Page 23 of Claiming What's Mine

I wasn't someone who believed in life after death. I couldn't believe that there was someone up there who made decisions that destroyed lives.

Who had the right to take from others? Who had the right to decide that someone who was so incredible was better served in Heaven instead of here with her children? Why would a power so great leave two children in the hands of a merciless man?

I was an innocent kid, and so was my sister when my mother passed away. My mother was a saint, she was an angel that walked on earth, not someone that belonged as a memory. And then she was gone.

Looking up at the sky, I started to wonder if maybe I had been wrong.

Maybe she did come and warn me. Maybe she had been warning me all along about things and I had been missing the signs.

Blue took a step closer, gently brushing her hand down my arm. It was so light, but that single touch went deep.

“I know you don't believe, and that's alright. But don't ignore stuff either, open your eyes, Jayden Henry, you might be surprised by what's staring you in the face.” Waving the basket in the air, she tilted her head. “Now let's go deliver this pie.”

Blue swung the basket at her side, dipping down to grab a bright white daisy. With slender fingers she gently pinched the very edge of a petal and plucked it free. Dropping it to the ground, her lips were moving in soundless words.

From the corner of my eye, I watched her as she tugged off petal after petal, releasing each one into the wind. Following the white petal, it floated to the ground, landing on the dirt road as we walked.

And for a brief second I was tempted to pick it up. That petal was so clean, so pure, it didn't belong on the dirty ground, where it was going to get crushed into the sand by a tire.

“He loves me,” she finally said, her words bold. “Only two petals left.” A light smile tickled her lips as she gripped the next to last petal. With a little twist, it broke free. “He loves me not.”

“What are you doing?” Quirking a brow, wrinkles creased my forehead.

“He loves me.” Snapping the last petal off the bud, Blue clutched it between her fingertips.

“Who?”

Blue smirked, taking the single petal and gently tucking it into the pocket on her shorts. “You.”

Stopping short, I held up my hand.“What? I never said that.”

“Relax, it's just a game, Jayden.” Giggling, she patted her pocket as she tossed the bare stem into the grass.

“It's a stupid game, that's what that is.”

“Are you blushing?” she asked, her mouth twisting into a satisfied smile.

“No, I just think that's a dumb game. You can't know someone loves you from picking flower petals. It's ridiculous.”

Blue pulled the basket up on her arm, adjusting it against her hip. “For someone who thinks it's dumb, you sound nervous. Is it true then? Do you love me and you're just afraid to admit it?”

“I don't believe in love, just like I don't believe in fate.”

“Everyone feels love, it's not about believing in it.”

“Well, I don't.”

“You say that now, but one day you're going to love me, Jayden Henry, I know you will.”

“Don't get your hopes up, all of that stuff is just bullshit, love isn't real.”

Walking forward, Blue's body language was pretty easy to read; she was annoyed with me. Her head snapped straight, staring up the road, her back went rigid, shoulders pulling back hard.

“What? Are you mad now because of what I said about your game?”

“No,” she whispered into the air, the word finding me as she moved a little faster and the wind carried it over her shoulder.

“Then what is it? Why are you acting like this?”

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