Bittersweet (Redemption #3) - Jessica Prince Page 0,80

you not to go over there and work this out with that man.”

I let out an affronted harrumph. “Did you not hear a word I said earlier?”

“Oh, I heard everything loud and clear,” she fired back. “And since you’re in the thick of it, you don’t see the irony of the situation, so I’ll spell it out for you. You spent your entire life not trusting because the people you loved, the people who were supposed to love and protect you left. He spent his entire life not trusting anyone because the people who were supposed to love and protect him took that love and twisted it into somethin’ ugly and wrong.

“Both of you got the short end of the stick when it came to parents. True, the circumstances were very different, but the outcome was very much the same: neither of you trusted anyone.”

“That’s not true,” I objected, but even to my own ears it sounded weak, because she wasn’t totally wrong.

“Okay, I’ll amend that by sayin’ neither of you trusted completely. Did you ever stop to wonder why your relationship was so intense? Why the two of you consumed each other in a way no one your age should even understand, let alone experience? Your relationship was different than anyone else’s from the very beginning. You two held on to each other so tight, half the time I didn’t know where you started and he began. Did you ever ask yourself why that was?”

“I—That’s not—”

“It’s because both of you were waiting for the other shoe to drop.” She reached across the empty space between us and took my hand. “You loved each other, honey pie, there’s no doubt about it. You loved each other with every single breath. But you both held on so tight because you were scared the other person would slip through your fingers like sand.”

My lips parted on an exhale so big all the air expelled from my lungs as the realization that everything she was saying, every single word, was chock-full of truth.

“You’ve been like that with everyone you let in. Used to worry me to death because I was scared it would break you. When you’re loyal, that loyalty is unwavering because you don’t want to risk ever givin’ that person a reason to leave, and it’s the same when it comes to asking for help. What you never understood was that’s what real families do, blood or not. When one person is down, it’s the job of the rest of us to lift them up. There’s no quota when it comes to needing people.

“Both of you went into that relationship with your eyes wide open, but you were still blind. The expectation that there would one day be a hurdle you’d stumble over was cemented into the foundation of what you’d built from the start because it was all either of you had known.”

She leaned in close and lowered her voice. “Open your eyes, child. That love you two felt for each other, it never went away, not even for a second. The foundation of a relationship is the same as the foundation of a house. If you’re able to find the problem, you can work to fix it. You can build it back to be even stronger than it was before.”

A tear broke free and made a slow track down my cheek. “I—I think . . .”

“What, sweetie? What do you think?”

“I think I need to change,” I spit out frantically, shooting up from the couch and looking down at my sweats that were now sporting ice cream stains. “I can’t go see him like this!”

“Well then, I suggest you get a move on.”

I raced out of the living room so fast my feet slipped on the floors and I nearly pulled a Brantley and collided into the wall. My shirt was halfway over my head by the time I cleared the threshold to my bedroom. I whipped off my raggedy sweatpants and bolted for the closet.

“Momma! I can’t find my Captain America mask!” Brantley yelled as I jerked a pair of jeans off the hanger. “You look under your bed?” I shouted back while hopping on one foot then the other as I worked to get them up my legs.

“Yeah!”

“Closet?” I listened as he ran back down the hall, slipping on his socked feet and crashing into the wall.

“I’m okay!” I heard him shuffle back up, and seconds later, the closet door slammed shut. It was the same thing