Page 49 of Trick Play

“But sometimes talking it out makes it feel less heavy, less like it’s going to crush you.”

He had a point. It worked with Kennedy, but she was different. She was my person. Used to be. Was. Not anymore.

“You take too much on yourself. You let other people vent to you. You’ve let me add to your burdens, but you won’t let us return the favor.”

I turned my head to look at my sister. “You aren’t a burden. You’re my little Haley. It’s my job to protect you.”

“I appreciate that, and I know I’m incredibly lucky to have you, but I’m not little anymore. I can handle a lot more than you think.”

She was right. She was one of the strongest people, but she’d been through enough.

“Please, let me help you. Let me carry some of the weight.”

This was it. The perfect opportunity to tell her about our parents, but was it the right thing to do?

I didn’t know anymore. I had no idea what was right or wrong or selfish or selfless. It was all upside down and inside out. But it was one thing she could help me with. She might know how to confront them. How to make them see how their inability to face reality was affecting us. How their acting was hurting us.

“There is one thing.”

She nodded, and I sat up. I glanced at Reid, grateful he was here to help give her strength if needed.

“I found out something right before I moved here.”

How did you tell someone this? It wasn’t right.

“I heard Mom and Dad fighting. Dad was confronting Mom about abusing her prescriptions, and she yelled at him for having affairs.”

Her brows pulled together. “What?”

“Mom said there were dozens of women. I don’t know what it all entailed, but she found out and started self-medicating to numb herself.”

She stared at the floor, eyes darting back and forth. “Is that why Dad’s always drinking, and Mom has a headache every time I call or go home?”

I shrugged. “Yeah, they’re trying to pretend like everything is fine.”

“But why? If they’re both so miserable, why not separate?” She turned to me, and I gave her a look, telling her to think it through. “They really care so much about what people think? They would rather live a lie than get divorced?”

“Even when some of the women are from the club.”

Her hand went to her heart. “Poor Mom.”

“She has every opportunity to leave. She doesn’t need to stay with him.”

Unfortunately, I knew my parents didn’t have a prenup. It was something Mom threw in Dad’s face over the years. It was her favorite threat. If she left him, she’d take half, if not more, for all the emotional damage she suffered and the infidelity.

Reid seemed uncomfortable, but I noticed he tensed and I followed his gaze to Haley. She was frozen, staring off. “That’s why.”

“Why what?” Reid asked, but I was pretty sure I knew.

“They didn’t want you to find out.”

Her shoulders dropped. “No, they didn’t want to have to keep up the act around me.”

Yeah, that too. Our parents were selfish.

“I can’t believe it. They basically forced me to come here, where they knew I wouldn’t be comfortable, just so they would be. So they wouldn’t have to keep up pretenses around me. They lied rather than allowing me to come home and recover in peace.”

I rubbed her back. “Look at how it turned out, though.”