Free Somewhere Over the Freaking Rainbow (A Young Adult Paranormal Romance) (The Secrets of Somerled) by L.L. Muir Page B

were older, but I always hoped...I hoped that Mickey would have a life-altering experience and come running back. I suppose I hoped for that harder than I realized. I guess I was counting on it.
    “So, eleven years went by and no Mickey. Momma died. So young—she was so young! A girl is never the same after her mother dies, you know?”
    “Yeah. I know. I think a boy is never going to be the same when his grandfather dies. You know?”
    “Yeah. I know.” She seemed to shrink a bit then, as if the guilt of that realization was more that she could face and still get the story out.
    “Go on.”
    “Momma died. Daddy was a mess. Momma had always done the bills and the legal stuff. I was a paralegal by then and offered to take care of things, and when I went through boxes of documents I found a letter, from Mickey, to me.
    “Oh, God!” She started sobbing. “I did the same thing to you that they did to me! But at the time, it felt like I was doing it to him , you know? It didn’t occur to me I was hurting you. You were always so...fine. I never had to worry about you.”
    Little did you know . So much he could tell her, but what good would it do?
    “So, what did Mickey say?”
    “He said he wanted to see his child—he didn’t even know you were a boy. He said since my dad had paid him to leave me, that maybe the old money-grubber would let him see his kid if he refunded some of his money.
    “I don’t know why my mom kept the letter. If she was worried that she might need to contact him sometime, she could’ve just saved his address. But I felt like she was leaving it for me, so I’d know what really happened. I thought she was so devoted to Dad, but maybe she was just pretending to be.
    “Anyway, I got all the paperwork done that needed doing, for her sake, then I packed up our stuff and we left. I left Mickey’s letter on the counter, so he’d know why.”
    She sat there, her face moving while she stared off at a corner of the orange and yellow shag carpet, as if she were reviewing it all again, looking for some detail she might have missed.
    Jamison’s stomach rumbled and she came back from wherever she’d been.
    “Yes, we’re going to eat today. I’ll find us something.” She stood up.
    “And I’ll read this while you’re looking.” He waved the blue envelope and she sat back down.
    “It’s not yours to read, Jamison Shaw.”
    “Oh? I think if you’ve disowned him, that makes him only my relative, and this is from my relative, not yours.”
    “Damn it, Jamie. Hand me that letter!”
    “No. Unless you agree to read it.”
    She stood up and left the room. Soon she was slamming things around in the kitchen, and Jamison had been well-trained to come running, to help clean up or cook or whatever, any time he heard those noises. But not this time.
    He used a small pair of scissors to slice open the seal. It was yellow and crusted with five-year-old spit and glue. Unfolding the blue stationary with lighthouses in the corners, Jamison was disappointed to find the letter very short with large letters taking up space.
    Dear Lori,
    I caught Mickey in Parker’s barn the day after your wedding, in the arms of Parker’s wife. He laughed and offered to leave Colorado for good if I’d loan him the money to do it. I gave him enough to see him to Hell.
    I wanted to spare you a bad marriage, aye? Would you not have done the same?
    I love you. I won’t last long without the sight of you.
    Forgive me.
    Da
    In spite of all the letter said, of the questions answered not to mention the father issues, the letter raised one silly question in Jamison’s mind:
    Where did Skye fit in?

CHAPTER TEN
    Jamison read the letter aloud, following his mother around the kitchen while she slammed things around, pretending not to listen. Finally, when his mother dissolved into tears, he handed her the little blue page and a wad of unused tissue and went to his room. He figured she’d be ready to go to the Recovery Center in