Read Online Virtues (Base Branch Series Book 8) by Megan Mitcham - Free Book Online

thoughts.
    “They were convenient and uninspiring,” Rin offered.
    “Luck is nothing close to convenient.” Cara’s head shook. “But he is enlivening. He’s loyal. He’s loving.”
    Rin nodded. Her shoulders straightened, and the upbeat tempo of her steps returned. “How’d you meet him?”
    “The little shit tried to fleece me in Rio and got more than he bargained for.” They strolled. “He was a cocky teenager, determined to prove himself in a street gang. Most of them were poor but not alone. They could have chosen a different path. School. A trade. Luck’s mother had abandoned him.” A searing pain lanced Cara’s heart. “He had no one and no options. He stole to feed himself.”
    Her daughter’s wide eyes drank in every word.
    “I couldn’t help you without placing you in danger, but I could help him. As much as I saved him, taught him, he saved me more. I was in a dark place.”
    “You were alone too,” Rin whispered.
    “I don’t mind solitude. I’ve grown quite fond of it over the years.”
    “Then what?”
    “It was you. I couldn’t bear another minute away from you, no matter what. I’d decided to take you, to steal you away from everything and everyone you’d ever known, so I could be your mother again. I knew it was reckless and so damn selfish, but I couldn’t stop myself. I’d made plans, paid for new papers. The entire time I knew I shouldn’t, but I would have.”
    They’d stopped on the sidewalk close to the storefront. Rin stared at her as if she’d grown snakes for hair. “Why didn’t you?”
    “I met Luck.” Cara blinked away collecting moisture and pressed on. There was no way to know how many days, hours, minutes they’d have together. Her daughter had a right to know everything. “I saw the rage he had for his mother, and I was terrified.”
    “You were scared I’d reject you.” Rin swatted at a stray tear. “Okay.” Her head bobbed in a furious beat.
    Cara’s insides twisted.
    “Okay,” Rin said again with both palms up. “I think I’ve had enough for today.”
    “Okay.” The skeleton, muscles, and ligaments holding Cara together fractured. She stumbled back a step.
    “No, I don’t mean I want you to leave. I just. I can only take these stories in little doses. It’s so much to wrap my head around.” She cupped the sides of Cara’s face. “I want to hear it. I need to hear it. And I want you to stay. In fact, since I don’t know what to look at for Luck and me, I have a few apartments and condos in the area we could look at for you.” Her daughter swatted several windblown strands from her face and forced a smile.
    She’d missed that smile, watching it morph through the years. The weight that had lifted yesterday returned with a vengeance and extra pounds. She’d missed the thousands of times her daughter’s hand had reached for her…and she hadn’t been there.
    Sweat clung to Cara’s upper lip. The niggle leapfrogged to full-on gnawing of her cerebellum. She grabbed Rin’s hand and yanked them into a narrow alley at the end of the block between the row of shops and the first clump of townhomes. Cara herded her daughter past the beer cans and cigarette butts toward the outlet at the back of the shops. Inside her chest, her heart raced ahead as if she was in a marathon. The alley walls wavered. Her steps faltered.
    “Hold up.”
    Rin grabbed her elbow with her free hand and guided her to the brick wall. They were exposed. They had to run.
    “Head between your knees.” Rin shoved her head down.
    Cara tensed to protest, but suddenly, upside down, the world stopped vibrating.
    “If you’re not ready to look for a place, all you have to do is say. No panic attack necessary.”
    Panic attack? Cara placed her hands on the knees of her navy slacks, but the sweaty palms slipped off. She settled for her elbow and dragged one breath after another into her lungs. Jesus. She couldn’t pick an apartment or a townhouse. She couldn’t move