Page 89 of For Keeps. For Always.

His tongue drags along his lips. “Why?” He moves closer again.

“Because you’re not him, and when I see him again, nothing else, especially the feelings of others, seem to matter.”

“What if I want nothing more than a simple kiss so youcan’thurt me?”

I sigh, pulling back marginally. “My lips belong to another. They poison anyone else they touch.”

“You’re drunk,” he argues.

“I’m toxic,” I rebut. “He’s toxic. Together, we’re venom. A beautiful cancer.”

“Let me help you forget then,” he pushes.

I laugh. “You don’t think I’ve tried that? It causes me more pain than the reality of living without him.”

“Then why are you apart?”

I stand, finished with my rendezvous with this gorgeous stranger. “Because I don’t think I believe in love, and Brooks deserves more than that.”

27

BROOKS

AGE 26

“You sound tired.”

Like her words have given me permission for the floodgates of exhaustion to open, I yawn unexpectedly. “I’m okay.”

“Sweetheart.”

“Mom,” I groan. “I’m fine.”

“Brooks, you told us you’d be here four months ago.”

There is accusation and pain in her voice, and my guilt burns the inner line of my throat, dripping all the way down to the pit of my stomach.

“A job’s a job, Mom. I’ll be there as soon as I can.”

She lets go of a small sigh after a pause of silence. “We haven’t seen you in years.”

I don’t know what to say.

She’s right. I’ve avoided Lake Geneva like it's the fucking plague because it’s soaked in memories of Henley. I’d breathe her in the moment I arrived and suffocate on her rejection the entire time. I feel that in my soul.

“You could visit me in New York. I’ll be here for another month or so.”

I pretend I can’t hear her silence. I sit quietly, pretending that the absence of sound isn’t loaded with disappointment.

“We could definitely plan that,” she finally gives in.

I knew she would.

She’s my mother.

She may not understand my reservation at coming home, but she’ll accept it in her own way.

“Are you seeing anyone?”

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