Page 40 of Dare to Need

If I was completely honest with myself, I might have withheld that information because I wanted to have something that was just mine. A part of my journey that he hadn’t known about, so he would know how it felt to love someone who had secrets of their own. It was petty and fucking childish, I know. Especially since my ‘secret’ was my ex-boyfriend’s lawyer subpoenaing me as a witness against his ex-mistress.

I rolled my eyes at myself.I’ve reached a new low.

My palm cradled my chin as I huffed out a breath. I missed Drema. I wished she were here to talk me through all of this. She always knew the right things to say.

I slipped my phone out of my leggings pocket and tried to steady my gaze on the numbers as I typed out my password. Fuck, I was officially drunk. After the second attempt, my phone screen brightened revealing the home page. Drema’s name popped up in my favorites and without a second thought, I tapped her name and brought the phone to my ear.

The phone rang four times, then, “Eva! How are you?”

The second I heard Drema’s sunny voice I broke down into a heap of tears. The bartender sent me a scornful look before he went back to servicing two other patrons at the end of the bar. I quickly stuck my tongue out at his back, grabbed my tumbler, and slowly walked myself over to one of the plush lobby chairs.

“What’s wrong, Eva?”

“Everything’s a fucking mess Drema and I don’t know what to do.” Whiskey splashed out of the glass as I slumped into the oversized wingback chair.

“Lucas told me about Garth’s father. I’m so so sorry that happened. How’s he doing?”

The mention of his father struck me square in the chest. My mind reeled to just a few hours ago when I was pushing Garth to open up to me, all the while his father was lying in a hospital bed.What the hell was I thinking?

The tears fell harder.

“Oh my God, Eva. Is he okay?”

Wiping the tears from my face with the back of my hand, I sucked in a breath. “Yes! I’m sorry. Yeah, Mr. Walker is okay. Well, as okay as he can be following a massive heart attack. But he’s recovering.”

I heard Drema exhale loudly before she said, “Oh good! I was so worried something else happened to him. So, if he’s okay then what’s going on?”

A horn blared through the phone and there was a murmur of voices in the background as Drema spoke. My head fell in my hands. “I’m sorry, Drema. I shouldn’t have called and bothered you while you’re on your trip. I’m sorry…just call me later when you’re free.”

“Eva Barnes, if you don’t tell me what’s going on right now, I swear I’ll get on the next flight to New York and force you to talk to me.” Her voice was stern, yet gentle…and it terrified me. All the years I’d known her, Drema had never used this tone with me before. It made me straighten up in the chair and set the tumbler of alcohol on the coffee table before me.

“I messed everything up, Drema. I don’t even know where to begin.”

“Why don’t you start from the beginning?” Her voice was soft again.

And so I started from the moment Garth received the phone call from his mother and all the things that had happened since then. It felt good, really good, to get everything off my chest. Over the past year, Drema and I had become each others’ confidants—more than that—she was the sister I’d always wanted.

“Wow, Eva,” she sighed. “Do you know where he is now?”

I shook my head even though she couldn’t see me. “I have no idea. It’s pretty late here so I don’t think he would have gone to see his dad. But I don’t have a clue. Do you think he’ll even come back?” My voice cracked as a frigid chill ran through me. The thought of Garth walking away from us for good made my chest swell with panic.

“Of course he’ll come back, Eva. He loves you more than anything. I think he just needs some time to clear his head.”

“He just seems so different since we got up here. He’s distant and secretive and making moves about his future without even talking to me about it. How am I supposed to be part of his life when he doesn’t include me in the important decisions?”

“Okay. So, real talk?”

“Always,” I replied.

“There is no excuse for Garth keeping things from you. You’re right. If you two are trying to build a future together, he needs to be willing to drop some of his walls and let you in. You should be making a lot of these decisions together. But—“

“Uh oh.”

She half-chuckled. “The hard truth is that I don’t think this is the right time to bring all of this up. I mean, his father almost died, Eva.”

I raked a hand over my face and groaned. “I know. Ugh! I seriously fucked up by pushing him right now. It’s just been so hard being here without any support. I’ve never been through this kind of situation before and I feel like I’m doing everything wrong.”

“Sometimes when people experience grief or a loved one falls ill, the only thing you can do is just be with them. No words or actions could make his anxiety of losing his father go away right now. But I know that your presence probably makes him feel more at peace. That’s the only thing youcando, Eva. Just be there for him.”

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