Page 95 of The Wrong Side Of Us

“There’s things about him you should know,” she said.

“Why can’t you tell me through the phone?”

Maybe not wanting to see her made me a coward, but the truth was that I was terrified. If she was pretending to be nice and then it was all some sort of plan, I didn’t know that I would be able to handle it.

“It’s better to do it in person. I know it’s a lot to ask, Evelyn, but trust me on this. Can you do that? Just this once?”

I looked up at the star-filled sky, hoping that somehow one of them would guide me to right answer because I didn’t know.

“I need to think about it,” I replied.

She sighed, and I could almost picture her rolling her eyes or even glaring at the phone. Maybe she’d tell me to fuck off and make it easier for me.

Instead, Hannah made it more complicated by saying, “It’s okay. I understand if you need time to think about it.”

I let out a shaky breath, standing up and running my hands through my hair. I needed a minute to assimilate everything. “Thank you.”

“Okay, Evie. I’ve got to go now. I hope to hear from you soon? Take care, okay?”

I squeezed my eyes shut. She’d never told me to take care before. Simple words with so much significance.

“You too,” I replied, hanging up the call.

I rested my hands on the balcony, and my eyes fell onto the city lights, a welcome distraction to my troubled mind.

She wanted to talk to me now. Before, I would have jumped at the opportunity. Years ago, I would have given anything to have a conversation like this with her, but things changed.

I couldn’t avoid it this time. I had to talk to her if I wanted to learn more about what was happening. How did she know? She was in jail. The one way she could know something was if either she had been the one to plan it or Hensley had family in jail.

Whatever it was, though, I knew my life would change forever.

***

Nathan

She seemed lost.

Evie stared blankly at her phone for a few minutes after they hung up the call. I didn’t know who it was that she had spoken to, but unless it was regarding Derek or Hannah, I doubted she would be so distraught.

This moment in our lives was without a doubt one of the toughest ones we would have to get through. Problem after problem, we would have to keep proving our strength. While I had no doubt that Evelyn was the strongest person that I knew, all of this was too hard on her, especially with the pregnancy. I couldn’t imagine everything she felt, all the conflicting thoughts running through her head.

It would be easy to just run the hell away, leave everything behind, and try to start over. That would also mean never confronting our problems, though, and that wasn’t an option.

I could take her somewhere else, though, help her clear her mind.

After a while of her not coming back inside, I slowly slid the door to the balcony open. Evie turned around with a small smile on her lips. Her eyes were sad, and she just looked tired.

“I need a break,” she confessed. “I feel like I hardly get a chance to recover from one thing and then get another problem thrown at me. I just…I need a break.”

I could have easily asked what happened, but in that moment, I figured it could wait. What could not wait was getting her out of here.

I opened up my arms, and with a sigh, Evie buried her face in my neck, her arms wrapping around my waist as my own wrapped around her body.

“I’m so tired, Nathan,” she whispered softly. “I’m just so tired of everything, of feeling so helpless all the time. It’s getting so hard to get back up every time I’m knocked down.”

Seeing her sad was one thing, but hearing her so defeated was something that tore at me. She never gave up, yet now it seemed like she just wanted to disappear.

“Are you too tired to go out right now?” I asked as an idea came to me.

---