The Summer I Fell (The Six Series)

by Loveday, Sonya

  “Ms. Aceton, I’m truly sorry for your loss. I know it in no way brings back your son, but I’m sorry all the same. You’ll be contacted by personal later in the week with routine paperwork that will have to be filled out. Until then, here’s my number if you need anything.”

  Mary’s hand shook so hard that Sergeant Phillip had to steady it with one hand and put the card between her fingers with his other. He didn’t let her go right away. “I considered him a friend and am honored to have served with him.”

  Mary nodded and clutched the card in her hand. I looked between the two of them in shock. “That’s it? Here’s my card, sorry for your loss?”

  “Riley…” Mary went to put her hand on my arm.

  “No! I refuse to believe this lie! Get out of my house. Ace is not dead! Do you hear me? He’s not dead!” I shoved him, and I kept shoving him, until he was out the door and I’d slammed it, locking it between us. Nothing bad could happen when you closed the door and locked it. No more lies could be spread to your ears if you couldn’t hear them. I caught myself as I teetered forward against the door, sliding until my forehead pressed against the wood and clutched at the silver chain still wrapped around my fingers.

  He was not dead. He couldn’t be. He called me… told me he was… told me he was sorry! Sorry for what? For pretending he was dead? For allowing someone to come to his mother and say he’d died while on a mission?

  Why would he lie like that? He had to be in trouble. That had to be the reason for the farce going on around us. I refused to accept it. I refused to let Mary accept it. I pushed myself off the door and watched as Mary crumpled to the ground.

  I pulled her into my lap, and she wrapped her arms around me. Her heart-wrenching sobs shook both of us, and I let her cry. She needed to cry because she believed Sergeant Phillip. She believed the lies he so easily gave us.

  I held her until her soft, keening wails were further and further apart. I made her stand and walked her to the couch. Pulled a blanket over her and shifted a pillow under her head. The same thing she’d done for me the day she found me on the floor, when I’d found out that my father had died. I watched her eyes flutter closed, as she breathed though the choppy breaths that crying leaves you with. When I knew she was asleep, I went upstairs and pulled my cell phone out of my pocket. Who could I call? Who could help me uncover the lies given to us by a uniformed man who claimed to be Ace’s friend?

  I rubbed at my head and took a long, deep breath, blowing it out on a sigh as my eyes pricked with unshed tears. I would not mourn him. I refused to let myself feel that pain because deep down in my heart, I knew he was alive. He had to be alive. I couldn’t lose another person I loved.

  I blinked, clearing my wavered vision, and went to the recent call list, selecting the number that I’d repeatedly tried to get through to. It didn’t even ring as it went to an annoying, steady beep that told me the number was no longer any good. Lies and deception. How the hell was I supposed to fight against the government? Who would believe me? Who would stand up and fight with me?

  Aiden was military. He might be able to look into it, but then again, he might just accept what they said too. I didn’t need to be told to accept what they’d told me, and I had a feeling that Aiden would say just that. Eli was halfway around the world, and I couldn’t ask him to come home early for me. Josh was in no place to help me; he had a hard enough time helping himself most days. Paige and Mark? They were finally happy together, both on the fast track with their careers. No, they were out. That left Jared. Could I call him and ask him for help? Would he help me without it jeopardizing his rock-n-roll lifestyle? Maybe he could help me hire a lawyer or a private investigator… somebody to help me figure out just what the hell had happened. Maybe he could ask his parents to help me. I knew I was reaching at straws, but it was all I had.

  I pulled his number up and put the phone to my ear, as I chewed on my thumbnail. When he answered, all I could hear was what sounded like an argument. Jared yelled at someone and then something scratched across my eardrum. I pulled the phone away and was about to hang up when I heard Jared’s voice again. He let out one final string of curse words before he answered with a sigh.

  “Hey, Riles.”

  My throat closed up. My words died on my lips. I’d never been so scared to speak about something in my life and Jared, he’d want all the details.

  “Riley… you there?” I could hear the concern in his voice.

  I shuddered as I forced myself to answer. “Jared…” My voice came out sounding like a scared child, and I heard him suck in a deep breath.

  “What happened? What’s wrong?”

  “Jared… it’s Ace.”

  “Just stay put, Riley. I’ll be there as soon as I can.” The phone disconnected, and I dropped it on the bed. Jared was coming home. He’d know what to do. The tears I’d tried so hard to keep at bay broke free and I curled into a ball on my bed, crying until I couldn’t breathe.

  Jared was on his way. Jared would know what to do. Ace was not dead. We’d move heaven and hell to prove it.

  A huge thank you to Sarah of Sprinkles On Top Studios for making such an amazing cover!

  To my betas…Megan and Candice, thank you for your input and being just as excited as I was about this new series. You ladies ROCK!

  Lovena West, thank you for allowing me to use your amazing photos.

  A huge thank you to my editor, Cynthia Shepp for keeping me in check, and calling me to the carpet when things ‘wouldn’t work that way’.

  To Rebecca Gaskill, thank you for being the last set of eyes. You’re help means more than you know!

  As always, I thank my family for being so supportive and encouraging. My bestest Candace, for being the bestest. *I squish you*

  And last, but not least, my sincerest thanks to my readers. I hope you enjoyed the first book in The Six Series!

  Sonya Loveday first and foremost is a reader, an avid one. It is of that love that brought her to the realization that this was the answer to the nagging persistent feeling that ‘there’s got to be something more’.

  The dream came alive in 2009 when she purchased her laptop and began the tedious step of becoming a published author.

  When she’s not reading, she’s writing. When she’s not writing, she’s reading. And when she’s not doing either of those things she’s sleeping, shuttling her children back and forth to school, letting the dogs and cats in and out of the house for the umpteenth time in the last hour and dreaming of a clean house.

  You can find Sonya Loveday on Facebook, Twitter, Goodreads and Wordpress.