Fearless by Abby Brooks (best books for 8th graders .txt) 📗

I wondered how dirty that black V-neck sweater actually was.

“Things seem to be going so well between you two,” Mom cooed. “It warms my heart to see you happy.”

I massaged my temples and closed my eyes. “It’s a balancing act. Trying to get the book done and not make her feel taken for granted.”

“I’m sure you’re walking that tightrope just fine and if that woman is worth your time, she’ll know it, too.”

Fuck it. I will not be that guy wearing clothes out of the hamper. I stomped back into my closet and yanked options off hangars.

“What made you stay?” The question popped out of my mouth without permission. That was what I got for trying to have a conversation while distracted.

“What do you mean, son?”

I closed my eyes and let it rip. “With Dad? I know he didn’t walk that rope at all. Why, after everything got bad, did you stick around?” I’d wanted to ask that question for years, but avoided it out of respect for her pain. She’d been through so much, who was I to make her relive it just to satisfy my curiosity?

Mom cleared her throat. “Your dad always managed to say just enough to make me feel like he cared. I’d be on the verge of calling it quits and he’d magically show up for dinner and dote on me like he did when we were young. Or take a day off work and we’d hit the town. It was like he could tell I’d reached my limit and he’d go back to being the man I fell in love with.”

“And that was enough?”

“Your father is very charming when he wants to be. I told my friend once I wished he’d just stop showing up so I could walk away and not worry about the years of marriage I was throwing away. By the time he actually did stop, I’d already given up. It’s not that bad, living the way we do. I wouldn’t call our relationship a marriage, but it has its high points.”

I didn’t think it did, and the scar on her wrist told me she didn’t feel that way either. It was the lie she told herself to keep going without hating her life completely. After we hung up, I stared at my reflection for a long time as Mom’s admission circled my head.

I was about to do the very thing my father had done to my mother and it made me physically sick.

I’d been locked away, neglecting Evie for weeks now, and I was about to show up and remind her why we were so good together before I locked myself away again. And sure, this book would finish, and things would go back to how they were when we first met, but there was always another book. Always. This would be the pattern of our lives the way it was the pattern of my parents’ lives.

I didn’t want that.

I never had.

More importantly, Evie didn’t deserve that.

I loved her and had to let her go, but I knew she wouldn’t leave if I didn’t give her a good reason. She was Harry and I was George Henderson, and it was like my entire life had been leading me to this moment. It would break me to hurt her, but it was better this way…for her.

And so, rather than show up at the bar and make her feel like everything would be okay when it wouldn’t, I turned my phone off and sat back down in the office.

Chapter Thirty-Four

Evie

Cheers ‘n Beers was rockin’. The energy was high. The music was loud. The conversation was great. Every joke Izzy made was on point, but I still had to remind myself to laugh because my mind was with Alex.

“You seem quiet tonight.” Izzy leaned in, quirking her head in a parody of her brother’s inquisitive face. “Tell me, Evie. What’re you thinking? Let me pick that marvelous mind of yours.”

I laughed for real. “You sound just like him.”

“After a lifetime of having my marvelous mind picked by Alex Prescott, I hope I’d have it down by now.” She bounced her head to the beat of the song coming over the jukebox. “So spill. What’s got you down, Charlie Brown?”

“On the surface? Nothing. It looks like Alex is gonna make his deadline with time to spare. The book is…well, it’s amazing. I’m really happy here in Wildrose.” I offered my most genuine smile to prove my point.

“But…”

“Well, I miss him.” I hurried on before Izzy misconstrued my meaning. “But that’s not the problem. I understand why he’s had to disappear into the office so much. I really do. It’s that I know it bothers him, so I’m trying not to say anything about it…”

How much should I share? Should I tell her my real worry? The note I found in the manuscript? What if I sounded petty for bringing it up? After all, Alex did remove the note…

I nibbled on my thumbnail as Izzy bobbed her head. “Alex told you about Candace?”

I nodded. “And about your dad.”

“He told you about Dad?” She frowned. “Like, all of it?”

Seeing as I had no idea what ‘all of it’ entailed, I shrugged, then explained what I knew. “He said he adopted Morgan to force himself to stop working sometimes.”

Izzy nodded as she leaned her elbows on the table. “Okay. Yeah. He gave you the high points.”

My stomach dropped an inch. If Alex was holding things back from me—

For Pete’s sake, Evie! Give it a rest with the worry and doubt already.

“There’s more?”

“There’s more.” Izzy hesitated, her eyes darting back and forth from my face to her hands spinning her beer. “Things got really hard for Mom right after I graduated high school. Alex’s first book had just been published, so he was super busy and didn’t come around to visit as often. I was sowing my wild oats and wasn’t around at all. Dad, for whatever reason chose that time to say eff it and focus