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Prologue
Caleb
21 years old
“Good game, son.” My father’s hand lands heavily on my shoulder as we make our way to the parking lot from the football field. The campus is still buzzing with energy from our big win against Amarillo College.
I glance up, my hair still wet from the shower, as I search my father’s expression for something that resembles pride, but his eyes never truly make their way to me. He’s still staring straight ahead as we walk toward our cars. My mother is beside him, beaming with a smile as she glances my way.
My fourteen-year-old brother Isaac and his best friend are straggling behind us.
Meanwhile, I still fight the urge to look for Luke. For the first eighteen years of our lives, my twin brother was always by my side. We had our own secret language, and no matter what our father did, I could convey everything I was feeling to my twin with one glance.
If Luke were here now, I’d give him an eye roll that would say,I’m calling Dad’s bullshit. He has no clue if it was a good game. He probably wasn’t even watching it.
But I can’t because Lucas is currently seventeen hundred miles away in Ithaca, New York. Our family is well-off now that Dad is a big-deal preacher, but I didn’t want to leave home or Isaac.
Besides, football managed to get me a partial scholarship at Austin State, a small state college with a Division II team and a decent prelaw program. So I don’t mind living at home for now.
Luke is smarter than me, anyway.
“Caleb, sweetheart. Your father needs to run by the church. Can you take the boys through a drive-through on your way home?” my mom asks softly as she finds her way toward me, wrapping her thin arm around mine.
I let out a scoff as I glance back at my little brother. My head is pounding, and I just want to collapse into my bed, not chauffeur a couple of teenage boys around town.
Not to mention, I’m a little bit tired of feeling like the oldest kid in the family. I may still live at home to save money, but I’m twenty-one years old.
As soon as I graduate and my tuition’s paid, I’m out of here.
I want to argue, but my dad is right here. And I don’t need to start with him tonight. It would just kill my good mood after our big win.
Reluctantly, I nod. “Yeah, Mom. I can take ‘em.”
She stands on her tiptoes and kisses me on the cheek. “Thank you, my sweet boy.”
“You’re welcome, Mom.”
“Drive safe. See you boys at home,” she says.
Before we part ways so they can head to Dad’s Lexus and we can head to my hand-me-down Civic, my mother calls toward us. “Dean, are you sure it’s okay with your dad if you spend the night again?”
My brother’s best friend shrugs. “Yes, Mrs. Goode. He doesn’t mind.”
“Good,” she replies sweetly.
As the three of us walk left through the dark lot, I hear my father grumble to my mom about how he’ll be feeding “Isaac’s little friend” once again, which makes me wince because he’s still within earshot.
“Come on. You guys want Mickey D’s?” I ask, trying to talk over my father’s voice in the distance.
“Yeah!” Isaac answers enthusiastically.
His friend just shrugs. “Sure.”
As we get into the car, I peer through the rearview at the kids in the back seat. My dad wasn’t lying. Dean has been staying over a lot more than usual lately, but I can’t say I’m surprised. His dad is, like, sixty years old and is raising him alone. And everyone knows he’s got a drinking problem.
The car ride is quiet, at least for me. The passenger seat is empty as my brother and his friend laugh about something on their phones in the back. I don’t pay much attention, and to be honest, I don’t want to.
Sometimes, I worry about Isaac. He’s nothing like me or Lucas or Adam. It’s like he wants to be different, and I know how much my dad hates that. He acts out on purpose. Makes comments just to ruffle Dad’s feathers. I wish he’d just stay in line sometimes. Be normal. Be like the rest of us.
