Page 97 of Keeping Score

Maybe he’d realized he was better off without me.

“Stop,” Cassie said, reaching out to hold my hand. “I see all of that going on in your head and you need to breathe. Everything is going to be okay in the end, you’ll see.”

Gosh, I forgot what it was like to have her unwavering attention focused only on me. With my mom babysitting Lily, I had become Cassie’s emotional project for the night.

Flattering, but at times uncomfortable. There was nowhere to hide under her knowing stares. And what’s worse, when she looked at you, you didn’t even want to hide. You wanted to tell her every little dark secret of your heart and let her tell you that it would all work out.

She was like one of those carnival psychics wrapped in sunshine-

and-rainbow packaging.

I just hoped she was right.

The game ended on a Harbor Wolves win, which I hoped would be a good omen for how the night would go.

But even as Cassie and I made our way down to wait in the family room, my hands shook by my sides as if I were getting ready for a first date.

As if this weren’t my Brody I was about to go see for the first time in over a week.

It felt longer. Unbearable. I was crawling out of my skin with the sting of his absence, and I realized—maybe too late—how vital he was to my very being.

I wasn’t dramatic. I knew that technically, I could live without him. But God, I didn’t want to.

Liam came in first, eyes locking instantly with Cassie’s, smiling. And then his gaze looked at me with detachment. There he went, building his walls like he was some freaking carpenter instead of my big brother.

But I understood. Not only was I the sister who screwed him over by throwing our father at him unexpectedly, but now I was the jerk who broke his friend’s heart, too.

If I hadn’t been standing next to Cassie, I was sure he would’ve turned on his heels the second he saw me. But as it was, being best friends with the love of his life had its perks.

Namely, the chance to make it up to him.

“Liam,” I said as he pulled Cassie to his side.

“Maggie.” He answered, staring at me blankly.

It hurt. Being ignored hurt.

“I wanted to say I’m sorry.” I told him shakily. “About—”

“It’s fine.” He said, decidedly not fine.

“No, it’s not.” I said, determined to smash down those walls the same way Cassie had. “Liam, I was wrong.”

He shrugged. “Not a big deal.”

“Stop pretending you’re not upset with me.”

“I’m not upset,” he said. “I’m just not putting myself in a position where I’ll let you do that again.”

“I won’t do it again.” I promised him. “And I know those are just words right now and the only way I can prove it to you is by following through,” I rambled, “so forgive me and let me show you that I can do it.”

He shrugged, casually breaking my heart.

“Like I said, not a big deal. Let’s forget about it.”

“When you say ‘forget about it,’ you really mean, ‘let’s let it fester and be this weird wedge between us for the rest of our lives,’ and that’s not what I want.”

“Well, you don’t get everything you want all the time, Maggie. Contrary to popular belief.”