She was primed to let go again when he moved between her legs.
“I love you more than anything, Three.”
She stared into his eyes. Eyes that held the answers to all her questions but one.
“Why do you love me?”
He pressed inside her body. “Because my heart didn’t give me a choice.”
Are you curious about the big reveal? What Jake Powers is up to in Aspen Cove? Find out in One Hundred Decisions
Sneak Peek at One Hundred Decisions
Natalie Keane chewed the last of her nails down to the quick. She glanced around the social worker's office. The cracked linoleum and soiled white walls spoke more of despair than hope. It was almost as if the room knew the children passing through would possibly end up in far worse situations than anyone could imagine.
“Ms. Keane, are you ready to meet your brother?”
Her heart raced in a fight or flight manner. Natalie didn’t do commitments. Becoming a guardian for her brother was a six-year gig. If she said yes, she had to be all in.
A thunderous beat boomed in her chest before her heart stilled. “I still can’t believe I have a brother.”
Mrs. Todd, a Los Angeles County social worker, nodded her head. “It was hard for Will to believe too. If there wasn’t a written will, we would have never found you.”
“I’m surprised you did. I’ve moved around a lot.” She rubbed her eyes. “Hard to comprehend that my father abandoned me and my mother only to start a new family years later.”
Natalie was still shaken. Was it really two weeks ago that she’d gotten the call? Ms. Keane … this is Roberta Todd from Los Angeles County and we have your brother. You're listed as the chosen guardian. If you don’t come to claim him, we’ll have to find him a suitable home.
Right then, it wouldn’t have mattered if Will was her brother or not. At the mention of foster care, she would have gone to get the boy regardless. As a product of the system, she knew there was a range to what was considered suitable.
The door opened and in walked a lanky kid dressed in tattered jeans and a Harry Potter T-shirt. His hair was too long, and his suspicious eyes told her he’d already seen too much in his twelve years.
Natalie approached him with the same reserve. She grabbed courage from some hidden resource inside and said, “Hi, I’m Natalie. You must be Will.” She held out her hand.
He looked at her open palm and stepped back. “Duh.”
“Will,” Mrs. Todd scolded. “This is your sister who drove all the way from Colorado. Don’t you think she deserves more?”
For a long moment, he studied her. “Sorry. Hi.” He shoved his hands into his jean pockets and stared at the floor. “I don’t know why I can’t stay in the house. It’s not as if my father was around anyway. I can take care of myself.”
Natalie’s heart ached for Will. At twelve, she’d thought she could take care of herself too. She ran away from her third foster care family and hid in a treehouse in the next town over. All it took was the pangs of hunger to bring her home. Turned out they hadn’t realized she'd left.
Emotional attachment wasn’t a strength for her. It wasn’t that she couldn’t love. It was that she didn’t trust love. Looking at her brother, she hoped he was only looking for stability. That was all she could offer.
“How about we give it a try?” Natalie said. “I filled out the paperwork, and we can leave for Colorado now. Sometimes a new beginning can change your world.”
He lifted his head and rolled his eyes. “Colorado might as well be a different world. What about my friends?”
Natalie knew he didn’t have many, if any. Kids like him were never part of the in-crowd but were the outliers who walked on the fringe of society. “You can call them, or maybe they can visit you in Aspen Cove.”
Will let out an exasperated exhale. “Whatever.” He looked around the room. When his eyes lit on the backpack in the corner, he rushed to pick it up.
“Is that all you have?” Natalie stared at the blue backpack with alarm. There couldn’t have been more than one change of clothes in there.
Her finances were already tight with little wiggle room for extras.
“Hold on.” Mrs. Todd went to her filing cabinet and pulled out a Visa gift card. “We have a donor that sends a few of these a year for kids who really need it. I’d say Will could use a few extra items.” She held the card in the air. “Here’s two hundred and fifty dollars for clothes and necessities.” She eyed Will. “That doesn’t include toys or video games. Got it?”
“We’ll see.” He rose up to swipe it, but Mrs. Todd was too quick and handed the card to Natalie, who took it and put it straight into her bag.
“Necessities mean necessary,” the social worker said.
Will rolled his eyes. “Duh.”
Mrs. Todd walked them to the door. “Colorado Social Services have been notified of the transfer and will be in touch.”
Natalie wasn’t sure what “be in touch” meant. She knew they’d eventually do a home visit and check on the welfare of her new ward. If it was anything like when she grew up, Will might be in college before they got around to it.
She watched her brother walk to the door. He had the same brown hair and green eyes as she did. It was obviously an inherited trait from their father. Looking at Will was like looking into a mirror that took her back eighteen years. As she was gaining her freedom from the system, poor Will was being born and raised to live in it.
“You ready?” she asked.
