Sorry, are you okay?”
Turning my head, I’m greeted by chocolate-coloured eyes, a stubbled chin, and wavy charcoal hair. My mouth gapes open.
“Sorry for interrupting you.” His head shakes. “You were laughing incredibly loudly and not many people do that in cemeteries. It’s pretty odd.”
My mouth closes. Words hard to find.
“Talking to said laughing lunatic in cemeteries is probably not a smart move, either,” I reply through clenched lips.
He smiles—it’s a smile dentists dream of: straight white teeth behind big lips. The heat intensifies. The breeze that was wafting with ease across my back is gone.
“Touché.” He crouches down on bare knees beside me. Leaning close to my face, he whispers, “I wish more people had a good laugh in places like these. I mean, if they’ve lived a great life, why not be happy?” His head shifts back, yet he’s still close enough that I see every detail of his chiselled face. The scar on his left cheekbone is no longer than a fingernail. I notice the shape of his nose, which is rounded at the end, and the smell of his breath, freshly picked mint.
“Trust me. I’m not happy about this. I’m laughing because my ex-fiancé is getting married and, well, I was just telling my dear dead dad here that I was thinking I could give my unworn bridal gown to his new bride. It’s funny because he would have found that beyond abnormal. I’m just about to tell him about my dog, Bella, dying. Would you like to stay and join in on that heartbreak, too?”
He stands abruptly, and I notice how tall he is as he rubs his hands along the legs of his beige cargo shorts.
“I’ll leave you alone,” he mutters before leaving me in peace.
“Wow. Damn! Now that man was all kinds of fine.” I’m almost speechless. “Dad, did you send him over here? Come on now, love and Abigail don’t go hand in hand, you know that. Well, you would if you’re looking down on me like dead people are supposed to.” Taking a long inhale, I’m unable to fathom why that man approached me. That was too weird . Taking a moment to digest what just happened, I listen to the musical melodies being performed by the native wildlife.
“Bet you like it here.
Bella escaped my breakdown, opting to lie in the garden under the shade of a fern. The afternoon glare from the sun was harsh. It pierced my eyes with a burn, causing more tears to fall.
“He said he loved me. He asked me to marry him. I’d bought my dress. It was perfect, Daddy, one you would have wanted to walk me down the aisle in. Mike has taken everything. He has stolen his words back. He’s not allowed to steal them back, is he? Why doesn’t he want me? What did I do? Tell me. What did I do? Please!” Sounds resembling a wounded animal wailed from my mouth.
I needed my dad to save me, and he couldn’t. I laid my head on the patch of grass in front of the garden and sobbed. My heart was broken, and I was homeless. No longer a girl with a fiancé because my love was not enough.
“Daddy, make this pain stop. You’re supposed to protect me. He’s broken your little girl’s heart,” I pleaded. There was a long pause. “Answer me!” A piercing scream followed. “Daddy, please.”
***
My head shakes, snapping me back into reality. It seems like a lifetime ago, yet that day is one that will never be erased.
“I was okay after that day, Dad. You would have been proud. Tough skin got me through.” Sighing, I wonder how in the world I’d managed to move on and kept going and then how the hell I ended up such a mess now. “That is until six months ago. Everything changed. Mike is getting married, and no, it’s not me. Maybe I should gift his new bride my unworn dress…what do you think?”
Visions of Dad laughing hysterically make me smile.
“Yeah, you’re right, not such a great idea.” Cynical laughter drifts on the breeze, my laughter.
“Hi. Sorry, are you okay?”
Turning my head, I’m greeted by chocolate-coloured eyes, a stubbled chin, and wavy charcoal hair. My mouth gapes open.
“Sorry for interrupting you.” His head shakes. “You were laughing incredibly loudly and not many people do that in cemeteries. It’s pretty odd.”
My mouth closes. Words hard to find.
“Talking to said laughing lunatic in cemeteries is probably not a smart move, either,” I reply through clenched lips.
He smiles—it’s a smile dentists dream of: straight white teeth behind big lips. The heat intensifies. The breeze that was wafting with ease across my back is gone.
“Touché.” He crouches down on bare knees beside me. Leaning close to my face, he whispers, “I wish more people had a good laugh in places like these. I mean, if they’ve lived a great life, why not be happy?” His head shifts back, yet he’s still close enough that I see every detail of his chiselled face. The scar on his left cheekbone is no longer than a fingernail. I notice the shape of his nose, which is rounded at the end, and the smell of his breath, freshly picked mint.
“Trust me. I’m not happy about this. I’m laughing because my ex-fiancé is getting married and, well, I was just telling my dear dead dad here that I was thinking I could give my unworn bridal gown to his new bride. It’s funny because he would have found that beyond abnormal. I’m just about to tell him about my dog, Bella, dying. Would you like to stay and join in on that heartbreak, too?”
He stands abruptly, and I notice how tall he is as he rubs his hands along the legs of his beige cargo shorts.
“I’ll leave you alone,” he mutters before leaving me in peace.
“Wow. Damn! Now that man was all kinds of fine.” I’m almost speechless. “Dad, did you send him over here? Come on now, love and Abigail don’t go hand in hand, you know that. Well, you would if you’re looking down on me like dead people are supposed to.” Taking a long inhale, I’m unable to fathom why that man approached me. That was too weird . Taking a moment to digest what just happened, I listen to the musical melodies being performed by the native wildlife.
“Bet you like it here.
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