All Chapters of Whispers of the Heart: Chapter 161 - Chapter 170

Aurora POVI don’t know if it was the work from the painting, the extracurricular play time in the bedroom or being in Owen’s arms but I slept like a rock. I woke up feeling like I had been sleep for twelve hours in the exact same position as I was when I drifted off, which was sometime around midnight.After we came inside, we made some popcorn and sat on the couch to find a movie. We ate most of it while surfing channels trying to find something to watch. Without finding anything that really appealed to either of us, we ended up putting it on something random. We really were not paying attention to as one kiss led to another and next thing you know, we were wrapped up in each other’s arms in the bed.I picked up my phone to check the time. It was just a few minutes after nine, which meant I needed to get up and get dressed since Phil could drop Nate off any minute now. I sent Phil a quick text message to see where they were and gauge if I had enough time for a shower. He replied back

The more I thought about Phil’s thinly veiled threat, and that’s exactly what it was, the more pissed I became. To stoop so low as to dangle withholding Nate from me over my head. I would like to adopt Owen’s tactics right now and just punch him in the nose rather than deal with him. Instead, I had to be as nice to him as I could, even if he acted like a total asshat because that is the one thing he could actually do and it would destroy me.He knew that little boy was my weakness and if push came to shove, he could stoop that low to get his way. A year ago I would have said that would never have been a worry. Now, I am not so sure which begs to question, did I ever really know Phil at all? I was seeing that he clearly had two sides now, the perfect single dad, shy guy image that everyone saw and believed. Then, there was this dark side that as far as I know, only Owen and I had seen.And I get it that on some level, he feels rejected by me but that isn’t my problem. We were never a co

We moved our conversation inside so we could work up the meat for the grill but Barb didn’t really pry much more out of me. She said as long as I was happy, she supported me one hundred percent so I was happy to hear that. I told her that Owen seemed hellbent on protecting me right now and she stated that she was glad and that she didn’t blame him. This whole mess had the entire town on edge and it would never be the same, even after the person was caught.Linda arrived first with deviled eggs, green beans and an apple pie. She had Candace and her youngest son, Shawn with her. Shawn was a twenty-two year old, handsome self-proclaimed bad boy that spent his first five seconds trying to flirt with me. I quickly shot him down as I told him I had a boyfriend. Owen didn’t miss any cues as he came out of the garage, fresh from working in there. Candace and I both introduced Shawn to Owen, as my boyfriend, pointing him out as he entered the back door. He walked right past them with a ‘hi, nic

All four tables were so full of food that there wasn’t an inch to spare anywhere and I am surprised they held the weight. The crew had came out in full force, fixing great side options to go with our grilled burgers and hot dogs. Everything looked and smelled so good that I couldn’t wait to sample it all.I fixed Nate’s plate first with the other adults fixing for their little ones, too. I split his burger in half, planning to take the other half myself. He wanted both a burger and a hot dog but I knew it would be too much for his stomach. Splitting it with him and taking the other half was the best way to prevent wasting.Once all of the little ones were washed up, had full plates and had sat down to start eating, the rest of us started to make our way through the line to grab our food. One plate was barely enough by the time I had made it through and selected a small helping of everything I couldn’t wait to eat.“Extra practice next week, girls!” Vanessa announced. “We’re gonna need

The crowd dispersed little by little. By nine, it was just Barb, John, Owen and myself again. I helped Barb clean up the kitchen while Owen helped John put up the tables and chairs. More than likely, my body would scream discomfort from every muscle tomorrow morning but right now, I was so happy and had enjoyed myself thoroughly.“Thank you again, Barb.” I said to her as I washed and she dried on the dishes. “Today was just perfect. The perfect birthday gathering.”“You deserve it, sweet girl. You have worked so hard all of your life and had to be an adult for so long, you deserve a day here and there to just kick back, relax and have fun. We all do. I hope we can keep doing it. People get excited about something on the start and then it seems like it just dwindles off. Then, we are stuck here one Sunday fixing sixty burgers for six people.”“Hopefully, we can keep that from happening. If everyone sees how much fun it is, they will look forward to coming. Thank you so much for allowing