UNWILLING Extra "She's All Grown Up..."

"She's All Grown Up..." (Unwilling deleted scene)

CAUTION

***Contains spoilers for those who haven't read UNWILLING yet**

This is a deleted scene that takes place behind closed doors in the published copy of UNWILLING, Chapter 33. It's the conversation Neely's parents have in the laundry room after an unexpected breakfast guest arrives...

Enjoy!

KD

Alicia didn't turn as her husband followed her into the laundry room. She couldn't, not yet, not until she'd arranged her face back into some kind of mask of control.

Some doctor you are, McIntire. Get yourself together!

But the tears that had started to stream down her cheeks only increased and she pressed her palms to her face and closed her eyes.

"Honey, don't do this to yourself." The door clicked shut behind Thomas. "Neely is a woman, she is in love with that boy, and we need to support her through this time, especially now."

"She is not," Alicia snapped and her nails dug into her biceps. She hugged herself tighter with arms as empty as her chest had remained since the day that damn boy walked into their lives. She's my baby.

He blew out a breath. "Yes, she is and you know that."

"Neely is in no condition to travel!"

"Alicia, you have to stop this," he said and she flinched at how exhausted he sounded. "She's of legal age to go," he added quickly as she whirled on him, mouth open to tell him the million reasons only a mother can come up with that fast. He gripped her shoulders. "And we shouldn't try to force her to stay if she is determined to leave with him."

"Why the hell not?" She pushed at his hands but he only held on, pulling her close. She didn't want to lean on him, not while so angry, but she couldn't help it. "We're her parents! She's been gravely ill and now we're just supposed to bid her bon voyage as she hops a plane to the other side of the world with some kid we don't know?" she yelled.

His breath saturated the hair pressed to her neck. He drew in two slow breaths and tightened his arms around her. When his third breath hitched a little, she realized he'd started to cry too.

"Yes," he said softly. "Because if we don't support her now, she'll leave with him and they won't come back. That kid has enough resources to waltz her off into the sunset. And if she leaves hurt, angry, or feels like we don't support her wishes, she won't have a reason to return to us."

"But-," she started but he stopped her with a gentle kiss. His lips were warm and a little salty with tears and she calmed the tiniest bit knowing she wasn't alone in the pain. They shared this agony the way they'd shared everything in all their years together.

"She doesn't remember us, 'Licia," he whispered and she knew that hurt him the most because it wounded her the same way every time Neely turned those blank, dead eyes her way. "And I hate this as much as you do. It's killing me."

Something hard and sharp broke in her chest as they shattered together. Her arms wrapped around his waist and squeezed him as tight as possible.

"We have do everything we can to help her want to come back, not want to stay away," he said softly and pressed his forehead to hers as he closed his eyes. "And then maybe, she'll remember us again."

Thank you so much for trying UNWILLING's series extras and I hope you enjoyed this small taste of book 1 in the Unwilling series. For the rest of the story, this book can be purchased at all major retailers. -KD

©2014 K.D. Wood

Published by Blue Tulip Publishing

UNWILLING and all related stories, excerpts and deleted scenes on the Wattpad account of the author, K.D. Wood, are the sole property of the author and are prohibited from being copied, displayed, discussed or electronically distributed without expressed written permission.