Page 94 of Love Me Steadfast
“Hey, baby, it’s okay,” he says in a soothing voice that just makes me cry harder. I don’t want him to go, but I can’t let him stay.
“It’s my fault,” I say into his neck while he rubs my back. “I was going to go with her, but I went with you instead. And then I wasn’t home.”
“Don’t think like that,” he says, shifting to hold me tighter. “You’re allowed to have a life too, Charlotte.”
“Not if this is the consequence.”
He sighs heavily, then kisses the top of my head. “Morgan made a mistake. How is that your fault?”
I push back from his lap and wipe my tears. “I have to go.”
“Charlotte,” he whispers, his eyes tense.
But I’m already hurrying back to Morgan’s room.
Chapter Twenty-Nine
CHARLOTTE (AGE 17)
The minuteI get both Emmie and Wren in my car, Emmie reaches into her purse. “I got everyone condoms.”
I burst out laughing. “It’s a tennis team party. What exactly do you think is going to happen?”
“Never hurts to be prepared.” Emmie folds up a stack of three and hands it to Wren, but she waves her off. “I already got some.”
“What?” I stare in shock.
“Wilder and I…” She gives me a sheepish grin.
Emmie and I scream.
Wren just laughs, her cheeks flushing pink.
“Promise me he’s good to you,” I say, wagging my finger.
She bites her lip, her eyes twinkling in the dim dash lights. “He is.”
Emmie hands me the stack of condoms. “Speaking of promises, I hear a certain quarterback is making an appearance tonight.”
I start my car, a dark blue Volvo sedan Dad bought me after I finally passed my driving test. “And your point is?” I attempt a shrug but my tight shoulders feel too stiff. I haven’t forgotten thepromise William made me in his truck, sealed with blackberry kisses. No surprise my best friend hasn’t forgotten it either.
“Don’t make the poor guy wait any longer,” Emmie says, her eyes softening.
Maybe she’s right….but the second I got the phone call from Dad, everything shifted. I was racked with guilt, and then Mom humiliated me in front of everyone. It felt like a wakeup call. I couldn’t be with William, not when my family needed me. Not when Will needed to focus on football. They won State this year, just like everyone predicted. He got his full ride to Oregon, and Theo got a partial athletic scholarship to Western.
I park a block from the house and we tumble out of the car. It’s been snowing off and on for weeks, but the sun came out today and the roads are bare.
I link arms with my friends. “Remember no drinks from cups you didn’t pour. And we check in with each other.”
“And we leave before the chariot turns into a squash,” Emmie adds, narrowing her eyes at Wren. “Got that, Cinderella?”
“This is our first senior party,” she says with a groan. “If we’re the first to leave, it might be our last.”
A pang tightens in my gut because going to a party is something I promised Morgan we’d do together one day. I almost laugh out loud at how silly that seems now.
After the car accident, Dad enrolled her in an intensive therapy program she attends every morning. Afternoons are spent doing online schoolwork. Theo and I take turns helping her so Dad can be at the club. It took a while to get our schedules figured out, with football and marching band and carving out a little bit of time for Boxcar, but it’s been almost six months and Morgan’s definitely better. Quieter, but stable.
The only thing that really lights her up is music, and spending time at a horse rescue run by one of the Hutton’s longtime friends, Gudrun Berg. Dad even convinced Finn River High School to give Morgan credit for the work she does there, which has made the goalof graduating a little more tolerable. Our open mic at Harker’s went really well. Dad’s friend Steve was there with a talent scout he knows, and the two of them have been helping us book a couple more gigs. It’s kind of exciting but I’m anxious about it too. I love making music with Mo, but playing in clubs and bars puts a lot of temptation right in her face. Plus she and Crosby still bicker, and I could do without my stage fright that has yet to get any easier.
