Reckless Mind by Heather Wiginton Page A

only played on slow nights at the bar he worked at, or sometimes with the guys on the weekend. They took family vacations every year and Brandon was always the one getting hurt or sick, but he never wanted it to stop him so he'd continue on with everything. She had so many wonderful stories, even if all of them weren't completely happy, they were because all her family was together and they loved each other. It was a foreign concept to me.
    After a few hours I was confident my closet had grown tremendously in size. “Thank you so much for doing this Emma, I appreciate it.” I thought about giving her a hug, then chickened out for a couple seconds, then leaned into her and awkwardly wrapped my arms around her. It caught her off guard because she just sat there for a second before returning the hug.
    We made our way back out of the closet into her room. It was like a grown-up version of a child's princess room, it was stunning. The walls were a soft lavendar with white moldings at the ceiling, and the walls had the same molding going across it, a little lower than where the middle of the wall would be, and the lower portion of the wall was a darker purple paint that looked like it was covered in lace.
    The white four poster bed was huge, the posts going all the way to the ceiling. A mixture of white lace, white silk with small purple rosettes, purple with white rosettes, and plain light purple curtain panels were hung on each of the four rods that went from one poster to another forming a square around her bed. She had so many pillows on her bed I couldn't believe it, but it was clearly for decoration because no one could sleep laying on that many pillows.
    There was a white desk with a computer on it over in the corner. A small reading nook, with about a hundred more pillows in all different shapes but in the purple, white, mint green color palette, were next to a floor to ceiling built in book shelf that actually had a small step ladder next to it so she could reach the books at the top. A door on the far side of the room led to a bathroom. The walls were purple and white paisley print, with some mint green splashed throughout, and it looked gorgeous.
    “Can you run down stairs and get some cokes from my mom? My throat feels like the Sahara,” she dramatically grabbed her throat acting like it was extremely hard for her to swallow. Laughing, I went out of her room and down the stairs. I heard soft mumbling as I got closer to the kitchen.
    “She said you looked at her, like you'd woken up to...just that she, that none of us have ever seen you like that,” Jules voice was hushed.
    “Well Emma needs to keep her mouth shut because she doesn't have any idea what she's talking about.” That was definitely Brandon. “You know how Emma gets, she wants to believe whatever will make her happiest, and apparently this is her new project.” His voice sounded a little strained, like he wanted to talk to his mom, but he didn't at the same time.
    “What aren't you telling me Brandon?” Her voice was concerned, probably thinking I was some crazy person set to make her daughter disappear.
    “Nothin, ma. She's just...Kahlen is different. I don't know what it is about her, and I don't know if it's a good or a bad thing.” He sighed in frustration. Yep, definitely talking about me. “I...I don't know, she just seems so much like me when I get...” then his voice stopped. I don't know if he was just at a loss for words, or if his mom knew what he meant. Only problem was I didn't know what he meant by that. I took the silence as my chance to make a little noise so they knew I was coming and not start their conversation back up.
    I turned the corner of the kitchen and both their heads turned my direction. Jules gave me a warm smile, but Brandon's face was neutral. He looked like he was going to walk my direction for a second, but adjusted his body firmly in place at the island in the middle of the kitchen. He had showered since I saw