Free CUL-DE-SAC (On The Edge Book 1) by M.E. YILDIRIM Page A

cynical.”
“Try modeling and we will see if it won’t turn you cynical. Not all of us
believe in happily ever after. More to the point… it is not meant for
everyone.” Chloé told her and Catalina said nothing because she found no
argument that could refute her friend’s theory.

 
    ***
     
    Persistence was the key to everything in
life, the only path she knew how to walk on, Catalina repeated to herself the
same afternoon. It wasn’t something she had ever questioned, but when she found
herself staring at an old, weathered picture she thought that maybe this one
time she should have just let it all go.
    Her fingers twitched convulsively at the
mere idea, threatening the precious photography, already touched by unforgiving
time.
    She had her mother’s coloring, she marveled
for a thousandth time, surprised and delighted anew. No matter how many times
she had looked at the image of her parents before, each time felt like a gift being
unwrapped all over again.
    A gift with a bitter undertone to it,
considering that was all that was left after people who were long gone from
this world.
    Catalina knew she owed the stubborn line of
her jaw to her father and was grateful for it, even if it had landed her in
trouble more times than not. If she was being perfectly honest, she was proud
of it each and every single time because in those moments she shared yet
another special bond with her father.
    A bond which didn’t die with him on that
horrendous night.
    A bond that would live within her as long
as she breathed herself.
    These two people smiling at her from the
picture had brought her to life, yet it was getting harder and harder to
remember either one of them along with the love she had for them.
    Cat closed her eyes, fighting to recall the
smallest reminiscence, a touch, a scent, but her memory denied her even this
substitute of comfort in a day she needed it more than usual.
    Perhaps it was silly to be so broken up
about the camera but she couldn’t shake it off. The senselessness behind Xan’s
act of destroying it felt even worse than the damage itself now.
    The camera was her charm, her memento, the
last thread connecting her to the man who was her father. She could swear that
each time she used the Canon, it felt as if he were next to her, keeping watch
and ward over his daughter.
    Cat liked to believe that even if he hadn’t
approved of all of her choices, he still would have respected her enough to
support them.
    Support her.
    Instead of undermining her every step as
was her grandmother’s way. Catalina knew that Florence didn’t have bad intentions;
it was all a matter of Cat wanting to walk her own path. A path that was
nowhere near what the other woman had envisioned for her.
    Catalina had spent many years trying to
make her father’s mother happy until she understood it was an impossible feat.
No matter her efforts, Florence had always only pushed for more, not leaving
her even an inch of space to be her own person.
    At times it was really hard to believe the
woman gave life to someone as independent and strong-willed as Matthew Bennett.
    But even he bent on several occasions,
choosing a career in politics over going after his dreams of becoming a
photographer. Perhaps that was one of the reasons why he tried so hard to
encourage his only child to do what he didn’t follow through on.
    Cat often wondered if she hadn’t taken his
advice to heart too strongly.
    She gazed down at the photographs of her
parents again. Now all she was left with were those pictures, a few stories and
her mother’s diary from the time she was carrying Catalina under her heart.
    But the journal felt too intimate for her
daughter’s eyes. It was hard to read those pages filled with the endless love
Naomi felt toward Matthew Bennett and her unconditional affection for her
unborn child. Uncovering each paragraph felt like sacrilege, making her focus
more on guilt rather than the words alone.
    How much different would everything