Page 1 of My Promise To Keep

Yeah, Munch. I’ll Be There

Leo

Seventeen Years Ago

‘You did what?’

The sound of Miles Campbell’s booming voice rattled the walls. We were all gathered at the Campbell house to celebrateZoe and Bree turning eighteen, but my cousin, who was also Zoe’s boyfriend, Luke, had just dropped a bomb and blown the whole damn thing apart.

‘Daddy, I’m eighteen.’ Zoe stood her ground as her mama cried in the kitchen, and Miles vibrated with rage, red in the face. Bree stood sheepishly next to me and my best friend, the girls’ younger brother, Doug, who was as shocked and confused as me.

‘Barely,’ Miles growled furiously.

‘Are you pregnant?’ The words left my mouth without conscious intention, and all eyes turned on me, but I only met Zoe’s.

‘No, Leo, I’m not pregnant,’ her voice was softer now, reassuring. ‘We just didn’t want to waste any more time.’

‘Y’all weren’t wasting time. What difference does being married make?’ Doug’s anger was ramping up as he turned a similar shade to his dad.

‘Okay,’ my dad stepped forward and put a hand on Luke’s shoulder, ‘you and I need to have a talk, son.’

Son, that’s how my dad saw Luke, and he treated him like a son. I saw him like a brother, and this hurt like hell. He hadn’t told us. He’d married Zoe and hadn’t told us.

I watched their backs as my dad and Luke left through the front door. Bree moved to take Zoe’s hand as their dad asked a whole bunch of questions. I tuned out. I tuned it all out. I didn’t want to hear it. Turning, I walked out of the door and climbed into Luke’s car, knowing the keys would be inside like they always were, and starting the engine, I got the hell out of there.

The lake was always our place, our little group: me, Luke, Doug, and Nick, along with Zoe and Bree, and Doug’s girlfriend Jessie sometimes. We hung out there all the time.

Forest Falls, our little town, was named after the waterfalls hidden in the trees, but the spot everyone loved and that drew tourists here all summer long, year after year, was the lake.

I came up here to hang out with my friends, to swim, to sit and sketch, but right now, I needed the lake to settle me.

They’d got married.

I wish I could say that the hurt I felt in the pit of my stomach was because they didn’t tell me, didn’t invite me, or that I felt betrayed. After all, without me, Luke never would have met Zoe, never would have kissed her three years ago, and made her his girl, but that wasn’t it. This hurt like hell because I loved her.

I had loved Zoe forever. I don’t remember a day that I wasn’t certain of that.

When I was born, my parents had been living with my grandma and grandpa on the outskirts of town. When my mom decided parenting wasn’t for her and left town, Miles Campbell helped my dad get us the house I grew up in, just a couple of doors from them, and that was it; the Campbells opened their arms to Dad and me, and we were all one big family. When Luke came to live with us, they accepted him too, but more than that, Zoe and Luke became close immediately, and I knew that they were going to fall in love.

I was twelve when he whispered to me in the dark that he had kissed Zoe for the first time, and I was crushed. Before he came to town, I had convinced myself I’d get her to marry me one day, but I knew at that moment she was his and would never be mine.

I tried to stop crushing on her, and it got easier as I got older and girls started to get interested in me, but she was always there, making me laugh, making me smile, making me struggle to hide badly timed boners.

I did it, though; for the most part, I accepted that Zoe was Luke’s girl, not mine, and I was just blessed that I got to have herin my life as one of my best friends, but this,married, I fucking hated it.

‘Fuck!’ I yelled as I kicked at a rock on the ground. A couple of people setting up a tent turned to look at me, and I held up a hand in apology as I slumped down to sit on the sand, staring out at the water.

She was hiswife.

I had already known she was off limits, but this felt so different, so final. They were married, and before long, they would probably have a baby. I couldn’t stay. I was fifteen years old, and there was nowhere I could go right now, but I wouldn’t grow old in Forest Falls. The second I was old enough, I was leaving town. I would be able to cope with seeing them for short visits home a few times a year, and eventually, I’d move on, let it go, and be happy for me as well as them.

‘Are you mad?’

I released an exhale at her soft voice and hung my head as I felt her drop to sit next to me, the scent of her perfume torturing me as she nudged my shoulder with hers.

‘What are you doing here, munch?’

‘You’re mad.’ She sounded hurt — upset that I was upset.

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