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“What? What’s wrong with Henry?”
“Nothing. He’s leaving. He and my mother. I’m sending them away.”
“Why? Why would you do that?”
“I don’t have a choice. I need them to be—”
Shit. I stopped. Here I was, standing in front of my best friend’s home, and I was about to violate his trust.
“You need them to be what?”
I thought quickly. “My mom needs to get away, and I can’t care for Henry with the new job starting tomorrow, so she’s taking him with her.”
“Oh.”
Good. She seemed to buy it.
“You could get a nanny for Henry.”
“My mom won’t hear of it.”
She nodded.
“Please. You can’t leave too.”
“I’m leaving. It was a hard decision, but I have to do it. I have to think of my future.”
“Your future?”
“Yeah. I have a future. One without you, as you’ve made clear so many times.”
“No.”
She shook her head. “You’ve got to be kidding me.”
“Do I look like I’m kidding?”
Chapter Twenty-Two
Marjorie
Fire laced his eyes. They burned the hot blue of a gas flame.
No. He wasn’t kidding.
Didn’t matter. I wasn’t staying around for more of this. When he wanted me, he kissed me, touched me, made love to me. When he didn’t want me? He tortured me with his poisonous words.
“None of this matters, Bryce. I can’t stay here. It’s too…”
“Too what?”
“Painful, damn it. Painful. You’re breaking me, Bryce, and I don’t deserve that. I thought I was strong enough to deal with everything, but I’m not. I need to get away, and I need to do it soon.”
He gripped me again, his gaze burning into mine. “Please. Don’t leave.”
“Why not?”
“Just don’t. I can’t promise you anything, Marj. You know that. But you… You’re the heart of this place. What would Steel Acres be without you?”
