Page 97 of The Life We Left Behind

Please don’t take that out on Delaney or Cade. Love them like you never had the chance to before.

She will never be able to forgive me for what I’ve done. Not that I deserve her forgiveness.

I have no right to ask anything of you, but I’m going to, anyway. Please look after them, Trace. Be the family she needs, the family I never gave her a chance to have.

Barrett

The tears flowed down my cheeks as I started to tear the rest of the things from the box. A baby blanket. A stuffed bear. A tiny baseball glove. I didn’t even remember giving him half of this stuff.

I was shaking my head in denial, my mind not ready to accept the facts in front of me.

He wouldn’t.

Please, please tell me he wouldn’t do this.

My head snapped forward as someone shook me, and by the time my eyes focused, I saw Blake standing in front.

“Delaney, what’s wrong?”

I shook my head. I didn’t have the words to say what I’d found, so I passed her the binder instead. Clinging to my arms like I was trying to hold myself together, I watched her frown as she read the letter I’d found.

“Oh shit,” she softly swore before she looked up at me. “You have to show this to him. He has to know.”

I nodded numbly. What was Trace going to say? How could so many people who claimed to care about us have betrayed us in so many ways? Who else was involved? Who else had known?

“This isn’t your fault,” Blake said softly. “He isn’t going to blame you for this. You are just as much of a victim in this as he is.”

I didn’t know if I agreed with her, but I nodded anyway, grateful for the numb feeling that was taking me over. I didn’t want to feel this. Not now. Not so soon after the funeral.

The sound of Cade’s feet thumping down the stairs suddenly punctuated the air, and I quickly swiped at the tears on my face as Blake closed the binder and started to pack the contents of the box away again.

“I’m ready!” he shouted as he burst into the kitchen.

“You don’t even have your shoes on,” Blake said, a hint of nervousness lining her voice as I moved to the sink, pretending to clean around it.

“You go grab your shoes, monkey. In fact, put your boots on. It might be muddy where we’re going.” My voice cracked with the tears I was desperately trying to hold inside, but Cade either didn’t notice or was good enough not to point it out.

“Sure thing!”

I heard him run out of the kitchen and sagged forward, clasping the sides of the sink like it would somehow keep me upright. I could do this. I just had to pull myself together. Smile like I always do and then fall apart later.

Blake’s hand came to my shoulder in support. “I can take him with me and make an excuse for you to stay behind if you want. Buy you some time to deal with this.”

“No,” I quickly said. “No. This is important. I’ll be okay.”

“Anytime you need it, give me a signal, and I’ll distract him. If you want to come home at any point, it will be fine. I can keep Cade with me.”

I could do this. Iwoulddo this. It was just a few hours of pretending to be normal. Then I’d have to face Trace and tell him the truth. Tell him the terrible, honest truth that there was one more person to add to the list of those who had betrayed us.

My father had been right about one thing. I didn’t know if I could ever forgive him for this.

CHAPTER THIRTY-FIVE

TRACE

Something had been off with Delaney today, and I couldn’t figure out what it was. She wouldn’t meet my eyes when I spoke to her, and she didn’t seem to want to talk about anything.

I was wondering if I’d overstepped by inviting myself along to look around the school with her and Cade.

---