Edges of Gone (The Gone Series Book 2)

by Jessica Gouin

  My eyes tear as Lachlan speaks about my best friend, my sister, with such love and pride. When he first spoke with me about his ideas of starting a shelter, I was blown away. I needed to help him, I wanted to be involved in making Sawyer’s dreams come true.

  Owen turns to me, his expression reflecting the same emotions inside of me. “This is for real?”

  I nod, smiling at my sweet husband. “Yeah, babe.”

  Facing Lachlan once more, Owen sighs. “She would have loved this. I’m sorry she won’t be here to see it.”

  “She’ll be here.” The whispered words tumble from Lachlan’s mouth.

  Sawyer will definitely be a part of this shelter. Every young girl who walks through the door, terrified of what’s growing inside of her, and an unknown future looming in front of her will be Sawyer. Every counselor who teaches those same girls the proper way to take care of a newborn baby will be Sawyer. Every new mother who leaves this temporary home with her infant, confident in her ability to be a mother will be Sawyer.

  Owen claps his hands and rubs them together. “So, tell me the whole plan. I want to know everything.”

  Lachlan walks from the main room into the kitchen toward the back of the building. “The shelter will be able to house up to eight women, with hopes of expansion in the future. The girls will range from sixteen to twenty-four who are either pregnant or have an infant. Counselors, medical staff, and other volunteers will be on site for them. Our goal is to have that mother prepared, educated, and with employment for independent housing for her and her child when she walks out of those doors. There will be a fully operational kitchen for meal lessons. Laundry services. All the basic skills they’ll need. Of course, it will all be offered at no charge to the mother. No one will ever receive a bill for this or have to worry about where to get money to pay for formula or diapers while they’re here.”

  During Lachlan’s speech, we wander around to the various spaces and rooms while he explains his plans and ideas. He’s put a lot thought into this in just the past few weeks. I’m so impressed by him. Sawyer would have been honored. I know Noah will be proud when we tell him what his father’s doing for his momma and for other young girls just like her.

  About thirty minutes later, we’re back at the front entrance. Owen’s completely filled in on Lachlan’s plans.

  “This is unquestionably the most selfless thing I’ve seen someone do in a long time. It really is. I’m blown away, man. You and my sister really were like one person, you know.”

  “I’d like to think that, too. I’m glad you’re down with what’s going to happen here. Sloane and I couldn’t wait to show you this space. We wanted to make sure everything was set in stone first.”

  “When do you think you’ll be ready to open up?”

  Lachlan shoves his hands in his pockets and looks around, rocking on his heels. “Well, this is where your part comes in, mate.”

  Owen glances at me, and I wink at him. “I may have told Lachlan you’re good with your hands. We need a handyman for some construction work around here to turn this place into a functioning shelter. As you saw, the framework’s already here. We thought we’d be able to save some costs by doing most of the labor ourselves.”

  “I’d be honored to be a part of this.”

  Owen brings me in for a hug, and I pull Lachlan in with us. The three of us are going to make great things happen here.

  Pulling back, I wipe the happy tears trickling down my cheeks. My stomach lurches, and I clear my throat, covering my mouth with my hand.

  “You okay, babe?” Owen studies me, cupping my face in his palms. “You’re really warm.”

  “Yeah, I’m fine. Just not feeling that great all of a sudden. Maybe it was something I ate or the excitement or something. I’ll be okay, though.”

  Lachlan tilts his head, squinting at me. “Well. It’s been a long day. Let’s get out of here. I gotta pick up Noah right now anyway. You guys want to come over for pizza and a movie night?”

  Owen drapes his arm around me, smiling. “We’re there. As long as it’s not The Lorax.”

  A few days later, I’m chatting with a client in Revamped about a custom order when Chloe strolls in with a drink tray in hand. I salivate just thinking about her Pumpkin Spice Latte. I’ve had such a craving for them lately. I’m so glad Immy and I were able to talk her into making them a permanent item on the menu.

