Page 69 of Shake the Habit

My cousin nodded mutely and Taygen pushed her brother the rest of the way out of the aisle. “Move, Ryker! You’re no better than Daddy.”

My Lord. We all walked as fast as Cassidy could go through the mall doors and when we were outside, we looked at each other. “I’m so sorry,” Taygen told me, her voice trembling. “My father is just…he doesn’t know what he’s talking about.”

“That’s ok. Does anyone remember where we parked?” I asked. “It wasn’t around here.”

“KayKay,” Aria said. She sounded so concerned.

“I had already figured that I played into it somehow,” I told them. “I knew there was something going on with the guest list.I got the feeling that the problem was me, and that I wasn’t going to get an invitation.”

“You were!” Taygen insisted.

“Was that the topic of one of your fights with Marc?” Cassidy asked her, and she blushed. “You know, it’s not them.”

“What?”

“You said that your family was at fault. I’ll grant that they may be nasty and stupid, but you admitted that you let them act that way to Marc,” Cass pointed out.

“She didn’t let them act that way to me, though,” I said, and I put my arm around Taygen. “I appreciate it a lot.”

“I’m trying,” she said. “I’ve been thinking a lot about my last boyfriend before Marc to figure out why I stayed with him for so long. It was because my parents really liked him.” She frowned. “They liked him, even if I didn’t.”

“I didn’t, either,” I assured her.

“I didn’t at all,” Cass said, and Aria added that she’d never met that guy, but she would probably agree with our opinions of him.

“Marc is so different,” Taygen told us. “He always treated me so well! Even when he was mad at me, he never raised his voice. He would never raise a hand, either.”

“Of course not!” Aria said, horrified, but Taygen blushed and I got the feeling she’d seen some of that behavior before.

“He’s not perfect,” she continued, “but I’m not, either. They didn’t like how he stood up for himself and how he stood up for me, too.”

I gave her a tissue from my purse because I’d taken to carrying them, just in case. She blew her nose and calmed down before we started the hunt for our cars and then said goodbye to eachother. Before I left, though, I ran back into the mall to pick up one more thing, and then I drove out to the farmhouse.

As I went, I thought a lot about the girl I’d been—because I had changed, I really had. Hadn’t I? People like Taygen’s parents were always going to think of the old Kayleigh, though, the one who’d been wild in so many ways.

It would have been different if I’d enjoyed it, like if I’d had fun when I was with those guys…but often, I’d felt uncomfortable and unhappy, and then I’d spent so much of my energy trying to get them to stay and care about me. It would have been different if I’d enjoyed the parties, if I’d gotten drunk because I liked the feeling or if I’d done the drugs because I’d enjoyed the high. But I also remembered holding my nose to get the liquor down faster and choking on pills as I tried to swallow too many. And then there was always the next morning, the empty hole that was still there no matter how I’d acted the night before and the memories that had never gone away, no matter what I’d done to obliterate them.

Sir was on the porch when I stopped in front of the farmhouse, wagging his short tail and jumping up off his front feet in excitement. “Hello,” I called to him and he ran over, but he didn’t jump on me. The weight of his affection was still enough to almost knock me down, but I held onto the car and petted him. “I missed you, too, and I’m glad to see you.”

“Kayleigh,” Caleb called, and I was very glad to see him as well. He smiled as he walked down the steps and immediately kissed me, so the feeling seemed to be mutual. I heard Marc in the background, saying something about young love and motelrooms, but I didn’t listen. When we broke apart, my cousin was already walking toward his truck, still muttering under his breath.

“Wait,” I called after him. “I saw Taygen.”

That made him stop on a dime, and he listened intently to what I had to say about her family and her reaction to them. I told him some but not all, avoiding the parts where her father had insulted me because that would only have made Marc furious and distracted him from all the maturation that had gone on with his ex.

“She said that?” he asked more than once, and when I was done, he made me repeat it. “She said that I stood up for her? She knows that they were wrong?”

“She knows thatshewas wrong. I’m not sure if she’s ready to change all her opinions yet, because it’s a lot to face. It’s a lot to progress from the person you’ve been your whole life to someone stronger and maybe smarter,” I answered. “But I can see that she’s trying. Would you want to give her another chance?”

He bent to pet Sir, which really did help to calm turbulent emotions. “I don’t know,” he answered. “Being alone like this isn’t fun and I miss her. But I also feel like there’s a weight gone from me. I can do what I want without someone looking over my shoulder and telling me that it’s wrong.”

“Marc, I don’t want to sound condescending, but you’re young,” Caleb said. “What’s the hurry to get married? Even if y’all do get back together, why rush? You could date for a while and make sure it’s what you both really want.”

“I didn’t say that we were getting back together,” my cousin answered quickly. “Who ever said that? It wasn’t me. I wasn’t even thinking about it. I never said that I missed her and that I don’t like being alone.”

“You just said exactly that, you liar,” I commented, and he scowled at me.

“I never said that I still love her. I don’t, not anymore. I don’t. I’m over her, totally. Absolutely over her.”

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