Read Online Where Forever Lies by Tara Neideffer - Free Book Online

much of a worrier as she
was. She’d always known she’d inherited it from her
mother. When her dad was alive, he was always the laid back one in
the family, taking things as they came. Paige had always envied him
for that trait, and wished she had received it, but it was something
that she couldn’t dwell on.
    “I
know, Mom. I’ll be fine, don’t worry.”
    She gave
her mom one last wave as they headed down the sidewalk and to her
car. Kyra kept trying to take off running ahead but Paige held
tightly onto her hand.
    As she
opened the door and lifted Kyra into her car seat, Paige’s hand
brushed against a leafy vine that had caught on Kyra’s leg. As
she stood there staring at it, her heart became heavy with anxiety as
memories of the dream and the funeral came rushing back into her
mind. Why did she have to keep reliving these memories? Why couldn’t
it all just go away and never come back? She felt that she couldn’t
escape her grief, it just kept showing up to taunt her and remind her
of the past. Remind her how her life would never be the same. She
choked back the tears that never seemed far away, not wanting to have
a breakdown in front of Kyra.
    “Did
you have fun at mamaw’s today, honey?” she asked, as she
slowly pulled the vine off her leg and dropped it to the ground.
    “Yes,”
Kyra said, as she tugged at the strap on her car seat, staring at her
mom with wide, wondering eyes.
    After Kyra
was buckled in, Paige walked around to her door, her breath hitching
with emotion that she was tired of shedding. She opened the door, got
behind the wheel, and took a few deep breaths as she put the key into
the ignition with shaky hands. By the time she was ready to leave,
she looked up in her rearview mirror to find Kyra had already drifted
off to sleep in her car seat, her red curly hair hung over her eyes
as her head rested to one side. Paige smiled, and finally let the
tears escape, knowing that one day the pain in her heart would also
be sitting in her daughter’s.
    She pulled
out of her mom’s driveway and turned the music up, hoping to
find some uplifting music to fill in the hollowness in her heart. As
she looked in her rearview mirror, tears fell freely down her cheeks
as she saw the leafy vine blowing away with the wind.
Chapter 6

    Paige squinted against the sun
as she turned into Donnelly Park. It was a little ways from her
apartment in the city, but it wasn’t far from her mom’s
house and she thought they both needed some fresh air and sunshine.
    The sun was out and there was a
soft breeze, making it a perfect day to take Kyra to the park. She
pulled into the parking spot and noticed how busy the park looked.
Many kids were on the playground and some guys were playing
basketball on the far court. She opened Kyra’s door and her
sleepy eyes instantly brightened when she saw where she was. Paige
unstrapped her car seat and once Kyra stepped out onto the blacktop,
she took off racing straight for the swings as if she had never seen
anything more fascinating. Paige had to jog to keep up with her and
it briefly crossed her mind that it was way too hot to be running.
Kyra leaped on the swing and insisted her mother push her very high.
Paige pushed Kyra what she thought was high enough, but Kyra kept
yelling “higher, Mommy, higher.”
    “All right, honey, but I
think that’s high enough. You swing for a while and I’ll
sit over there and watch you,” she told her daughter as Kyra
swung back and forth giggling the whole time. Paige laid a blanket
out on the ground and watched Kyra go from the swing to the jungle
gym, and decided to take a chance and indulge in some rare quiet
time, relaxing in the warm sun.

    ♥♥♥

    Tyler and Brandon were playing
the basketball game ‘horse’ when he noticed the car
pulling into the parking lot. He didn’t think anything of it,
until he saw a young girl get out of the car with her daughter. The
mother, he assumed, looked a little younger than he was and