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Mom sighed and pinched the bridge of her nose.
“He’s right,” I said. “It’s all because of me.”
Mom walked over to me, bent down so we were eye to eye, and placed her hands on my cheeks. “Jaxson Eli Kilter, none of this—and I mean none—has anything to do with you. Your father and your brother are wrong. You are perfect the way you are. Now get some rest.” She kissed my forehead and tucked me in. She walked away and was about to shut off the light, but I called out.
“Leave it on?” I asked, feeling stupid for still being afraid of the dark.
“Night light,” she said, gesturing toward the wall. “Remember? It’s never dark with your night light.”
I nodded slowly. “But keep the door open?” I asked.
“Will do, baby,” she promised. She shut off the light.
I tried my best to remember what Mom had told me, but it was hard. Dad hadn’t spoken to me in days, since I refused to shoot the deer. The last thing he’d called me was a pansy before he stopped talking to me.
Whenever I walked into a room, Dad walked out. Whenever I said hi, his mouth stayed shut. Whenever I did anything, he made me feel invisible.
Invisible.
I’m invisible.
25
Kennedy
Present day
“Doyou want to go on an adventure today?” Jax asked as we lay in bed together. The night before when he’d come to my place, I could tell his energy was all over the place from visiting his father. He didn’t want to talk about it, though, so I didn’t push it. We kept things simple, and when we went to bed, he seemed calmer than he had when he’d arrived. I was thankful for that. I’d do anything to calm his troubled mind.
“I’m always down for an adventure,” I replied, shifting around in the bed. How had we gotten here so fast? One day, we were rebuilding a friendship, and the next he was lying shirtless in my bed. I guessed you could say our friendship had evolved over time.
I liked this version of us the most—the grown-up, imperfect version of our story.
“What did you have in mind?” I asked.
“I saw you had the hidden room at the library on your list of things to see. Now, to be clear, that seems to be an urban legend of the greatest extremes. I am ninety-nine percent sure it doesn’t exist.”
“I’m all about that one percent chance,” I said, rubbing my hands together.
“Then let’s do it. I’m going to go shower, then I have my coffee with Joy. There are a few job sites Connor and I have to tackle, but after that, I’m free. We can head over to the library around five this afternoon if you want?”
“Sounds good to me.”
Before he left, he kissed me goodbye, and the butterflies that hit me almost sent me backward. I was prepared to ride a wave of happiness for the remainder of the day—then my phone started ringing and Penn’s name appeared on the screen.
He hadn’t called me once since I’d left. He hadn’t said a word to me, except for the few text messages that said he missed me. Now he was calling me, and I didn’t know what to do, so I let it go to voicemail.
When it began to ring again, my stomach knotted up, and I swallowed hard, answering it just in case something was seriously wrong.
“Hello?” I said.
“Kennedy, hey. How are you?” he asked. He seemed calm as ever, which was concerning after the way he’d handled our relationship before.
“How am I?” I asked, confused. “What do you want, Penn?”
“I, uh, I guess I deserve that tone after the way I handled things between us. I could’ve dealt with everything a little bit better.”
I huffed. “You don’t say. Why are you calling?”
