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One Man’s Joy

In the final week of April, Liam’s joy was as wild as a hurricane. In their purest forms, adrenaline and ecstasy obliterated his self-restraint. He grinned as wide as he could grin; he threw several fist pumps into the air; he whooped, leaped, and trembled like one of Peter Pan’s Lost Boys. With good fucking reason.

He’d been accepted into Bellmore. His joy at reading this was only slightly greater than his nervousness after seeing the letter in his mailbox. It’d been there for a full day, in fact. He’d only found it after returning from a shared date with Anna and Avril—and what an experience that had been.

They’d gone to an outdoor café offering a greenhouse experience. And that had been fun. The time sneaking away from said greenhouse had led to far, far more fun, though.

And yet, holding this letter in his hands, standing within his kitchen, reading and then rereading its contents for a fourth, fifth, and sixth time, Liam’s jubilance nearly shattered the windows and busted down the doors. Thus, the whooping, leaping, and fist pumping.

Soon, very soon, he’d remember that he should cue the others in about the phenomenal news. April had started in the best way possible, and now it would end in the best way possible.

His joy would stay with him all the way into summer break. Only a month away, he had his plans, and the women he loved had their plans, and they all knew the next few months would be nothing short of marvelous.

However, where he felt only unending joy, another man, soon enough to discover this newest reason to grind his teeth and clench his fists, would feel only bottomless, burning fury.

And with that fury, finally, came action. At long last, enough was enough. He’d given his foolish daughter her few months of rebellion, her chance to “experience” a normal relationship, as his wife had chronically urged him to let her do. But now this? No. No. His last speck of patience fell to the bottom of the hourglass. If Arnold Royce’s daughter wouldn’t see sense, if this boy from Perrymont still thought he could end up with his daughter, he would deal with things himself.

End of Book 6