“Reese,” I touch her arm. “I’m fine, go back inside. I’ll just go freshen up.”
“I’m coming with you,” she replies. Her expression goes from angry, and directed at Fletch, to worried, and directed at me. She huffs, and gathers the million layers of tulle floating around her, and starts walking. Fletch tries to grab my arm, but Benji stops him. “The fuck?” He looks irate.
“She ain’t your concern no more, man,” Benji tells him. “Go back to your date.” He spits the word out like it’s something foul, and if I didn’t have puke-breath, I’d kiss him. Benji is everything I wish my biological brothers were, and in some weird way, we’ve become close. He became just as protective as Reese did when Fletch broke things off. And so did Thorin. Needless to say, it’s been complicated, when Reese wanted me about having a fling with Fletch, I should have listened.
“Mya, let me come with you.” Fletch stares at me, his eyes pleading. If I look at him too long, I’ll cave, because being the stupid organ that it is, my heart still skitters when he’s close. Useless thing, I tell you. Fucking heart.
“Benji’s right,” I tell him. “Go back to your date.” I give him my back, and follow Reese to my house. An arm wraps around my shoulder, and when I glance to the side, I see it’s Maggie.
“How far along are you?” She whispers. Reese is too busy huffing and puffing a few steps ahead to hear.
“Um,” I bite my lip, and try not to look shamefaced. Maggie doesn’t have a judgmental bone in her body, but I’m so used to being judged by my own flesh and blood that I expect her to do the same. “I’m not sure, ten weeks I think.” One of the fancy digital sticks I pee’d on said ‘ten weeks’, but who knows how accurate that is. I still have to make an appointment with a doctor, but I’m going to wait until Reese and Thorin go on their honeymoon. Keeping this from her is hard enough, but I don’t want to spoil her wedding or her honeymoon by dropping this bombshell. Fletch and I have caused enough drama, and the last thing Reese needs to be worried about is me. Reese flings my door open, and immediately goes to the kitchen for a washcloth. She’s mumbling incoherently, probably cursing Fletch. I should be doing the same, but I did that for a solid week after he called off whatever we were doing, and then moved on. Sure, I’m nursing a broken heart, but it’s still beating, and I’ve been too busy to mope, anyway. I didn’t even flinch when he showed up with a date, so go me!
“Do you have some ginger ale?” Maggie asks, except this time Reese hears us. She spins, her gown billowing at her feet. “It helps with nausea,” Maggie adds quickly. Reese knows this. Everyone knows this.
“Are you—”
“No,” I cut her off, answering way too fast. “Definitely not.”
She narrows her eyes. “Why don’t I believe you?”
The thing about true best friends? They know your tells, and they know when you’re lying.
“I…”
Reese’s face goes red. “I’m going to fucking kill him!” She screams, stomping her way back out the door. I’d run after her, but my stomach churns for a whole other reason.
Fletch is about to find out, along with everyone else, that he’s going to be a dad.
And I’m going to hell in a hand basket.
Dear Reader
It’s been a while since I last did this, and if I’m being completely honest, it’s scary AF. I took some much needed time off to focus on my studies, and FINALLY graduated with my Publishing degree in April. But round about mid-January, Reese sand Thorin started talking to me. It was exhilarating, and frightening all at once because my mind had been so focused on academics, and dealing with unimaginable grief, that my characters pretty much went into hiding. You see, at the end of 2017, I suffered a mental break, the worst I’d ever experienced, and after Dear Delilah failed, I found myself at a cross-roads: Focus on writing, and salvaging my career, or focusing on school, getting my degree, and becoming a mentally healthier person. Naturally, I went with the latter. But, as with all things in life, it wasn’t that simple. In May 2018, I got a phone call. My uncle had died. Not some distant uncle I didn’t have a relationship with, but someone who’d always played a very prominent role in my life. At that stage, my family was a real mess. I wasn’t on speaking terms with many of my relatives, part of it was my choice, and part of it was because I believed (I still do) that in some way, I was being punished for what my family think my dad has done wrong. Whatever mistakes he made were mine too, just because I’m his daughter. This is a heavy burden for anyone to carry, and just when I thought I’d moved past it, I got that call. Of course, my mom (who’s been divorced from my dad, and essentially his family, for 24 years this year) and I dropped everything, and drove 8 hours to the middle of nowhere to support my family, and to say goodbye to my uncle. Not only was I grieving, but I also had to deal with the fact that my dad was not welcome at his own brother’s memorial service. Nobody knows what I had to face when the memorial service was over, the kind of vitriol that was spewed at me because my dad was told he wasn’t welcome. People asked me, “So, how you are you related to Andy?” and when I told them he’s