Free What Love Sounds Like by Alissa Callen Page A

sorry.’
    ‘Don’t be. You can’t miss what you never had.’
    She knew she should return the milk bottle into the fridge, but Kade’s matter-of-fact words held her still, words that didn’t match the loss gleaming in his shadowed eyes.
    ‘Then it’s nice that you had your grandmother.’
    ‘I didn’t exactly have her either. I only visited Berrilea…’ he stared over Mia’s shoulder, ‘once when she was alive.’
    ‘Once?’
    ‘Yes. It was for my ninth birthday. For two weeks I stayed and listened to stories about my mother. I remember how old I was because it was the first and last time I ever had a birthday cake.’
    Pain trickled through her. Pain for this grown man who’d only ever had shares not toys. Who had no friends, no treats and only ever had one birthday cake. ‘You didn’t ever come back?’
    ‘Not as a child.’ His tone grew brusque. ‘My father didn’t believe in wasting time on the past and he and my grandmother didn’t exactly see eye-to-eye. Even being my mother’s mother, she didn’t have any legal right to see me and my father hired fancy lawyers to make sure that any petition she made to the courts failed.’
    Mia headed to the fridge to hide the sympathy she knew would be shining in her eyes. She wasn’t the only person whose childhood hadn’t been an idyllic one. But just because both her and Kade’s fathers possessed a skewed view of the world wasn’t any reason to remain in the dimly lit kitchen longer than she had to.
    She opened the door, making sure Kade wasn’t again behind her, and settled the milk onto the top shelf. ‘Did you ever see your grandmother again away from Berrilea?’
    ‘No.’
    His clipped answer told Mia more than if she was actually looking at him. Despite Kade believing the past was the past, the hurt of a motherless boy denied time with his grandmother resonated in his reply.
    She slowly turned. ‘I’m sorry you weren’t able to see your grandmother again. I’m sure she’d be very happy you’re here now. Especially when you’ve brought her great-granddaughter to Berrilea.’
    ‘Technically, Tilly isn’t her granddaughter. My brother and I had different mothers.’
    Kade bent to rummage through a drawer. Mia lost sight of his expression but had no trouble discerning the brittleness of his voice as he continued to speak. ‘I didn’t even know my younger half-brother had married, let alone had a child, until five weeks ago.’
    She placed her mug in the microwave and watched the china go around and around on the carousel. Her frustration at Kade’s ten million dollar comment returned. ‘Unfortunately that’s what happens when money is put before family.’
    ‘Money has nothing to do with why I lost touch with Brad.’ The noise of drawers opening and closing punctuated Kade’s words.
    The microwave beeped and Mia removed her milk. She didn’t know Brad but she’d learned enough from Tilly’s stories to know he’d been an involved and present father. The making of money hadn’t kept him from his family. But it did keep Kade from his. She pressed the microwave door shut with a loud click. Now would be a good time to leave before their conversation deteriorated any further. ‘It’s late,’ she said. ‘I’ll leave you in peace.’
    Kade straightened to look at her. ‘I’m not like your father.’
    She gave a non-committal shrug and braved a sip of her too-hot milk. A scalded mouth was a small price to pay for not having to give a direct answer. Kade could construct pretty sentences all he wanted but his actions gleamed brighter than every shiny word. In the past three days, he’d seen Tilly twice.
    ‘I’m not, Mia.’
    She chose her words carefully. ‘Sure, you mightn’t be an exact carbon-copy. But even you must admit there are similarities. For one, you both live to work.’
    ‘I’m not like Langford in any way. Everything I do is to help Tilly. That’s why I contacted Dr. Sheldon. That’s why I’m here in the