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“I don’t see any way out of this.”
“You might feel differently in the morning.” Our circumstances might be different in the morning.
“Listen, I’ve gotta go. I have a lot to think about.”
And I wasn’t helping. “Of course.”
“Take care of yourself.” Then he hung up.
That sounded a lot like he wasn’t coming back. That we were over. The pain exploded in my chest and spread to every limb. I tried not to think about what it meant if I was pregnant. I let myself feel the pain because I’d spent our time together pushing him away, refusing to feel anything, but now? Everything felt amplified.
The pain was so intense, I couldn’t move from the couch. I just lay down, replaying every moment in my head. The times he’d asked me to stay. When he wanted me to give him a chance. And when I finally did, he left. It was what I worried about, and it came true.
They said you created your reality, and maybe I had. I was worried about worst-case scenarios, and that’s exactly what had happened.
Hours later, I finally made my way to my bedroom. I didn’t want Hunter to find me crying on the couch. I had to get myself together. Tomorrow. I’d be strong tomorrow.
Twenty-Four
NICK
Austin was giving an interview to local news media outlets. Our family’s story would be everywhere. It’s all anyone would be talking about. Already, the interview was being teased. The break-ins had gone on for so long and affected so many local businesses that it generated a lot of interest.
Everyone wanted to know that they had the culprit behind bars so they could move on. So they could reassure locals and tourists alike they were safe walking downtown. I didn’t blame them, but I could just imagine the scrutiny once it aired.
Would people think Brody was a troublemaker like his father? Would they think I was the same? Would I be asked to step down from the coaching position?
I couldn’t risk it. I had to leave, even if it was only for a short time, to see if things blew over after the interview. I’d talked to the school counselor, and she said I could pull Brody and homeschool him. She thought it might be a good idea because the teasing at school was relentless.
I wanted to protect Brody, and I couldn’t do that in Annapolis with Austin calling the shots. I needed to remove us from his sphere.
Brody was at school today while I packed up the essentials and found a place to rent a few towns over for a month. It would be far enough away to hopefully avoid talk yet close enough we could attend baseball practices.
We were forced to take a break over the holidays from November through December anyway. Brody went back and forth on whether he wanted to leave Hunter and his other friends he’d known since kindergarten.
He was concerned about how our move would affect baseball. It was my job to make those hard decisions. I’d been talking to an attorney to discuss getting full custody, and even she was concerned that the negative publicity would prohibit my ability to go forward.
I felt stuck. I wasn’t sure there was any other solution but to leave. But every time I thought of not seeing Abby or Hunter, the weight on my chest intensified.
In the afternoon, when I was attempting to concentrate on work, I heard a knock at the door. I answered it, expecting it to be a delivery person or salesman. Instead, it was Ethan.
“Hey, what are you doing here?” I asked as I opened the door wider for him.
“I came to see how you were holding up.”
“Not great,” I said as he followed me into the kitchen.
“I figured. What’s Austin thinking?”
“He’s only thinking about himself as usual.”
“What are you going to do?” Ethan asked, his gaze scanning the stack of boxes for the first time. “Are you moving?”
“I’m looking into renting a house a couple of towns over.” I assumed Ethan would agree that that was the only solution. “Brody’s getting teased at school. They can’t seem to stop it with it being in the news every day.”
Ethan crossed his arms over his chest. “I get that, but what about baseball? Doesn’t Brody have friends here?”
“We can still go to baseball. Then we have that break in the winter anyway.”
