Tangled Paths
Page 33
Someone was running up behind her when the truck screeched away. Bracing herself, she heard the footsteps coming closer, and she prayed it wasn’t another guy attempting to grope her on the street.
“Dani, why didn’t you wait for me? I thought we were going to walk home together.” Her younger sister, Leah, caught up and met her pace, jutting her chin at the runaway truck. “I don’t like you being alone, I hate those jerks.”
She rushed up to get in front of Dani, concern overflowing in her eyes. “Look at me. Those guys are nobodies. They have no control of your happiness.” Tilting her head, she placed her hand on Dani’s shoulder. “You need to talk to someone about this. This is stupid.”
Angry tears fell from Dani’s eyes as she balled up her fist to her sides. “Yeah, and who the hell am I going to talk to about it, huh? I let Matt Heller take me behind the bleachers. I knew what he wanted, and I gave it to him on a fucking silver platter.”
Leah furrowed her eyebrows. “Dani, don’t do that. It doesn’t matter what you did or didn’t do with him.” She pointed down the street. “I’m talking about the pendejos like the ones in the truck, bugging the crap out of you. It’s not okay.” Her little sister had been concerned ever since Dani told her what had happened.
Dani stuck her foot out as tears began to fall. “Leah, if I tell anyone who could actually do something, it will get back to Mami and Papi. Can you imagine their disappointment?” She shook her head as she wiped under her eyes with the back of her hand. “No way. I’m not going to do it. I made the choice. Now I have to live with the consequences.”
Resigned, as she swiped her own tears away, Leah blew out a breath, then looked at Dani.
She has to know I’m right. Dani pleaded with her eyes.
Rubbing her hand up and down Dani’s arm, Leah asked, “What can I do to help you?”
Her voice was small when she answered, “Just be there for me. It will die down sooner or later. It has to.” The weak smile she offered probably wasn’t very convincing. “Now let’s hurry home so we can see Papi before he goes to work.” They began to walk toward home again.
Their father had worked the night shift on the police force for as long as Dani could remember. She was so proud of him, and it would break her heart if he ever found out about what she’d done.
Dani pursed her lips. “You know I’m his favorite daughter, right?”
Leah giggled, “Yeah, that’s what he tells us.”
The girl’s walked another few blocks before they ended up in front of their house. It had the same red clay roof tiles as the other homes in the neighborhood, but theirs was the only yellow house on the block.
Stepping onto the red painted concrete porch, Dani turned and hugged Leah. “Thank you for being the best sister.”
They exchanged smiles, then entered through the front door.
Dani yelled out, “We’re home.” They dropped their backpacks by the couch where they would be doing their homework later while watching their favorite TV show.
The girl’s father appeared in the dining room, wearing an apron that displayed a soccer team’s logo. His face lit up when he greeted his ‘favorite’ daughters. “Hola, mis hijas favoritas. How was your day?”
He’d always insisted on primarily speaking Spanish to his daughters with just a little English sprinkled in here and there.
The girl’s gave their traditional hugs and kisses on the cheek. Like most American-raised children of Spanish decent, Dani answered her father’s question in English. “Fine, Papi.” Her eyes and smile widened when the aroma from the kitchen hit her. “Are those pupusas I smell?”
Suddenly, it didn’t matter what kind of day she had. Coming home to her father’s cooking could brighten up any crappy day. Today’s fair of thick corn tortillas filled with some kind of yummy goodness was the best she could ask for.
“Si, pupusas de queso y Frijoles Refritos,” he proudly offered, knowing cheese and refried bean pupusas were her first picks every time.
Yeah, I’m definitely the favorite daughter.
“What a dork. Look at that guy. He’s like two feet shorter than her.” Elena rolled her eyes, pointing to the TV as she, Dani, and Leah watched their favorite show, Freaks and Geeks.
Smacking her sister’s thigh, Leah said, “You’re so mean. Look how cute he is. He’s so happy that the girl of his dreams is dancing with him.” Leah looked dreamily at the TV.
Dani laughed.
