Page 60 of Timid (Lark Cove 2)

When I finally learned to fight well enough to land him on his ass, I let him win instead. I stroked the asshole’s ego and put up with the lack of food and four kids per bedroom all because I couldn’t risk getting thrown out of their house and sent away from Hazel and Thea.

“I was sitting at the table doing my homework when Thea came into the kitchen at the orphanage,” I told Willa. “I recognized her from school, but we’d never talked before. She hugged Hazel, got out her own schoolwork and sat next to me until dinner. Then I split my Snickers with her. We’ve been friends ever since.”

Willa gave me a small smile. “I’m glad you found them.”

“Me too.” I squeezed her hand.

They were my only family.

Hazel had been the person who made sure my homework was done. She’d been the one to feed me when I was hungry. If not for her and that orphanage, who knew where I’d be? Jail, probably.

Willa’s face turned to the side window and she watched the lake through the trees as they streaked past. Her mood darkened, changing the atmosphere in the truck. The air got heavy, weighing down on my shoulders as my heart beat even louder.

I shouldn’t have shared all that. What was wrong with me? My history was too serious for a first date.

Not ten minutes from town and I was fucking this up already.

Willa wiggled her fingers and I let go of her hand. It killed me that she needed some space.

I opened my mouth to apologize but stopped when Willa turned and flipped up the console. Then she unbuckled her seat belt and slid into the middle seat.

My arm automatically went behind her shoulders as she dove into my side. One of her arms wrapped around my waist and the other slipped behind my back.

Then she hugged me.

“I’m sorry,” she whispered.

I dropped my cheek to the top of her hair. “It’s okay. It all worked out.”

Somehow, her arms got tighter.

“As much as I like this, I don’t want you unbuckled.”

“One more second.” She squeezed me again, then slipped her arms free.

I figured she’d slide back to the passenger seat, but she didn’t. She just let me go and dug out the lap belt that had fallen between the seats. She strapped it on and smiled before looking back down the road.

This bench seat? It was my new favorite feature of my truck. Thank god I hadn’t gone for buckets.

The heavy air disappeared and I relaxed into my seat. The smell of Willa’s coconut-and-vanilla hair infused the cab, smelling far better than the blue tree freshener I’d tucked under the backseat.

With every mile, I felt lighter. Years of baggage got smaller and smaller in my rearview mirror. Unloading my past to Willa had been freeing. And though my past had been hard, I couldn’t regret it. That road had led me here, to Lark Cove and to her.

“Can I ask you something?” she asked.

“Sure.” My hand went to her knee.

“Do you ever think about finding your mom?”

“No,” I said immediately. “She’s dead to me.”

“Okay.” Just like before, I waited. But she said nothing.

“That’s it?”

She giggled again. “Yeah. That’s it.”

“You’re not going to try and convince me otherwise? Both Thea and Hazel think it would be good to find out where she’d disappeared to all those years ago. They think it will give me closure.”