  I finish taking notes, and my client leaves the shop. Chloe makes her way to the counter and places the tray on the top.

  “For my favorite business neighbor,” she singsongs as she passes me a cup. “Where’s my other favorite girl? She’s working today, right?”

  I smile, motioning toward the backroom where my office is. “Yeah, she’s here. She’s working on her latest piece.”

  Chloe laughs, tucking her salt-and-pepper shoulder-length hair behind her ear. “Wasn’t the whole point of hiring an employee was so you could work on your pieces while she mans the front of the shop?”

  “That was the original idea, yeah. The paint fumes have been giving me a headache these past few days, so we switched. Have you seen her new stuff? She’s almost better than I am. Don’t tell her that, though, it will go straight to her head.” I glance around to make sure there are no customers in the store before I holler, “Immy coffee delivery!”

  Within seconds, the back door flies open and she appears, making Chloe and I both laugh some more. Immy’s so predictable, you’ve got to love her.

  “I thought I smelled you,” she teases Chloe, winking her way.

  Bringing the cup to my lips, I inhale the caffeinated aroma, and my stomach lurches. Automatically, one hand covers my mouth while the other sets the cup on the counter. From the corner of my eye, I see the cup teeter the ledge then fall over, splashing on the wooden floor. I don’t have time to clean the mess. I scurry to the bathroom and heave over the toilet bowl until I have nothing left inside of my stomach.

  “God lord, Sloane. Are you all right, honey?” Chloe rubs my back while Immy stares at me sympathetically, passing me a cup of water.

  “Yeah, I’ve felt a little sick lately. Maybe I caught the flu that’s been going around.”

  It takes both of them to pull me to my feet. I’m utterly exhausted.

  “Why don’t I call Owen, and he can come pick you up? You should be resting at home on your comfy couch with lots of liquids when you’re this sick. Working is only going to make it worse.” Chloe, always another mother figure in my life. I wouldn’t be the woman I am today without the influence these two women have unexpectedly had on me these past few months. I look between the both of them, appreciating their importance in my life. I can count on them for anything and trust them with everything. In this kind of a moment, I need someone I can turn to. A friendly shoulder to lean on. “I don’t think rest will help.”

  Chloe starts to argue with me, but Immy realizes the meaning of my words, and her eyes brighten, her hand flying to her open mouth. “Oh my God! Sloane, are you pregnant?”

  Chloe’s face pales then goes bright pink as she begins to jump up and down, clutching Immy’s hands. “Oh my God! How come you didn’t tell us? You’re going to have a baby!”

  I wave my hands to get them to stop their ridiculous dance. “Because I don’t know for sure. I haven’t been feeling well, and I’m a few days late, but I haven’t taken a test yet. It’s been sitting in the drugstore bag in my bag since yesterday morning.”

  Returning to the front of the store, I greet a customer coming through the door. When everyone moves out of earshot of us, I turn to face Immy and Chloe flanking me.

  “Honey, are you afraid to take the test?”

  Immy props her elbows on the counter, leaning forward with her face in her hands. “I don’t get it. Why would you be afraid? Do you and Owen not want to have children or something?”

  Pulling the stool out, I sit and let out a sigh. “We used to want kids. When Noah was being super cute, or when he’d have a hissy-fi
t, on days when the house was real quiet, or the nights we’d spend tangled in our bed sheets, we want children so badly. The thought of creating another human because we loved each other was sometimes breathtaking. Come on, a tiny Owen running around, melt my heart already. After seeing Sawyer struggle the way she did with Lachlan not being in the picture, we knew when our time came to be parents, it would be amazing. It would be everything. Then, just like much of the rest of our lives, after the night we lost Sawyer, we lost that dream as well. The mention of children even hasn’t come up again. So, I don’t really know where we stand anymore.”