“Hey, did you see Mami getting all hot and heavy with Papi at the front door before he left for work?” Dani wiggled her eyebrows. She loved watching how happy her parents were together and prayed she would have a love like theirs one day.
Looking up from her homework, Leah grimaced. “Ewww, que osco. I don’t want to hear about our parents making out.”
Elena huffed, “You are so immature, Leah. Mami and Papi are very romantic. You’ll see one day.” Elena peered at her sister from the corner of her eyes. “When you finally grow some boobs, that is.” Elena started laughing her ass off.
Leah gasped and threw her homework, then pounced on her.
Dani moved her homework to the side and got up, shaking her head. “Ay-ay-ay, you guys are always bagging on each other.” She made her way into the kitchen, pouring herself a glass of orchata. She took a big gulp of the cinnamon rice milk when the doorbell rang.
Picking up her glass, she peeked around the corner and saw her mom answer it. The door wasn’t open wide enough to see who it was, but she could see her mom, who’d finally gotten out of her work hospital scrubs.
“Hey, Sal. What’s up?” Her mom asked as Dani took another drink and looked over at the TV.
A news report started. “Live breaking news, I’m Christina Gonzalez standing outside of a home in Alhambra where a domestic dispute was reported. When responding officers attempted to make an arrest several hours ago, the suspect opened fire, fatally killing one officer before being shot and killed himself…”
Blood pounded in Dani’s ears and everything seemed to go in slow motion as she scanned the room. Frozen, Leah and Elena’s eyes focused on the entryway before they both jumped and ran toward the front door.
Dani blinked hard, turning in time to see her mother collapse into her father’s partner’s arms, wailing.
It hit her all at once as the glass slipped out of her trembling hand, shattering on the floor into a million pieces, just like her world was about to.
Her life would never be the same.
“Papi?”
Find it Here
A past that haunts can be laid to rest through the act of forgiveness, even if the person you forgive is yourself.
Abby Sullivan cherishes the life she is creating for herself in her hometown of Santa Barbara, California. She adores her best friend and supportive family. Her job as a kindergarten teacher offers her life hope and purpose. She is very talented at many things, especially hiding the pain of her past. That is until her world collides with Caleb Hunter’s, giving them both a lesson in forgiveness and love.
A life changing love is cruelly snatched by sickness and death. A person must be willing to give love, the greatest gift of all, to receive love.
A successful writer, Caleb is living life day-to-day. Giving refuge to his sad and lonely heart since his wife's sudden death from cervical cancer, his primary focus becomes honoring her memory by rearing their five-year-old daughter, Madison. Yet, when Madison Hunter walks into Miss Abby’s kindergarten class, everything changes for all three of them.
With a little nudge from a loving mother-in-law who has everyone’s best interest at heart, anything is possible, especially when forgiveness and love gift even more blessings than ever imaginable.
Find it Here
What’s a girl to do when the one person she’s been forewarned about is the only one that her heart desires?
Leah Valdez is a sassy, intelligent, hard-working woman whose beauty shines from both inside and out. Friends and family have always co
me first, but it's time for her to start thinking about her own future.
Stefen Hunter is a rich, charming, sexy playboy. With seemingly no effort on his part, countless women flock to him. That is, until he meets Leah. He can’t understand why it’s so difficult to win her over or what it is about her that intrigues him so much.
When an unfortunate event intertwines their lives, Leah finds herself in a war between her thoughts and desires. To forgive, and ultimately trust, Stefen, she will have to put her heart on the line. After what he’s put her through, she’s not sure she’s willing to do that.
As compassion meets resistance, will Stefen be able to step out of his comfort zone and accept that he can become the redeemed man worthy of Leah’s love? Is Stefen and Leah’s connection strong enough to withstand An Exceptional Twist?
Countless people helped in so many different ways to get each of my books published. I’m grateful for every person that walked beside me during this journey.
