Beneath the Stands by Emily McIntire EPUB & PDF – eBook Details
- Author: Emily McIntire
- Genre: Sports Fiction, Contemporary American Fiction, Romance Literary Fiction
- Publish Date: 1 December 2020
- Size: 1.4 MB
- Format: PDF / EPUB
- Status: Avail for Download
- Price: Free
BECCA
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My palms are sweating. It’s not because of the weather, although
Florida in August is hot and humid as hell. It’s because I’m
fixing to FaceTime my old man and let him know I’m not
coming home after senior year. I’m not sure when I made the decision,
although if pressed to think back, I’d guess it was sometime before getting
accepted into Florida Coast University, and sometime after I walked in on
him screwing the youth leader of our church on his big oak desk. But I
digress. The point is that although my hometown, Sugarlake, Tennessee, will
always hold a special place in my heart, it won’t hold me. Florida suits me
just fine. I’ve fallen in love with the nonexistent winters and the palm trees.
And maybe a little bit with the fact I’m not in a town where everyone knows
me as Preacher Sanger’s daughter.
The apple that fell too far from the tree.
So, here I sit, on the front steps to my apartment complex. I’ve just
finished moving in with my dorm mate of the past three years, Sabrina. After
Papa found out I was spending more time going to dorm parties instead of
classes, he decided to foot the bill for a place off campus. A place where I can
“focus” and get my degree “as quickly as possible.” Probably so he can have
a daughter with something to be proud of. Momma, on the other hand, is just
hoping I’ll come home—back to the church that’s been strangling me my
whole life, and into her clutches where she can mold me to perfection. Maybe
if I give in, she’d stop with the incessant nagging over all the ways I make
her look bad.
I drop the ends of my frizzy red hair when my phone screen lights up with
Papa’s name for a FaceTime call. I may love Florida heat, but it does not love
my curls. Wiping my clammy hands on my sun-kissed thighs, I swipe to
answer.
“Hi, Papa.” The smile I plaster on my face strains the muscles in my
cheeks.
“Rebecca. You get moved in alright?” His face is stern, and those jade
green eyes, identical to mine, chill me with their icy gaze.
“You betcha. Sabrina got here before me and picked the better room, but
I’m thankful for any extra space. It’s all a mansion compared to the dorms.”
“Good, good. I’ll let your momma know you made it safe. She can’t
come to the phone, she’s makin’ roast for supper and we’re expectin’
company.”
I fight the urge to roll my eyes. Of course, Momma’s busy entertainin’ his
guests.
“That’s alright.” My fingers twist my split ends. “But hey, Papa… before
you go, there’s somethin’ I’ve been meanin’ to tell ya.”
His eyebrow cocks, the only indication he’s listening.
My stomach pinches and I hesitate, wanting to hang up the phone instead
of saying what needs to be said.
“Spit it out, Rebecca Jean, I’m a busy man.”
A nervous laugh bubbles up my throat, but I bite it down. “I’m gonna stay
out here for a while after graduation. Sabrina’s stayin’, too, so it’s not like it
will be a big change.”
He’s silent.
A part of me thrills at the thought of his blood pressure rising from what
I’m saying. Serves him right, thinking he can control everything.
“I think it’ll be good for me, ya know? Plus, it’ll give you and Momma a
place to visit when you’re wantin’ to go on vacation.”
Maybe appealing to how it could benefit him will make him more
amiable to the idea. I like to push his buttons, but at the end of the day, he’s
the one that holds the reins to everything in my life, and I haven’t figured out
how to cut the rope.
“The heat gone to your head and made you lose it, girl? I didn’t fork out
four years of college in that sinful place just for you to spit in my face when
it’s time to come home.”
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