He stood tall and stiffened his shoulders. Despite his tough exterior, she could see the uncertainty in his cautious green eyes.
They walked past Mrs. Todd and out the door into the overcast day.
“Take care, Will. Good luck, Natalie.” Mrs. Todd gave them a wave and went back inside.
“What kind of car do you have?” he asked.
“Who said I had a car?” she teased. “Maybe I have a horse. Or … maybe we’re hitchhiking.”
He stopped and narrowed his eyes. “Are you sure you’re my sister? They could have duped you to take me.”
She led him to the parking lot and the beat-up green Subaru she drove.
“Nope, I'm not sure, but they said I was, and I have to believe them. We could take a DNA test, but if you’re Gerald Palmer’s son, then I’m confident we’re related.” She opened the door and climbed behind the steering wheel.
Will stood at the front of the car as if debating to get inside or bolt.
She rolled down the window. “I’m starving. How about In and Out?”
His eyes grew wide, and the tiniest of smiles lifted his lips. He raced to the passenger side and hopped into the front seat.
“Are you rich?”
She laughed so hard she snorted. “No, I barely keep myself above the poverty level.”
“Great, so nothing is going to change.”
She turned to face him. “Listen, Will, I don’t know what your life was like, but I’m guessing it wasn’t all that great.” She heaved a sigh. “All I can promise is a place to live, a full stomach, and an ear when you need one. Living with me isn’t going to go to be rainbows and unicorns, but it keeps you out of the system.” She started the car and backed out of the parking spot. “Let me tell you, you don’t want to be a ward of California. I’ve been there, and it’s not pretty.”
“Why didn’t you grow up with me?” he asked.
She took a left out of the parking lot and drove across the street to In and Out. It was a splurge, but all new experiences should start out right, and a burger and fries seemed perfect.
“Our dad left my mom, and she died a short time later.”
They placed their order and pulled around to the window.
“Were they married?”
She shook her head. “Nope. What about your parents?” She paid for their meal and took the bag. The car filled with the smell of fresh fries and grilled hamburgers. To a twelve-year-old growing boy, it must have smelled like heave
n.
“Same, although my mom didn’t die. She was a stripper and didn’t want a kid. I don't even know her name.” He dug into the bag and took out his meal.
Karma is a bitch. It seemed fitting for Gerald to get saddled with a kid when he did the same to her mom. Walked out one day and never came back.
She dug into the bag and pulled out a few fries. They were a perfect amount of fat and salt to make a girl swoon. “These are so good.” She dipped her hand back into the white paper sack to get a few more. “There isn’t an In and Out where I live, but I hear they’re coming to Denver soon.” She turned onto the street that led to the freeway. If she got on the road now, they could make it most of the way to Colorado that day.
“How far is it to Denver?”
“From home or from here?”
“Both,” Will spoke with his mouth full.
She’d have to correct that bad habit. Bad manners weren’t a character defect and could be changed, but now wasn’t the time.
“We’ve got a twenty-plus hour drive to Aspen Cove. From there, Denver is another couple of hours.” She pulled out her hamburger and unwrapped enough to take a bite.
“So, basically, you live in the middle of nowhere.”
She swallowed. “It’s somewhere. Give it a chance. You might actually like it.”
“Does it have an arcade?”
She turned onto the highway heading north. “No.”
“Skateboard park?”
She shook her head. “No. Do you ride a skateboard?” She could put that on the wishing wall at B’s Bakery and hope someone had one they weren’t using.
“No, just wondering. What does it have?”
Thinking about Aspen Cove made her smile. “It has nice people.”
“Basically, you’re moving me to hell.”
She glanced at him quick enough to see a frown, but she didn’t reply.
They drove the next six hours in silence. When her tank teetered on empty, she pulled into the truck stop and gassed up.
“If you need to go to the restroom, do it now. I’m not a fan of rest stops.”
Will dragged his feet toward the store while she filled up the Subaru. When she finished, she walked inside. In the third aisle, she found Will shoving a candy bar into his pocket.
“Ready?” she asked.
He jumped back and looked around. They walked toward the door and she stopped at the register. Reaching for a pack of gum, she looked at the cashier. “I’ll take this, and my brother has a candy bar in his pocket.” She stared at him. “Put it on the counter so the man can ring us up.”
Will opened and closed his mouth a few times before he tugged the bar of chocolate free.
Once she paid and they were back inside the car she gripped the steering wheel but turned toward him.
“It’s time to lay down some rules. We’re family, and that means I’ve got your back. I saved you from foster care, but I won’t visit you in jail. I don’t know what Gerald allowed or expected, but from this point forward you don’t steal. Got it? We have enough money to live and eat. I can't afford a lawyer. If you want or need something, you ask for it, or work for it.”