my dad’s older brother, their response was the same: “Oh, you’re the other brother’s daughter.” It broke my heart. However difficult, I respected my family’s decision to exclude my dad, and with my mom and stepdad’s help, I pushed through. This all happened around the time I was starting exam preparation in my final year, and I honestly didn’t think I was going to make it. I thought for sure I was going to flunk, and have to take another year to get my degree. But, by the grace of God, and some divine miracle, it turned out to be my best academic year EVER. And, things between me and my family got better, too. I started speaking to my cousins again, who had always been like my siblings, and life, still chaotic, became easier. Then, in December, a day after I got my final exam result, and learned I’d passed everything, my grandfather passed away. He’d been ill for a while, and the night before, I was chatting to my Godfather (my dad’s youngest brother), and just said, “I just wish Oupa would let go, so he can have peace.” 5 hours later, he had a heart attack, and got his Angel wings. His death hit me the hardest because despite the many issues he had with my dad, he ALWAYS loved me for me, he never treated me any differently. I was his ‘Angel Eyes’, and to this day, I look at photos of him, and cry. After his death, I vowed to put 2018 behind me because it truly sucked ass. It was awful, and hard, and so emotionally, and mentally taxing, I have no fucking clue how I got through it. But I did. And then 2019 showed up, and bitch slapped me. My dad had a heart attack, and regardless of who people think he is, or what they think of him, he is still my dad, and I was scared. He drives me crazy in every way, makes me lose my shit A LOT, but I’m a Daddy’s girl, always have been. The thought of losing him terrified me because I know what my cousins went through when my uncle died. Before he was formally admitted to a State hospital, he sat me down, and said, “Tam, I don’t have a Will, so if I don’t make it…” Well, you can imagine how well THAT conversation went, and the first night my stepmom and I left him in the shithole that is a State hospital, I mentally prepared myself for my dad’s death. I convinced myself to be ready because there was no way he was going to make it, especially not where we left him. I also had no one other than my mom and stepdad for support, I didn’t know if I could reach out to my own flesh and blood because they no longer have a relationship with my dad. My mom persuaded me to post a message in our ‘family’ group on WhatsApp, just to let everyone know, and you know what? My family—my cousins who’d lost their dad, my aunt who’d lost her husband—showed up FOR ME. They sent me messages every week, made sure I was doing okay, asked about my dad. I was so surprised, and so grateful. He spent a month in hospital, and thankfully, didn’t need any kind of surgery. He was sent home, instructed to eat healthier, take his medication, exercise, and manage his stress better. It was the most stressful month of 2019. And then, on April 25th, my sweet grandmother got her wings. She slipped into a coma after struggling with Al
zheimer’s and Dementia for quite some time, and when my Godfather called my mom, we rushed to the care facility because we knew she wasn’t going to make it through the night. Within 5 minutes of our arrival, and after I kissed her forehead one last time, told her I loved her, she drew her last breath. I was told not to go, that I shouldn’t have to remember her that way, but I am so grateful to have had the opportunity that my cousins didn’t - I could tell her I loved her one more time. While I was dealing with having my dad in hospital, I wasn’t only writing every day (something that took getting used to after 18 months of not doing it), but I was freelancing, too. I was (still am) going to bed at 2 am every morning after plugging out between 3000 and 4000 words a night, and despite the depression I knew was knocking on my door, I kept going until Under The Same Sky was finished. And you guys, I’m so proud of this book, not because I LOVE the story and the characters, but because I pushed through some really tough times, to get to the end. I SHOWED UP. And I will keep showing up EVERY SINGLE DAY if it means I can do what I love. This book got me through my grief, it helped my stay focused during my depression, and it reminds me that what I want out of THIS life, is so damn worth the hard work, and the tears, and the sweat. So, I hope you love these characters, and their story, because they were borne of my grief, and my loss, and my pain and my struggle. Reese is me, in every way. And Thorin? Well, he’s a sexy rockstar who fucked up, and made it right.
Thank you for taking a chance on me. Thank you for taking a chance on these characters.
Lots of love,
Tamsyn
About The Author
Tamsyn is a 28 year old bestselling author, editor and publishing graduate. When she’s not reading, writing, or editing, she’s binge-watching one of her favorite shows on Netflix, and spending time with her family and three furbabies.
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Under The Same Sky (Horseshoe Bay Book 1) Page 25