Page 112 of Untethered Heart
“Caleb!”Dammit.
I open my mouth to apologise to Mum, when I remember a few months ago, sitting at the dining table, and Gage throwing me under the bus about Lex to get out of talking about Isabelle. My, how times have changed.
I feel a gluttonous conceit fill me as I inhale and then announce to the room, “Gage hasn’t spoken to Isabelle since the crash.”
Outrage. Total outrage ensues.
“Henry! Why are you not speaking to her? It wasn’t her fault. That’s just awful.” My mother is well and truly disappointed.
“Very selfish,” I agree like a pompous arse.
“That poor sweet girl! I told you to call her,” Grams scolds.
“Why would you choose to ignore Grams, Henry?” I look around the room, rallying sympathy. “And poor Isabelle. My dear, dear friend.”
Gage sinks further into the couch as his cheeks turn red. His shirt drags and pulls with the movement, and my eyes latch onto a silver chain hidden inside the neck hole of his shirt. I’ve never known my brother to wear jewellery other than what’s pierced through his skin. It’s not even a thick chain, it’s quite dainty.
“Perhaps he felt bad for getting her into the accident,” says Grandpa. “If she’s trying to talk to you, Gage, she’s obviously more worried about your wellbeing than hers. I think you should call her.”
“I agree,” says Dad. “It was an accident, Gage. You’re not to blame. Nothing you did that night could have changed the outcome. It was the other driver who crossed into your lane.”
“Yeah. If anything, you saved her from being hurt more when you threw yourself over her.” We all look at Beth, stunned. He threw himself over her? Well, now, I feel like a dick. He was trying to protect her. I forget how deep my brother’s hurt runs sometimes, going back to the first person he couldn’t save in a similar situation.
“I’m sorry, brother,” I mutter under my breath so the rest of the family can’t hear.
“No,” he grunts. “You’re right. I should call her. I’ll do it tonight.” Then he hands me back my phone, staring at the background on the screen. A selfie of Lex laughing while I bury my face in her neck.
“What’s that like?” he asks, tipping his chin to the screen.
“Like everything I didn’t know I couldn’t live without.”
Chapter fifty-three
I’ve spent the last five nights at home with my brother, but now it’s time to start the two-hour drive back to Heart City. A feat that’s hard enough most times I leave my childhood home, but it’s even harder now that I’m leaving behind my brother and my unborn nephew.
I can’t believe Dylan is going to be a dad to a little boy. He’s the best big brother, and I know he’s going to be an amazing dad. Becca seems nice enough, but I can tell how scared she is by everything. There are only six weeks left until her due date. I just hope I can take off work quickly once the baby is born so I can spend some time with my nephew. I’m sure they’d both like some help when the baby is first born. I don’t want to overstep. I just want to be there with my brother, anyway that he needs me.
“Hey, Guppy,” Dylan calls out. “There’s roadworks on the main highway. You might want to cut through Trevally Falls on the way home.”
“Oh, okay.” Trevally Falls is another tourist town halfway between here and Heart City. I normally go around it because it’s quicker. You have to cut around the hillsides to get into the pretty little town, where it sits at the bottom of huge falls. “That’s alright, it’s a nice day for a drive.”
“Thanks for coming down, sis,” he says and pulls me in for a hug.
I squeeze him tighter, not wanting to let go. “You gonna be okay?”
He pulls away and scrunches his nose. “Yeah. Anna went through everything with me, and Becca’s pretty chill. She doesn’t speak to her family when I’m around, but I guess she just doesn’t know how to introduce me. It’s cool. We’ll figure it out.”
If it weren’t for the way Dylan scrunched his nose, I would have believed him. I feel even worse about leaving now. I pull him back in for a hug. “I love you.”
“I love you, too. Now get out of here. I don’t want to be on your boyfriend’s bad side for keeping you so long,” he chuckles.
“Call me if you need me,” I say, with no room for argument, as I step into my car.
I text Caleb to let him know I’m on my way back, and then I start up an audiobook for the drive home. At the last second, I make the turnoff for Trevally Falls, nearly missing it because the enemies in my book just got to the hotel, and there’s only one bed. I mean, who could blame me for that one?
My jaw drops as I make my way down the steady decline of the hill. The mountainside is covered in thick green foliage and pink wildflowers. As I come around the final bend, the waterfall the town’s named after comes into view.
Water cascades down the rock face, falling into an open spring below. I can see a few families playing in the shallow pool where the waters are calm. There’s a bridge up ahead that my car rumbles over for a few metres. I look through my passenger-side window and see that the water flows through a shadowed creek, with the ocean just in the distance.
