Page 96 of Teasing

That’s intentionally hiding something from me, and I’m not sure how to get past that.

EMMIE

Dreams do come true.

Unfortunately, so do nightmares.

—Emmie’s Secret Thoughts

“Why the hell didn’t you tell him?” Camden lectures me as we drive across town.

And my already-breaking heart wishes it knew how to protect itself from the answer.

“Because I can’t stand the idea of anyone else hating Vivi. You hate her enough for all of us already.” My voice cracks as I finally put words to the truth I’ve been battling since Camden came home. “Her and Dad.”

“I don’t hate them, Em.” He slams his hand against the steering wheel and stops at a red light, quickly looking at me. “I hate the childhood that was stolen from her. From me. From you... I hate the life that was stolen. I hate this disease and whatit’s done to our family. But the onlypersonI hate is Mom... and maybe sometimes myself,” he admits quietly.

“Don’t. You did everything you could, Cam.”

“If that were the truth, we wouldn’t be here, would we?” He pushes as the light turns green, and I have no answer.

You can’t convince someone they were enough.

You can try, but it won’t work.

They need to believe it for themselves.

We walk into the facility a few minutes later, and Dad’s case worker meets us. “Thank you for rushing over. Your father took a little tumble. He’s okay, but he’s confused and refusing to go get X-rays unless he sees you.”

“Me?” I ask, and she shakes her head.

“No. Mr. Monroe.”

And there’s another hit for the day.

Let’s see how many more we can take.

I squeeze Camden’s hand as it hangs by his side, but he just pulls it away. “Do you want me to go in with you?”

He looks from me to the nurse, and I see my big brother in his eyes. Not the man he is now. The boy who, at eighteen, worked two jobs and played football to help us stay in the house and make ends meet. “No. Why don’t you call Maverick while I go talk to Dad?”

I glare at him. I’m not ready to talk to Mav, and I kind of hate that Cam’s on his side. “Want to trade?”

“Nope. Call him, Em. He deserves more than what you just gave him, and he’s never going to understand until you tell him everything.” He leans down and kisses the top of my head before he disappears down the hall with the nurse.

Completely alone.

I find a couch to curl up on and pull out my phone.

How much time have I spent alone?

Enough to last me a lifetime.

I think about calling Maverick for about a minute, but he deserves more than a phone call. Damn it. I hate this.

I open my phone and slide over to my photo albums instead, like I always do when I need to smile. If I don’t remember my life one day, I have a million pictures to show me how good it was.

So many pictures.

---