Page 31 of Everlasting Love

I head off to find Evan. I can’t believe the turnaround from the happy, placid kid to this one. And it seems it’s a common occurrence. When I get close to his door, I can hear his game. “C’mon, asshole!” he shouts, and I push his door open fully and step inside.

“Hey, watch your mouth.”

He glances at me over his shoulder. “You’re not my dad. You can’t tell me what to do.” His careless words are like a roundhouse kick to the solar plexus.Fuck!

“Maybe not, but I know your dad wouldn’t want you speaking like that.”

He ignores me, his full attention back on the game he’s playing, so I step in front of the screen to block his view and gain his attention. “Let’s go downstairs and kick the ball around.”

“I don’t wanna kick the ball. I wanna play my game in peace. Leave me alone.”

I snatch up the remote and turn the TV off.

“Why’d you do that? I was in the middle of my game!” He climbs to his feet and tries to grab for the remote but I hold it out of his reach. “Fuck you!”Jesus. Where’s the Evan I know and love? Who the hell is this kid?He storms out of the room and downstairs, so I follow him. He bangs through the back door, leaving Hope gaping at him from the kitchen.

“What did you say to him?”

“Told him to watch his mouth, then invited him to kick the ball around.” I raise my eyebrows and widen my eyes. “How long’s he been like this?”

“A couple of months. He’s getting worse.”

“I haven’t noticed this behavior.”

“No, because he usually holds it together when he’s at soccer practice, and you haven’t been over to the house for a while.”

“Only because you told me you wanted me to step back so you could learn to do stuff for yourself.” I shove my hands on my hips in agitation. I was only doing what she asked.

A crease forms between her brows. “I wasn’t laying any fault with you. I know I asked you to step back, and I’m glad you have. You need to get on and live your own life, not spend your time here looking after us.”

“But I want to help you guys.”

“Shane, you feel obligated to help us because of what happened.”

“I don?—”

“Yes, you do. And I love you for it. Truly.” She steps closer and rests her hand on my arm. “Wyatt would be so grateful that you’ve looked after us so well. But Shane, we all need to move on. I need to learn to be independent; I was relying on you too much. It’s not healthy for any of us.”

I wave my arm out toward the backyard where Evan is bouncing the ball on the top of his foot. “Yeah, and look at what I’ve missed. I had no idea he’d changed so much. That he was so angry.”

“We’ll work it out. It’s just pre-teen stuff.”

“I’m gonna spend some time with him. See if he’ll talk to me.”

“Good luck.” She turns back to the counter to rinse her glass, and I suck in a deep breath and head outside.

I walk across the backyard toward Evan with slow steps, waiting for him to notice me but he keeps doing his thing and ignores me. “You wanna practice some tackles?”

He shrugs his shoulder and I can see some of his earlier hostility has subsided for now. “Sure.”

“How about you try to get the ball off me to start?”

“That’ll be easy, old man.” Jesus. This kid’s on fire with the insults today.

“We’ll see.”

We spend the next thirty minutes running, passing, and stealing the ball from each other. Evan’s tackles gradually become more aggressive the longer we train. His foot connects with my shin at full force, and the kid isn’t even trying to play the ball. “Hey, cut it out!”

“Are you growing soft, old man?”

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