Page 28 of Taking Root

Chapter Fourteen

When Adrian had discovered Betty cheated on him and when she left him, the world he’d known disintegrated. Change like that didn’t just require an adjustment; it caused a full out heart restart, defibrillators to the chest. He’d told everyone he got over her by throwing himself into work, but truth be told he’d been shambling through the days like the walking dead.

Running into Danny Reynolds brought him to life again. For the first time in too long, he hadn’t just ghosted through the days, and he looked forward to every text, every smile, and every new interaction brimming with the promise of something powerful.

Until she’d walked out his door.

Days later and she hadn’t responded to a single text, as if she’d been some brief apparition of happiness, and now she’d blinked out of existence. Adrian sat in his backyard, feet nestled in the grass as he leaned back in his neon orange lawn chair. The fading beams of a gorgeous day soaked into his skin, but none of the warmth seeped past the surface. Out under the sun, kicking back after a long day at work with a six-pack, he should’ve been basking in bliss.

He’d been walking through the darkness ever since she left and took all the sunlight with her. Betty might’ve reshaped his entire future, but this one, this was an arms-aching swim with no land in sight, grasping for land, only to get swept into the sea again. Adrian swiped for his half-empty bottle of lager, tipping it back for another futile swig. The IPAs she brought remained untouched in his fridge, as if by keeping them it meant things between them weren’t ruined.

Their conversation replayed dozens of times in his head, and each time he’d invent some new scenario where he could’ve changed the outcome. But he pushed, and she bolted, as simple as that. The threads binding them together had been so fragile, and given the tension, they snapped. All the logic in the world didn’t change the empty ache in his chest.

Adrian’s phone buzzed, and he cast a quick glance to see if Danny responded.

Nope, Cal. One by one, almost everyone in the family had called him the past couple of days, and for the first time in a while, he brushed them off with the “busy at work” excuse. Look at that, he’d finally managed to establish some boundaries—not like it made him feel any better right now.

A second later, his phone buzzed again with a text from Lex. Adrian rolled his eyes and dropped his phone into the grass by his side. He’d respond in a little while. Mom didn’t have any issues after the tumble she took the other week, so his siblings’ emergencies could take a backseat.

He’d soon resume his normal of fixing everyone’s problems but his own. Danny’s words still haunted him, how he needed to stop trying to save everyone and carve out some time for himself. Even with her, he’d let her take and take but didn’t demand half of what he needed. Adrian lifted the bottle of lager, taking another long swig. Christ Almighty, he was pathetic.

The fence door creaked, the sound almost sending him tumbling off the lawn chair.

“Bullshit you’re at work.” Lex’s voice echoed from across his yard, and Adrian let out a groan. He pivoted around on the lawn chair, gripping the beer bottle like a tether to his sanity. “It’s not like you to skulk around and hide from your problems, big bro,” she continued, loud as ever. “That’s my M.O., and I can’t have you stepping on my toes.”

Lex marched across his lawn, her thick leather stompers demolishing his beautiful grass. Even on the warm spring day, she dressed all in black, long cigarette pants and a tank-top covered in paint stains. She wore her normal scowl, approaching like an impending storm.

Someone else stepped in through the gate door behind her, and Adrian almost dropped his beer. He hadn’t expected to see Cal and Lex in the same room for at least another year or two after the way his sister sank her poisoned claws into him. Cal tipped his fingers in greeting, his chin length hair pulled into an attempt at a ponytail. His brother had Dad’s serious brown eyes, but he possessed Mom’s stubborn mouth and the family nose, long and straight.

“I told her you wanted to be left alone,” Cal said, his voice carrying across the yard. He had a wry, friendly tone, like he shared a joke with you. “Then Lex raised the valid point you’d been giving everyone in the family the run around the past couple of days and if we didn’t check in on you then we were shit siblings.”

Adrian sat up on his lawn chair and nudged the six pack forward. He’d finished one beer and made it mid-way through the second, so there was enough to last Lex at least the next ten minutes. Cal stuck to wine on the infrequent times he drank.

“You know where the other chairs are,” he called out to them. “Grab your own seats.” He leaned back in the lawn chair again and stared at the fading sky. Amber and gold streaks raced across the horizon, mingling with a crimson as deep as blood. Of course, his siblings would crowd him when he wanted to sit and sulk in his misery.

With a creak, one of his lawn chairs snapped open by his side, and Lex hopped into it. Cal snuck into the other one and dropped a stack of envelopes onto his lap.

“In case we didn’t already know you were in a slump, I’m guessing that’s like…a week’s worth of mail?” Cal said, settling into his seat.

“I’m fine,” Adrian said on reflex while flipping through the stack of envelopes to avoid the look Cal gave, one that would pierce right through him. Cal read people better than anyone he knew.

Lex cracked open a beer as she snorted. “Fine, my ass. You look like hell, Doc.”

“I can always count on you for the confidence boosters,” Adrian responded, pausing on an official-looking letter. He recognized the address at once, and his shoulders sank. Damn, and double damn. He sliced the envelope open and skimmed the contents, a groan slipping out before he could help himself.

“What’s it say?” Lex asked, snatching the letter from his hands. Adrian seethed, but he didn’t know if the letter or Lex struck his temper’s match. Probably both. “Oh, screw her,” Lex spat. “Betty’s still trying to dispute the house? She’s a cheating petri dish of stupidity who doesn’t deserve any more of your time. I thought you paid her out of it anyway.”

Adrian stretched his legs, as if movement would stave off the rage building in his chest. It mingled with misery into one confusing blend. “Guaranteed she decided to get petty after Danny and I ran into her. Her tantrum won’t last long. I’ll furnish the saved emails and receipts from our agreement, and the case will get dropped quick.”

“Speaking of dropping things,” Cal interrupted. “What’s going on with you? We’re not going to let you pull your usual avoidance and deflection move.”

Adrian made the mistake of looking up. If he repaired the broken threads in his family net, Cal formed the knot keeping the strands together. His brother’s lips pressed tight, and the worry in those dark eyes ate away at Adrian’s resistance. That’s why Lex banded together with Cal, even if they were in a fight. Because he was the secret weapon to crack open anyone in the family—precisely why Lex avoided him at all costs.

“I fucked up things with Danny,” he said, staring at his amber beer bottle. His cheeks heated. He hated feeling exposed like this, like he was a damn child. “She told me she couldn’t do the commitment thing because she might have to leave at a moment’s notice. If we dated, there were some things she couldn’t talk about. Period.”

“Bro, that’s real fucking weird,” Lex jumped in before taking another swig of lager. “Is she CIA or some shit? An undercover cop?”

“I thought I’d be fine.” Adrian ran a hand through his hair, his nerves buzzing like he’d downed a cup of espresso. Lex snorted, and Cal reached over him to swat at their sister’s arm. Adrian shot her a look in return. “Yeah, I know. I’m a commitment junkie. After a while, the relationship started getting more and more serious, but any time her family got brought up, she’d snap up tight. Danny was real with me sometimes, but combine a looming expiration date with the massive minefields we couldn’t discuss, and I snapped.”

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