Page 69 of Need Me
Brooke took one of his hands. “What made you decide to start livingagain?”
“This old woman, Donna. When she heard my story, she told me not to be like her and give up. She’d also lost a child, so she understood my pain. She’d turned to drugs and alcohol tocope.”
Brooke squeezed his hand. “I can understand that, anything to take the pain way.” Her mother did the same thing to drown out her husband’sinfidelity.
“She said that I should help other people who might find themselves in the same kind of situation. To not let Liam’s death be in vain. I’ll always be grateful to her for that advice.” He took a shudderingbreath.
“After a lot of thought, I figured the best way to help others was to become an expert climber and save people from dangerous situations like the one that took Liam fromme.
“I wasn’t going to let the mountain kill anyone else. Two months later I met Kate at a rock climbing class. I thought she was really pretty, but I was too shy to ask her out. One of our mutual friends set us up, but we had zero romantic chemistry. We clicked as friends right away, though. Then she met Phil, and we all became inseparable. You know therest.”
Emotional exhaustion dulled his eyes and slumped his shoulders. Brooke squeezed his hand. “Robert, I’m so, so sorry. There’s no greater pain than a parent losing a child, especially in such a horrible way. I can’t even begin to imagine. Does Kateknow?”
Robert shook his head. “No. Just you.” He sniffed, brushed away his tears, and put his glasses backon.
“Why didn’t you ever tell her?” Brooke couldn’t understand why he hadn’t confided in his bestfriend.
“I almost did a couple of times, but I just couldn’t. I was too afraid that talking about Liam would bring back all the pain,” Robert said. “I just kept it all bottled up inside and pretended that it hadn’t happened.” His torment-filled eyes met hers. “What kind of person hides the memory of their child, pretends that he never existed when he was the greatest joy in theirlife?”
Many things about Robert were starting to click into place for Brooke. Robert’s insecurity about himself, his drive to be the best climber possible, the way he cared about other people, and his awkwardness with women all made sensenow.
The first adult woman he’d been serious about had royally screwed him over and she hadn’t been the last woman to hurt him. He didn’t believe that he was worthy of a woman’s love and he couldn’t see that he had so much to offersomeone.
“Robert, you did what was necessary to survive. It’s not that you don’t love Liam, you love him so much that you think talking about him will cause you pain,” Brooke said. “But believe it or not, the more you talk about him, the easier it’llget.”
“I’d like to talk about him,” Robert said. “Do you want to see a picture ofhim?”
Brooke’s heart broke at the hope in his voice. “Of course, I want to see your littleboy.”
Robert took his phone out of his back pocket and brought up Facebook. In a moment, he handed the phone to her. The photo album name said, “My Little Man” and was set to private. Brooke blinked away tears so she could focus on thepictures.
Robert’s face might have been fuller and his body thicker, but Brooke thought that he was still a handsome man. His eyes shone with laughter as he carried Liam on his shoulders. Whoever had taken the picture had caught Liam in mid-laugh and Brooke smiled at how sweet hewas.
“He looks just like you, Robert. Such a beautiful little boy,” she said, scrolling through the pictures. “I wish I could’ve methim.”
Robert propped his elbows on his knees and dropped his head into his hands. “Me too,” he said and broke intotears.
Brooke sat his phone on the coffee table and wrapped her arms around him. Suddenly, he enveloped her in a crushing embrace and sobbed againsther.
