Mom? Are you there?
I draw in a deep breath and try to stop crying. Caden rubs my thigh and Jack keeps his arm tight around me. Caden holds my gaze steady, and I release a breath. I think my dad would have liked all of them. Maybe not their dads, but how could he not love the guys I love.
Mom:
Yeah. Everything okay?
Me:
We found something. Jack’s going to connect you. Can you watch something where you are?
Mom:
At home. Okay.
I nod and Jack takes over, keying in something and suddenly my mom’s face pops up on the screen.
“Why are you crying, Harper?” Mom’s gaze darts around and sees all of us together. “What’s happening?”
I force a smile and blow out a breath. “I’m just emotional.”
She narrows her eyes on me, and before she can do something like ask if I’m pregnant, Jack connects her to the feed of Sean.
She inhales sharply. “What?”
“It was on his hard drive,” Jack says. He carefully backs the video up and lets Mom watch the whole thing from the beginning.
I pay careful attention for anything more I might learn from it. But somehow, just watching this piece of our past has me in tears all over again.
“Fuck, I don’t want to do this.”
I draw in a breath and hold it at my father’s tone.
“Jenn.” He pauses, and his eyes are filled with unshed tears. “You were never a game to me. I always knew you were meant to be mine. I’d give up my life over and over to protect you and Harper, but I’d rather live with you than die for you. There’s never been anyone else for me.
“I love you with everything I have to give. My whole life I’ve spent trying to get us away from this town so we could be free of the chains, but every time I tried, those chains wrapped tighteraround me and dragged me back. I’ve always known there was one way to break free: neutralize William Foster.”
My dad chuckles. “That’s what I’m doing tonight. I’m going up there and witnessing and recording them, so I can break us free. If I don’t make it?—”
He scrubs his hand down his face and takes a moment to control his emotions. “Fuck, Jenn, if I’m not back, that means they did something because I would ride through hell to get back to you. My friend, I don’t even know if you remember them, but they have our backs. And if anything happens to you, they’ll come get Harper. They know what to say.”
I look at my mom’s image and she’s crying, but she nods slightly like she knows who he’s talking about.
“I swear I’m going to destroy this video. I shouldn’t have even recorded it, but it seems like the best way to tell you what happened, so you don’t think I ran off and left you. That would never happen, Jenny. Not in a million years. If I’m not back...”
He draws in a breath. “I have two SD cards for tonight and the camera’s drive. If I don’t come back, that card is still somewhere in that quarry. I’ll mark it how we used to.” He winks. “Fuck, that was cheesy. More reason to make sure I get back and erase this shit.”
He shakes his head and gives us a grin. “I love you, Jenny. I love you, Harper. I’ll see you tonight.”
The image stops.
The backs of my eyes tingle and my throat swells. Tears are already streaming down my cheeks. I turn to search my mom’s eyes. She looks how I feel.
Mom sighs. “I can go search?—”
“Not alone.” Luke shakes his head. “We don’t know if they’re watching it or you.”
She smirks. “I’m not stupid enough to play that out loud. I know how to use headphones.”
