Dreams (New Beginnings Book 3) Read Online Free Page A

hick-ville like she’d been expecting. To be honest, she was glad to leave Portland, where everyone in her part of town knew her.
    Here, the people on the street were just strangers. Strangers who didn’t know her. Strangers who didn’t know Danny.
    On the bridge of her nose sat a pair of glasses, a new purchase since she stopped wearing contacts. It was a new her.
    She looked up when her dad entered the diner. It was their compromise. He wanted her to meet him for lunch, but she refused to go anywhere near the arena. So they chose this place nearby.
    His eyes scanned the room, not seeing her. She stood up and his face showed his surprise when he recognized her.
    “Hi, Sweetie.” He reached the table and leaned down to kiss her cheek. “New look?”
    “It was time for a change.” She gave him a weak smile and he didn’t press, opting to change the subject instead.
    “So, I’m pretty sure I’ve already made the guys hate me,” he chuckled softly.
    “Stop, Dad,” she cut in. “You promised.”
    “I know, honey. I just miss your input.”
    “I told you I want nothing to do with hockey. Not now. Not ever. I can’t deal with that. I don’t want to hear you talk about it. I won’t go to games. I don’t even want to be in the arena. And for God’s sake, keep the guys on your team completely separate from me.”
    “Alright.” He sighed.
    They ordered their food and then waited for it in silence.
    Taylor used to love hockey. She was proud that her dad was a coach. His team in Portland had been like her second family. Stats, prospects, standings … nothing escaped her mind. Until now.
    She blamed hockey for taking Danny from her. He had been training when he went into cardiac arrest. It turned out he had an undetected heart condition, but she couldn’t help wondering if he hadn’t been pushing himself so hard at hockey, would he still be alive?
    “Are you excited to move into the dorms next week?” he asked, trying to relieve the tension.
    “Not really, no.”
    “It’ll be good for you.”
    “Maybe,” she muttered lowly.
    She had already deferred college for a year. When they found out about the possibility of this job for her dad, her mom put in an application for her to Ohio State. And a dorm request. They thought it was time she have a life of her own.
    Maybe it was. She didn’t know anything anymore.
    With the topics of hockey and college off limits, she found they didn’t have much else to talk about. Lunch was uncomfortable to say the least.
    When the bill came, her dad paid and then said he had to head out to make it back for the team meeting. Taylor knew they were both secretly glad to be going their separate ways.

Three
    The week passed slowly. Taylor hung around the house, playing with her little sister and reading. She loved books. They were the only thing that could get her out of her own head. It sounded cliché to call them an escape, but that’s exactly what they were for her.
    Taylor looked up from her book when there was a knock on her bedroom door.
    “Come in,” she called.
    Her mom entered and walk towards her with her hands clasping something behind her back. “You have your stuff all packed into the car?”
    “Well, it was already packed up from the move from Portland. So, yeah.” Taylor looked back down at her book, hoping her mom would get the hint.
    “I found something when I was unpacking some boxes downstairs.” Her mom sat on the corner of the bed and held out the sketchpad she had been concealing.
    Taylor glanced up quickly and then looked away. “I don’t want it.”
    “Honey, you used to love to draw.”
    Taylor remembered that all too well. She used to sit for hours perfecting her sketches. It soothed her. Danny would sit with her, playing his guitar. They were perfect moments. Moments she couldn’t bear to corrupt by creating new ones without him.
    “I used to love a lot of things, Mom.”
    “Do you really think he’d want this, Taylor?”
    “No,