AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“He helps me, but he lets me do it myself.He’s there for me.”I tossed my tissues at the trash.One toppled out.Figured.I stooped to pick it up, threw it away, and rose to my full height.Laney was taller than me by only an inch, and she no longer loomed over me.
We were adults, and, for some weird reason, I trusted her.She’d loved to point out what she’d perceived to be my flaws, but she’d never fueled the gossip mill.“I can’t have people chiming in with their two cents.Not when I’m trying to get a job so I don’t have to move and leave the only town that feels like home.”
If I didn’t get full-time work, I might have to sell the house.I might have to move.Away from Liam.Away from his kids.As he was making his way back to town, I didn’t want to be leaving.
“He shouldn’t be your dirty little secret though.”Plainly stated.No accusation, no sense of menace.
I recoiled.“He’s not.It’s just no one’s business.”
“Would it surprise you that I agree?”
The corner of my mouth lifted.“Yes.It would actually surprise me a lot that you wouldn’t disagree on principle.”
We shared a quick smile.“This town and how it talks and how we listen.I’ve always hated it.”
Her words went deeper than gossip about me and Liam.“I’m sorry about what happened to your brother.”
“You and me both.”She didn’t speak for a few moments, then she reached out and squeezed my hand.“I really am sorry about Derek.I know I didn’t make it to the funeral, but it had nothing to do with us.”She leaned her head back and blew out a breath.“Ugh, men.Fucking us up left and right.”
My gaze dropped to her bare ring finger before I could stop it.She noticed and pointedly dipped her gaze to mine.
I flexed my hand.“I’m still getting used to not wearing it.”
“I’m trying to get as much sun as possible before anyone else notices the tan line.”She crossed her arms.“I swear, Kennedy, if anyone finds out I used to wear a wedding ring, I’m going to tell everyone about you and Liam.”
“O-okay.”A spear of panic hit my chest before I realized how secret she wanted to keep her marriage.A soft chuckle left me.We possessed each other’s most significant secret.“Who’d have thought… You and me?”
Her smile wavered, and she glanced at her left hand again.“I tried to be like you.”
“What?”
“You had this wounded-little-fawn aura about you.You were the teachers’ favorite.You commanded Derek and even Liam.The good boy and the rebel, falling at your feet, hanging on your every word.Meanwhile, I got called a bitch.The mean girl.”She rolled her eyes.“I get that I was kind of both.”
“Kind of?”It was my turn to lift a brow.
“I wasn’t a saint, but if I had been a guy, would anyone have thought twice?”She had a point.“Anyway, sorry about dumping my Coke on you.It was mostly an accident, but it only made them rally around you harder.So when I met my…well, he was everything I’d thought I wanted.”
Her gaze flickered, those blue depths hiding hurtful memories.“I tried to be you.Then Kane hurt himself, and I had to leave.I told my husband I had to go home and that I was doing it no matter what he said or what his mom had to say.He argued.Thought I should put his and his parents’ wishes first.So I left him.And he let me go.Because it turns out, if I wasn’t meek, he didn’t want to be with me, and I’d been lying to myself.”
When I’d first met Laney, I was struck by how strong she was, inside and out.I was weak, trying to project strength instead of spending a lifetime seeming weak.But I saw her clearer at the moment.We weren’t that much different.
Her fingers stretched out, and she clenched her fist.“I should’ve known better.”
She’d had the guts to act differently and had people treat her the same as before.I knew all about that.“I’ve been trying to be more like you.Confident.Strong.Say what I’m thinking.”Like telling Bruce I absolutely did not want his help.Laney would’ve said it months ago.I seemed to always have reasons not to.
“Good luck with that.People resent it when you tell them what they don’t want to hear.”
“I’m not very good at it.I’m not brave enough.”Some days, I was the gopher, peering out of the hole, afraid of the dangers of the world around me.What would happen if Liam and I went public?
Laney put her hand on the doorknob.“Keep hanging around me, and I might rub off on you.Want a drink?”
Liam
Most menmy age didn’t spend as much time on the phone as I did.Sprawled out on my bed, phone pressed to my ear, like I was some kid in a ’90s sitcom rerun Grandma Gin used to leave on when she was making supper.Only I was a grown man on a twin bed in a rented bedroom.
Calling was necessary when I was gone this long.Eli and Owen couldn’t read more than their names.They could do that thanks to Kenny, but messages weren’t the same as seeing my face on the screen telling them good night, to brush their teeth, and hug their grandma for me.
I talked to them on my second break, and after work I often called Kenny.Reading her words wasn’t as good as hearing them.Her laughter carried over the line, and I could picture her smile.Mostly we talked about our days.She would get a four-day weekend over the Fourth of July.I’d be home by then, and we’d do something fun with the kids.She was painting the second bedroom that she used as an office and would tackle her bedroom next.I’d talked to Hattie; she’d wanted pictures of my other projects.Grandma Gin and the kids had done a photo shoot for me and had sent me all the pictures to choose the best to send.
