My Sweets

Spin-Off Sneak Peek

*** The Spin-Off book, Tears of our Ruins, is completed! It focuses on Cora McKenzie and will be from her POV. Here's a little extra story leading up to  that book, from Jessa's perspective. This is a little sneak peek into Cora's early life.

JESSA

I'm washing the dishes when a yawning Cora walks into the kitchen. I give her a look. "Slept a little late, didn't you?"

"Sorry, mother. I stayed up late talking to Patty."

"Cora, we already told you no phone after midnight."

"But mom! You don't understand," she whines.

She fixes herself a bowl of cereal and sits down. It's clear she's upset about something. I watch her for a moment before I continue with the dishes. Hopefully she'll decide to open up to me on her own. I don't want to be a nagging mom. I swear parenting teenagers is a dangerous balance of giving them space and treading too close.

The door opens and Bobby walks in causing my mood to instantly rise. I watch his cocky smile smirking at me. "Hello, love." He gently sucks my neck and grabs my ass. I squeal in surprise.

"Gross!" Cora wrinkles up her nose in disgust. "I'm trying to eat breakfast over here."

Bobby turns, clearly just noticing Cora in the room. He grabs an apple and walks towards her. "Breakfast, huh?" He flops down across from her. "Well, if you would have woken up at a normal time, you wouldn't have witnessed that."

I watch Cora roll her eyes at him and continue eating. Bobby glances my way before he continues studying her. I know he's analyzing her, trying to figure out what to say. He's struggling with being a dad to teenagers. Obviously because of boys, but normal worries too. Plus, he's no longer the center of his kid's world. He doesn't know how to handle that.

He has taken Cora becoming a teenager extra hard. Cora and Bobby have always had a special relationship. They go for runs and are baking buddies. They were always pulling pranks on the rest of us and just up to mischief. A few weeks ago, we realized that Cora was putting distance between her and Bobby. They're still close, but her phone and social life are now more important. Bobby's struggling with it. I'm surprised it hasn't happened sooner since she's been in High School for two months already.

"Are you gonna start acting like a teenager on me?" Bobby nudges her foot under the table. "I get enough of that from Aria and Faye."

"I am a teenager," Cora points out. I lean against the counter and sip my cuppa, pretending not to listen to them.

"Don't remind me," he sulks. "You're not a normal teenager though. You're my Cora cupcake. I delivered you and you gave me a concussion. We're buddies so you're not gonna go all teenage girl angst on me."

With that, she giggles. Bobby likes to remind Cora of her birth story. He tells her that she was ornery and busy since birth when she flew out of my womb. Cora's laughter turns to a sigh as she pushes her cereal away from her.

"Something you want to talk about, cupcake?"

"It's just... no. You wouldn't understand."

Bobby chuckles. "I probably understand more than you think."

Cora rolls her eyes and sighs again. "It's boys."

Bobby tenses up and crosses his arms. "Nope. No. Not happening. There's no reason for you to be talking about boys."

"Bobby," I warn as I finally approach them and sit down next to him. I rub his leg in an attempt to relax him.

"No. Don't Bobby me. She's 14. She doesn't need to be talking about boys."