Across the Vanishing Sky (Starlight Grove, #1)(2)

“Because Vincent the douche is the prick of the century.”

She wasn’t wrong there. Vincent had been what I thought was forever. Six years older, wealthy, charismatic—he’d used all three things to charm his way into my pants. But when I ended up pregnant at nineteen because he refused to wear a condom, he’d wanted nothing to do with our baby. Told me, “Get rid of it or I’ll get rid of you. I’m not marrying you just because you’re trying to trap me.”

And I’d seen for the first time who he really was. I’d ended things then and there. Vincent had given me an NDA and an offer of half a million dollars to never reveal the father of my baby. I’d told him to go fuck himself as I ripped up the NDA and then kneed him in the balls as an extra parting gift. But I could never quite bring myself to hate him. Not when he’d given me the best gift I’d ever received.

Owen.

“You’re a way better parent than he could ever be,” I swore. Because Nova was. She was his auntie but more like a second mom than anything else.

“My Bubs is the dopest kid around, and I’m honored to be his cool aunt.”

“The coolest.”

I pulled out my phone, all this talk of Owen breaking the last of my reserve to keep from checking. Zero bars. Damn.

“Brae-Brae…” Nova said in a warning tone. “He’s fine.”

“I know, I just…”

“You just worry anyway because you’re the best mom in the universe.”

“I highly doubt that,” I mumbled. At least one day a week, I felt like a complete failure. More than once, I’d cursed myself for not taking that half-a-million-dollar payout. But it had felt too much like someone stripping my voice from me. And if there was one thing to know about me, it was that I’d never be silenced.

“Facts,” Nova argued. “Never seen anyone work harder to give their kid everything.”

But Nova did, too. She’d given up the life of a young twentysomething to help me raise my little miracle. And I never would’ve been able to do it without her.

“You make that possible,” I whispered.

“Stop trying to make me feel my feelings,” Nova muttered.

Her remark had a laugh breaking free of my throat. Nova might’ve been a yoga devotee, but she was out the second someone tried to make it about feelings. Maybe it was how she’d grown up. Neither of us had come from money, but as strict as my parents had been, they always made sure I had the things I needed. Nova had pretty much raised herself, and I knew there were things she didn’t share about her childhood.

“I love you,” I said with a grin.

Nova sent a mock-glare my way. “Yeah, yeah. You know I have those affectionate feelings toward you and the Bubs, even if I will never say the L-word.”

“Looooooooove you to the moon and back, sister.”

Nova flipped me off but then lifted her pinky to me. I hooked mine around hers, and then each of us kissed our closed fists, the friendship bracelets she’d made us touching. It was the oath we’d created in the third grade at the top of the jungle gym as we vowed to give Johnny Cooperson his comeuppance.

We’d succeeded. I’d distracted him while Nova poured salt in his water bottle. He hadn’t picked on either of us again.

And our oath remained eighteen years later. We’d always have each other’s backs.

We released our grip, and Nova swatted my ass. “Hurry up, lazybones. That massage you booked us later today is calling my name.”

“Making note: Hikes, no. Massages, yes,” I said, laughter in my voice.

“And wine. Wine is a big yes.”

“Good thing I booked us a winery tour tomorrow,” I called as I hurried down the path. We were only about twenty minutes from the trailhead now, if my guesstimate was correct.

“Thank the Bigfoot gods.”

I chuckled as I caught sight of the breathtaking river below through the trees. The May sun sparkled on water that looked too clear to be real. Nothing like the water in the bay where we lived. And then I saw them—the stunning, little, peachy-pink wildflowers peeking out through the trees, leading down the steep bank to the river.

“Look.” I grabbed Nova’s arm without taking my eyes away. “Wildflowers.”

“They’re super pretty. Just like the twenty-five others we’ve seen along the way,” Nova grumbled.

“I want to get a picture,” I said, already slipping off the trail and into the underbrush.

Nova groaned. “You’ve taken at least two hundred already.”

“Last ones. Promise,” I called as I navigated around bushes and through trees, lifting my voice above the roar of the water.

“I’m in danger of getting hangry,” Nova yelled, but I could barely make out her words over the thundering river.

I laughed as I pulled out my phone. No one wanted Nova hangry. It was not a pretty sight.

The roar of the water intensified as I moved farther down the embankment. The sound was deafening but in a beautiful way. It was one of the things I loved most about nature—the power of losing yourself in the sights and sounds, forgetting everything that weighed so heavily on you.

As I moved farther and farther away from the path, I saw an even more elaborate display of flowers closer to the riverbank. I stepped over fallen logs and around scrub brush, and then I was surrounded by blooms.