  Chloe tries to nonchalantly wipe a tear away. “My love. I know things have been rocky for the past few months, but trust me, that man still loves you and still wants to be the father of your children. And if you think you’re not ready to be parents yet, well, then you’ll be just like every other couple in the world. No one is ever ready, but that’s what makes it an adventure.”

  Immy walks around the counter, opens the drawer, and takes out my purse.

  “What are you doing with my stuff?”

  She pulls out the drugstore bag. “We’re finding out if this afterschool special is called for or not.”

  Chloe rounds the corner and locks the front door after our only customer leaves.

  With two of my best friends standing outside the bathroom, I remove the test from the package and shake with the memory consuming me.

  We’re perch on the edge of the tub in my pink-and-teal bathroom, waiting for a white stick to determine Sawyer’s future. We both shake in anticipation. Everything was about to change.

  The alarm on my phone goes off.

  It’s time.

  Neither of us moves. Sawyer focuses on me, both of us unwilling to take the two steps to the seashell-shaped sink where a damn white stick awaits.

  I offer to look at the results. Before I can find the words to tell my seventeen-year-old best friend she’s going to be a mother, she jumps up and snatches the test from the sink.

  She shakes the test as though trying to erase the answer. Satisfied with her fate, she shoves the test back into the box, ties up the bag, and leaves the bathroom.

  I stare at myself in the mirror after she’s left and wonder what’s going to happen next.

  Returning to my bedroom, nothing looks the same anymore. The teddy bear my grandmother gave me when I was sick in the hospital as a child still perches on my dresser, but the innocent quality vanishes. My cell rings on my nightstand, and, from my position, I see Owen’s name. However, the butterflies that tend to stir by the thought of him fall flightless to the pit of my stomach.

  My bed isn’t even as comfortable as I remembered.

  When Sawyer enters my room again, she’s not just my best friend anymore. She’s a young and scared mother-to-be.

  She lies next to me on the bed, the silence driving me mad. I ask her what she plans to do, and her response makes me want to vomit.

  She says she’s getting it taken care of in the morning because she has no other choice.

  I hug her so hard, forcing all of my strength into her, and tell her to make the decision with Lachlan because they’re in it together.

  Having been part of Noah’s life since his birth, I can’t image a world where he doesn’t exist. It was so close to being a reality that it takes my breath away.

  No matter what the outcome of this test is, Owen will be a part of the result. He’ll know everything either way this goes. I won’t allow myself to travel down the same road Sawyer did. No secrets. That’s what hurts the people you love the most. Open and honest is the only way we’ll survive.

  Two light taps on the door grab my attention.

  “Y’all can come in.”

  Immy and Chloe lurk in the doorway, their best supportive facial expressions plastered on their anxious faces.

  “Did you pee on it?” Immy whispers as she eyes the test I placed upside down on the back of the toilet lid.

  “It’s peed on. I just needed a minute before I look at the result.”

  Immy takes one of my hands, and Chloe takes the other, leaning into me. “We’ll look together.”

  I nod and take in a deep breath. “Together.”

  Immy lets go of my hand, and I reach over to pick up my future, facing it away from us.

  “One…two…three.”

  TWENTY-SIX

  Owen

  “Matthews!”

  Moving my weight to one side, I peer past the opened hood of the truck I’m working on to see Adam standing in the middle of the shop, arms crossed. He’s pissed, and I mentally scan through the last few hours, but I can’t think of anything that would have set him off.

  “My office. Now.”

  I push off the car, mumbling a cuss word. Grabbing a rag, I wipe off my hands then toss it back on my bench.

  “What’d ya do now, Matthews?” Tank probes.

  I’ve worked with him for a while, almost since the beginning, and I still don’t know his real name. We all call him Tank, well, because he’s a fucking tank.

  I shrug as I pass him. “Don’t know, man.”

  “He looks pretty pissed.”

  “Yeah, that doesn’t help, asshole.”

