AllFreeNovel
Share Us
He closed his eyes, his features fraught with concern. “Badly.”
“And you don’t want to do that.”
He shook his head, eyes turbulent when he opened them. “For years, I’ve struggled between being happy with what I have and my curiosity. I thought I wanted a chance to talk to my mother as much as I’d ever wanted anything. But when the chance presented itself, I wasn’t so eager. In fact, I’m not sure I want to speak to her at all.”
“Then don’t.” I understood the need for truth, but that woman had had a lot of years to make things right with her children. Why now?
“Would you? Want the truth, I mean.”
“The truth isn’t always what it’s cracked up to be.” I folded my hands on his chest and rested my chin on them.
“No. I guess it’s not.” Knowing was in his eyes, and I didn’t think it had a thing to do with his family situation.
“Let’s just say you met someone. And hypothetically speaking, their past was ugly. Something that had you known from the beginning, you’d have had nothing to do with them. But you don’t know. And you like them. Like the person they are. Would you want to know the truth?”
“Is it something that defines them? Is it part of who they are that they’re hiding from me?”
“It could go both ways, couldn’t it? Maybe it’s part of their life they want to escape.”
He was quiet a minute. “I think if it’s just something thathappenedto them, then I’d be okay without knowing. But if it was something theydid, I’d want to know. Even if it hurt.”
I shifted uncomfortably. He’d want to know the truth. And I wasn’t sure I could ever tell him. Because itwouldhurt him.
“What about you?”
I gave him a wobbly smile. “That old saying, ignorance is bliss, there’s a lot of value in that.”
“Yeah. There is.”
“I’m not sure what I’d want,” I said truthfully. Sure, if I’d known Kyle was who he was, things could have been different. But what if they weren’t? What if I’d been with him anyway?
Those were the thoughts that had plagued me for three years. Was I a bad person? Or was it circumstance that caused behavior I’m so ashamed of? I still didn’t know the answers, after all this time. I could see why Holt was struggling with this with his mom. Wanting to know the truth, but hesitant. Life wasn’t always so easy. Or black and white. Either way, he needed to know peace, and I hoped he found it one day. Even if I didn't.
“I’m gonna go see my sister,” he said after a long beat of silence.
“Want me to go with you?”
He stroked my hair, a tenderness in his eyes. “Thanks. But I think this is something I’d better handle on my own.”
“Whatever happens, I’m here.”
Chapter Twenty-One
Holt
I liftedmy fist to knock on the door and hesitated.
She was my sister, for God’s sake. We’d fought and gotten over it more times than I could count. But this was different.
More personal.
Screw it. Somebody had to make the first move. I’d come all the way to Jersey, and I wasn’t leaving without some sort of resolution.
I pounded on the door and peered through the small glass squares that lined the top.
No movement inside.
I stepped back and shoved my hands in my pockets. This was a decent neighborhood. A good one for a kid to grow up in. Blake had a backyard and the widow next door adored my nephew.
