by Ward, Susan
She rolls her eyes. “Credit card, in my pocket like always, Dad. Mom calls it my better safe than embarrassed insurance.”
I shake my head at her. “Don’t give me that look, Maddy. It’s my credit card you carry so it’s not like my forgetting my wallet is me making you pay.”
As we wait for the hostess to seat us, Madison studies the menu. “What are we eating? Breakfast or lunch? Let’s have big messy burgers and not tell Mom.”
“No, if you eat a burger you’ve got to tell your mom.”
We sit down at our table.
“How come you don’t have to eat vegan?” Madison asks.
“Because I don’t.” But when the waitress comes, I order a vegan wrap like my daughter.
I smile as I watch Madison play with paper from her straw. “Do you want to go home right after we’re done with lunch?”
She nods. “Sure. You made me leave my phone there.”
I ignore the phone comment.
I smile instead. “Good. I don’t want to be away from your mother, not one extra second. Not anymore.”
Epilogue
Linda and I marry, after thirty-six years, on the cliffs above the ocean. When the ceremony ends a gust of wind shoots up from the shores as it often does.
Nope, not a ghost. Not Lena. Not anymore. I finally did as Lena had asked me on the cliffs before she died: I let go.
I think the out-of-nowhere gust is just nature’s way of reminding me that all things in life can change at a moment’s notice. That whatever was will not forever be and not to squander a single moment before it is lost.
A gust of wind.
A sign of change.
A reminder.
Love with all your heart before the day you can’t love anything.
I watch my daughter, Madison, run along the cliffs, but in my head I see many girls. Lena. Chrissie. Linda. Kaley. On this spot because of Lena.
I hear Lena’s voice in my head:
I don’t want anyone to love me.
I don’t want anyone to miss me.
I don’t want anyone to care.
I don’t want anyone to remember me.
I stare at the ocean and remember my response. I grab my daughter’s hand, and as my fingers tighten around Madison’s, I amend my reply in my head:
Those are the wants of a narcissistic man.
A man who knows nothing of love.
And no matter what people write about me—I’m sure there will be more wrong than right—even the most unperceptive among us would never think to write that Jackson Parker didn’t love.
The End
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Start the Parker Saga from the beginning and read the story in its entirety:
The Girl on the Half Shell
The Girl of Tokens and Tears
The Girl of Diamonds and Rust
The Girl in the Comfortable Quiet
One Last Kiss
One More Kiss
One Long Kiss
Broken Crown
The Girl of Sand & Fog
One Forever Kiss
The Girl in the Mirror
Ethan (2017)
Locked & Loaded Series:
Dillon Warrick Books:
Pistol Whipped
Take Down (2017)
Graham Carson Books:
The Manny (Graham Carson’s Story)
His Man(
All I (Releasing Fall 2017)
Skyler Mathews:
Skyler: A Gay Romance (March 2017)
Releasing 2017: Madison Rowan
The Girl of Sun and Sand (Sun & Sand Series Book 1)
Excerpt
Chrissie Parker and Alan Manzone
The Girl on the Half Shell
The Half Shell Series Book One:
The room is so quiet it is deafening.
I find Alan on his bed, casually reclined against a stack of pillows, dressed only in flannel pajama bottoms, and reading—of all things—the Wall Street Journal. There is a fire lit, the silver candlesticks flicker with flame, the bedcovers invitingly turned down as if in preparation for some sort of romantic scene. But he is focused on the Journal.
He doesn’t look at me and I feel stupid hovering by his door, so I start to wander around the bedroom, trying to still my frantic pulse. It’s a good thing that it’s an interesting room, otherwise my deliberate study would seem silly.
Even Alan’s bedroom is something I find weird and demands a certain amount of mental analysis. It looks like something from a nineteenth century English manor, elegant to the point of being almost a touch prissy. There’s an antique mahogany king-sized bed facing the fireplace; floral wingback chairs with pillows positioned before the hearth; and high-tech conveniences camouflaged in antique furniture. There’s a Monet on the wall; tall, polished sterling silver candlesticks; crystal; and fine, leather-bound, first edition books of classic literature. I sink down before a small, mahogany table where I find a stack of newspaper: Barons; the New York Times; the Washington Post; and the Daily Telegraph.
The warmth of the fire surrounds me like a caress, but I am quaking like a leaf. I wasn’t sure what Alan expected after he walked out of the kitchen. It would have been logical to assume that I would leave. But he knew I’d follow him. I don’t know why he’s ignoring me now. I look at the lit candlesticks—he wanted me to follow him.
I bite my lower lip and stare at my knotted fingers. I stayed alone in the kitchen for what seemed like ages, and now that I’ve done exactly what he expected me to do, nothing.
I struggle for something to say to break the silence. “You do have seven bedrooms. I counted them twice. But there are seven only if I include yours.”
He folds the Journal, tosses it on the table and fixes those penetrating, mesmerizing eyes on me. “Is this the room you want?” he asks, his voice gentle. “I meant it when I said you could have any room. It doesn’t have to be my room for you to stay.”
Does he not want me in his room? A ragged breath forces its way from deep in my lungs. “Do you want me to go?” I murmur.
“Of course not. I want you here.” His voice is husky and his eyes are wandering in a leisurely hold that is tender and oddly comforting.
If you haven’t read the story of Chrissie Parker and Alan Manzone, you can download the complete series in The Girl Box Set.
About The Author
Susan Ward is a #1 Amazon bestselling author in Gay Fiction and LGBT Erotica, #2 Amazon bestselling author in the Rock genre, and an Amazon Top 100 bestselling author in Erotica Humorous, Coming-of-age, Contemporary Romance, Historical Romance, Regency Romance, Women’s Fiction, and Romance Sagas.
Her hometown is the inspiration for the Parker Saga which includes the Half Shell Series, Affair without End Series, and Sand & Fog Series. The mother of grown daughters, she lives a quiet life with her husband and her dog, Emma. She currently has 14 books released.
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