  “Fuck, just glad it’s you, not me. I need this job.”

  I glare at him when I reach the end of the shop, and he winks at me and smiles, so I flip him off.

  The noise instantly reduces when the door behind me closes. I cross the cashier area, nodding a hello to Breanne, Adam’s niece who does the paperwork, and head to my boss’s office.

  Once inside, he motions to the chair in front of his desk then passes me to close the door.

  “Thanks for coming so quickly.” He marches back to his desk and sits in his leather chair.

  “Yeah, well, it didn’t really feel like I had much choice in the matter.”

  He studies me while tilting his head to the side, then flicks lint off his shirt.

  “The fuck, Adam? You gonna tell me why you pulled me off a job to watch you stare at me?”

  He leans forward, placing his elbows on the desk, tenting his fingers. “How long you’ve been here, man?”

  “Fuck if I know, a while?”

  “A while? Okay, we’ll go with that half-ass answer. Well, in that time, I think I’ve been pretty good to you, right?”

  I scratch my head, the hair growing back in not as long as it was before I cut it, but it’s getting there. “Yeah, you’re the boss of the year. Did I forget your birthday or something?”

  “I’d lose the attitude if I were you.”

  Adam is rarely this serious with me or anyone else, and my stomach knots at the way he keeps glaring at me. “What’s going on? Just tell me why you called me in here ’cause you’re freaking me out.”

  “You need to learn to keep your cool.” He pushes back, reaching down to open a drawer at the side of his desk. “My new Assistant Service Manager can’t act like an ass, you know.”

  He places a bottle of whiskey in front of me then two glasses. I can’t help smiling back at his goofy grin.

  “What are you talking about? Assistant Service Manager?”

  He twists the lid until it comes off the bottle then he pours a single shot in each cup. “Yep. The wife’s been nagging at me to loosen my workload with the baby at home now, and I thought if there were another one of me, then I’d have more time with my family. Now, if I were to ask myself, who would make a great second Adam, only one guy would qualify for the position.”

  He passes me a glass, and we both stand to clink a salute before tossing back the burning liquid.

  “If you accept, of course. There will be a raise obviously, and a bit more responsibility. You can keep the hours, though. I’ll make sure of that.”

  “Hell yeah, I accept, man.” Sloane’s going to be fucking thrilled when I tell her this good news. She was so relieved when I started working here again. I’m going to make that woman damn proud to be my wife yet.

  Aft
er one more shot, Adam nods at the door. “All right, get back to work before we drink this whole bottle. We’ll talk details tomorrow. I’ll tell the rest of the techs in a few days once we figure the responsibilities out.”

  I reach over to shake his hand. “I appreciate the trust you got in me, man. Thanks for not giving up when it would have been easier to kick me to the road.”

  “Of course, Owen. You’re like a brother to me.”

  A brother. It’s good to know I can still be a brother to someone. Adam and Lachlan, both of them are my brothers.

  The noise from the shop hits me when I open the door to return to the truck I’ve been working on all morning.

  Tank saunters my way after a few minutes. “What’d the principal call you to the office for?”

  “Not much, man. Just wanted to tell me you were getting fired soon. Not sure when, though.”

  “Fuck off. Really?”

  I laugh and shake my head. “No, ya dickweed. Get outta here.”

  “That was low, man. That was low.”

  I chuckle to myself and try to think of the best way to tell my wife about my new promotion when I get home tonight.

  Finally, quitting time made an appearance, and I could not be happier. I stop at the store to get a bottle of wine for tonight so we can celebrate. I hate the stuff, but Sloane loves this kind, and I’d do just about anything in the world to put a smile on that woman’s face.

  When I pull into the driveway, the lights are on inside the home, and it instantly fills me with comfort, knowing I still have my wife to come home to.

  The aroma of dinner cooking beckons when I open the front door. I place the bottle on the table and untie my work boots, kicking them into the foyer closet.