There is one women in particular that I need to give an extra special thanks to. My critique partner and friend, T. I cannot ever say enough about the help you give to me. You pull me out of slumps, inspire me to keep going and give tons of kick ass advice on where to take the story when I get stuck. I also want to thank your patient family for allowing you to spend so much time with me each day. Between the PMs, the phone calls and the Google docs, I seriously have no idea how you get anything else done. You are an amazing woman and I’m so blessed to have you in my life.
Megan Hand is the incredibly gifted editor I have the privilege of working with. Once my raw material hits her email, she sprinkles some magic fairy dust and (after) I get over the shock of all the red marks sent back to me (insert smiley face and a lol), I realize just how much I have to learn. Megan, I’m so thankful that you have the patience to teach me. Not only am I grateful for your mad skills that grace my books, but I’m beyond fortunate to have you as a friend.
Thanks to my beta chicas, Julie, Debi, Elle, Christina and Nikki who always seem to catch the little things that make a huge difference in the end. Luv you ladies!!
Thank you Karrie and Kathy for doing one final read through of Bri and Josh’s story so I could publish this book with minimal errors. I adore you!!!
I have the privilege of being surrounded by so many amazing author friends who’ve been there for me during the highs and lows. You guys celebrate with me when I feel like I’m on cloud nine and encourage me to keep going when I want to throw it all out of the window. I am indebted to you <3 Audrey, Mel Anne, Melanie, Jaime, Julie, Nyrae, Lisa, Jessi, Erika, Nacole, Elaine, Ana, Jennifer, Anne and Dani. I’m missing a million more but I’m thankful to ALL of you!
Bloggers…I love you!!! Hardest working people ever! I’m not going to name names on here because seriously, there are so many of you that I adore, I would feel awful if I left a name out. Like I said in my other books, I want to shout from the rooftops, “I love bloggers!!!”
Now how about that cover? Pure gorgeousness!!! Kelsey (photographer), Tessi & Storm (models) make fantastic team.
Kari from Cover to Cover Designs spent hours and hours making this cover shine. Thank you for all of your patience with me Kari!!
Thank you Crystal at Little House of Edits for using your eagle eyes as you did the final proofread.
Thanks to Nadege at Inkstain Interior Book Designing for using her formatting magic to beautify the interior of this book.
One final shout out to my girls Nikki and Christina. Not only do they make me laugh every day, but they’ve been with me since way before I started to write. They’ve encouraged me to keep going while in the middle of difficult personal events, beta read for me and more recently, keep me focused and on task as my assistants at author event signings. I had to do one signing without them this year and if it hadn’t been for the fact that I was sandwiched between other author friends, I don’t think I would have functioned at all. Thank you my friends!!! I LUVZ ya hard core <3 <3 <3
And…thank you most of all to my family and friends who have put up with me as I worked on this book. When I finally focus, I tend to not realize that there is a world going on around me. I’m blessed that the people closest to me extend extra grace when that happens.
Kimi grew up in the San Gabriel Valley (mostly Alhambra) and still lives in Southern California. She's been married to her high-school sweetheart and prom date for over 20 years and they have two hilarious boys.
When she's not reading or writing, Kimi spends her time in the kitchen trying to come up with vegan meals that don't taste like cardboard. Her family might disagree with this however.
Although she doesn't loyally follow or have favorite teams/athletes, Kimi loves a good hockey game or motorcross/x-treme sports event.
Volunteering is extremely important to her and she and her family work with several local non-profit organizations. A portion of her sales will always go to charity.
Not a Bad Thing (Book theme song), My Love, Suit & Tie, Sexy Back,
All Over Again – Justin Timberlake
DJ got us Fallin’ in Love – Usher/Pitbull
Rhythm of Love – Plain White T’s
Madness – Muse
Shiver, Let’s Stay Together, Wipe Your Eyes - Maroon 5
Fall For You – Secondhand Serenade
You Got Me – Colbie Caillat
Marry Me – Train
Dancing Queen – ABBA
You Give Love a Bad Name – Bon Jovi
Just a Girl – No Doubt
Something I need – OneRepublic
(Bri & Stefen’s song) Hey Brother - Avicii