He buckled his seatbelt and crossed his arms. “You got any more rules for me?”
“We can make them up as we go. I’ve never been a big sister and have no idea how this family stuff works. I’m flying by the seat of my pants here. Don’t make it harder.”
He growled. “I really am in hell.”
She pulled out of the parking lot and headed northeast. “No, hell is moving from home to home because no one wants you, or their lives are more messed up than yours and they can’t keep you. It’s sleeping three to a bed and eating a meal a day until the social worker comes. It’s being punished so the bruises don’t show. I came for you because I want you to have better.”
“You don’t even know me. I could be a serial killer. Hell, you could be one.”
She laughed. “Statistically, serial killers are middle-aged white men. I think we’re both safe. I know more about you than you think. At twelve you probably have had more adult responsibilities than most adults. You steal what you can’t buy. You’re used to having little but crave something more. Am I close?”
He twisted in his seat and leaned his head against the window. “You’re right about one thing. I want more.”
She reached over and ruffled his hair. “Well, I’m more.”
“How much longer do we have?”
“Forever. We can stop at a motel we can’t afford in order to rest, or we can push through and make the trip on caffeine and adrenaline then crawl into bed when we get home. What do you think?”
He shrugged. “Let’s go home.”
In the early hours of the morning, she pulled into her driveway. The sound of gravel crunching under the car was all she could hear. Her tiny home wasn’t much, but it was home.
Will woke and rubbed the sleep from his eyes. “Are we here?” He leaned forward and looked at the wooden box in front of them.
It was eight feet wide and twenty-five feet long for a whopping two hundred square feet of living space. Basically, she lived in a furnished storage container.
“Yes, this is home—for now.”
There was no way she could live in a shoebox with a growing boy long-term, but this was what she could afford, and it would have to do. Moving wasn’t in the budget. The trip had eaten up her emergency fund. All she had was forty dollars and the gift card to buy Will clothes.
His jaw dropped. “You said this would be more. Where’s the house?”
“This is the house.”
“What the hell, Natalie? This is like living in a cardboard box behind a dumpster.”
“You might be right about the box, but I take offense to the dumpster. Now come inside. I need a few hours of sleep before my shift tomorrow.”
Will grabbed his backpack and followed her into the house. “I suppose it’s better than the place they had me in the last few weeks.” He scanned the room and plopped into the loveseat in the living room. “It was basically a homeless shelter for kids.” He hugged his backpack to his chest. “I walked in there with more, but someone stole my stuff.”
She shrugged off her sweater and hung it on the hook by the door. “How did that feel?”
He eyed her, knowing where she was going with the question. “It felt like shit.”
“Language, mister. You’re twelve. Act like it. As for the theft, it sucks, but maybe it’s karma for all the stuff you’ve stolen.”
“How would you know?”
She pointed to the loft. “I was you nearly two decades ago. Now get to bed. You can take the loft, and I’ll take the couch.” She did that for two reasons. The first being he was too tall for the love seat and the second because he’d have to make it past her to leave.
“What will I do while you’re at work?” He trudged to the ladder and pulled himself up rung by rung.
“You’ll have to come with me until I figure out another plan.”
“I can take care of myself.”
“So you said.” She pulled a blanket from the box next to the couch. It served as a table and storage. “Let’s try something different. How about I take care of you for a while? You be a kid, and I’ll be the grown-up.” The words sounded great. Hopefully, she wouldn’t be another disappointment in Will’s life.
“Grown-up people live in houses.”
“This is a house. It’s efficient. Grow up and deal with it.”
He peeked over the side of the loft and laughed. “You just told me to be a kid.”
“You can start tomorrow.” Exhausted from the trip, she collapsed on the cushions and pulled the blanket over her worn-out body. “Good night, Will. I promise everything is going to be all right.” She turned out the light and prayed she wasn’t lying.
One Hundred Decisions
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Need More Small Town Romance?
An Aspen Cove Romance Series
One Hundred Reasons
One Hundred Heartbeats
One Hundred Wishes
One Hundred Promises
One Hundred Excuses
One Hundred Christmas Kisses
One Hundred Lifetimes
One Hundred Ways
One Hundred Goodbyes
One Hundred Secrets
One Hundred Regrets
One Hundred Choices
One Hundred Decisions
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International bestselling author of more than thirty novels, Kelly Collins writes with the intention of keeping the love alive. Always a romantic, she blends real-life events with her vivid imagination to create characters and stories that lovers of contemporary romance, new adult, and romantic suspense will return to again and again.
Kelly lives in Colorado at the base of the Rocky Mountains with her husband of twenty-seven years, their two dogs, and a bird that hates her. She has three amazing children, whom she loves to pieces.
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One Hundred Choices (An Aspen Cove Novel Book 12) Page 18
