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Prologue
AURORA
12 YEARS OLD
“It’s not fair!Why? Why is he gone?” Tears stream down my face, fists are curled at my side.
My father was literally just here. Last night, he even kissed me goodnight.
He tucked me in and told me we would watch movies this weekend while I helped him with his latest project car he was working on in the garage.
My father wasjusthere.
“Rory, baby…” My mother’s lips quiver. “I’m so sorry. This is something we couldn’t control. It was an accident, baby. I’m sorry.”
Her words lower to a whisper as she sits on my bed.
My heart hurts, a pain shoots through my chest. I clench my teeth so hard, I’m pretty sure I’m about to break them. Why would this happen? How could this happen?
I shake my head, my vision completely blurred by all the tears that have welled up in my eyes.
There are no words. There’s no explanation for any of this. They say it was an accident on the way to work. That was twelve hours ago.
I was just going through classes, talking to my friends, with no idea that any of this happened. No idea that my heart was ripped from me.
That I lost my father, my rock in this world.
The man I idolized.
I shake my head. “He can’t be dead. He promised me. He said we were going to work on the car together! He can’t be dead!” I glare at my mother. “Where is he? Where is my father?”
I pick up my schoolbook and throw it to the other side of the room in a rage.
“He’s still out there! You need to go find him! Find him, Mom!” I snarl, stomping my feet.
“Baby, he’s not. He’s not with us anymore, Rory. Please, you have to believe me, they couldn’t save him. Baby… he’s gone,” my mom pleading with me, but I don’t care. I can’t believe it.
I take off, running through my door and down the stairs. My mother is yelling my name, begging me to come back. But the only place I want to be is with my dad.
Turning the corner, I run into the kitchen and pull open the door to the garage. I immediately locate his workbench and his chair. I grab his jacket that’s on the back of his chair and throw it on. Then I climb up onto the chair like I used to do when I was a little kid.
I would sit here with him and watch him work on cars. Watch him rebuild things. When he would come home from working as a mechanic at a local garage, he would work here. We had always talked about rebuilding a car together. He used to say,he wanted me to learn how to take care of myself in case I married an idiot.
So early on, he taught me how to change a tire, and how to do my own oil change. He had so much more to teach me.
Tears pour from my eyes as I grip his jacket. It smells just like him. My dad. My protector. My everything. My world.
And today the world came crashing down.
“Thomas was an amazing husband and father. He had nothing but love for his family.” A bald man stands at the podium at the front of the room talking about my father. But the words mean nothing to me.
I would rather have my daddy back than all these words.
“But I know Thomas. He wouldn’t want us to be sad. He would want us to celebrate his life. Tom would want us to smile, not to cry.” The words this man spews from his mouth go in one ear and out the other.
My dad would have chosen to be alive. Not cause this heartache and pain. The shattered heart inside me.
The days after the accident, I overheard my mother talking to family about what happened. My dad was turning off the highway when a semi-truck blew through a red light.