Page 11 of Pulled Away

So that’s why they’ve been gone so long. Not because she was visiting with her father, but because they were out eating and drinking. He had time for that, but not for a call or text. Swallowing the lump in my throat, I take a step back. I don’t understand why I’m suddenly feeling so emotional. Why my eyes are prickling with tears threatening to blind me.

“Guess I’m off the hook for dinner, then.”

I won’t be making any now, even if he was starving.

“Aspen.” My name leaves his lips with a sigh, and he ducks, trying to catch my eyes. “I’m sorry. I should have called you.”

“It’s fine.” I shrug, and his face drops. “No, really, it’s fine.” I take a deep breath and take another step back. “It’s been a long day and I’m tired, so I’m going to go have a bath. My muscles will appreciate a good soak.”

My smile is half-hearted at best, but it’s all I can manage.

Chapter five

Ryan

We drop the cabinet and I watch as it topples over onto the trash pile, the side of it splintering off with a satisfying crack. The fuckers are heavy, but thankfully, this is the last one. I can’t believe she tried to move it by herself. She wouldn’t have tried if you didn’t blow her off, idiot.

“She’s done a lot,” Carter grunts as he straightens, eying the growing pile of trash.

I flex my hands, looking around the rescue. “Yeah, she’s been working hard.” Pride swells in my chest as I see all the effort she’s put in.

I messed up on the weekend and it doesn’t matter that it wasn’t intentional. Aspen doesn’t deserve to be let down like that. Honestly, I was expecting grief when Hadley saw her dad, but her breakdown came as a complete shock. She never had a close relationship with her parents, so I wasn’t prepared for her reaction. In retrospect, that was incredibly short-sighted of me. Your parents stay your parents, no matter what kind of relationship you have with them.

Even if all she had known from them was being relegated to the bottom of their list of priorities. Even if they let her down time after time, never making time for her and throwing money at her to compensate for their absence.

I never cared for them. It started in first grade when I stood next to Hadley on stage at our Grade 1 end-of-year play. Everyone had someone in the audience rooting for them. Except for Hadley. She was trying to be brave, but I didn’t miss how her eyes searched the audience and then how her body folded in on itself, her bottom lip quivering. After that we became friends, and that night was just one of many times they didn’t show up for her or treated her like an afterthought.

I hated them for the way they treated her, and I vowed to not be like that. To show her she has someone in her life she can depend on and trust. Someone who won’t relegate her to the bottom of their list of priorities.

That’s why she spent most of her time at my house. We were more her family than her parents were. Money can never replace love and we tried our hardest to show her that.

I never understood how, as parents, they could treat their child with such indifference. Until Dad sat me down before we left for college. Before he would tell me anything, he made me swear an oath of silence. I did it without hesitation, so intrigued by what could be so bad that I was never allowed to speak of it. I regret that promise now.

Hadley’s parents suffered a home invasion that resulted in a sexual assault, and Hadley was the product of that assault. Her dad wasn’t her real dad.

They never wanted anyone to know and kept it quiet. They always just claimed that Hadley was a surprise baby. Dad knew because, as a lawyer, he was involved in the case. I was enraged. I get that they went through trauma, but there were so many things they could have done. They could have given her up for adoption, and if they didn’t want to do that, they could have chosen to love her for who she was.

Instead, they chose to make her pay for something that wasn’t her fault. And the worst thing? She had no idea she was paying for someone else’s sin.

I thought it was cruel then, and I still think it’s cruel.

He told me because he feared it would somehow get out and because we were so close, he wanted me to be prepared if it ever did. To be there for her. I ranted against the unfairness of it and he agreed with me, but despite his feelings on the matter, his hands were tied. If it ever came out that he broke client confidentiality, he would lose his license.

I know it can be difficult to get to know the real Hadley. A lifetime of disappointment has jaded her, and she puts up a front for most of the world to see, hiding behind this tough outer shell. Until you’re in her inner circle. That’s when the real Hadley shows herself. Sweet, kind, and willing to go the extra mile for people she cares about.

Unfortunately, I put the vow I made to myself ahead of Aspen. I stayed with Hadley when she didn’t want to go home to a silent apartment to face the thoughts swirling in her mind. When she wanted to be surrounded by people and noise to distract her.

That’s why, after Hadley visited with her dad this morning, we headed to the rescue. Better late than never, right? Once I realized moving the damn cabinet was a two-person job, I called Carter for help. That gash on her arm made me feel like a dick, and I still do. So many times I’ve wished that she’d allow me to help more, and then the one time she did, I bailed on her.

“This is an improvement?” Hadley mutters. “It’s pretty much a dump.”

“It’s a work in progress.” I frown, annoyed at the judgment in her tone. She’s not wrong; it is a dump, but Aspen treats this place like it’s her baby, and I have complete faith in her drive and determination to fix it up.

Is it going slow?

Yes, it is.

Do I wish she’d allow me to help her pay for some things?

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