Page 113 of Forever Yours

As soon as the call disconnected, April put the television on mute and rolled over on her side to face me.

“You can take the Mercedes.”

I sent April a look full of gratitude. Her blind kindness helped remind me that the good people in this world outnumbered the bad.

“Thank you, but your dad could have me arrested for jacking his very expensive car without permission.”

She chewed her bottom lip. “Oh, right. Didn’t think about that. He’s on a tirade at the moment. Been blowing up my phone, demanding that I‘get my ass back home,’” she finger-quoted.

It was past midnight, and she was still seventeen, so not yet legal in the eyes of the law to make her own decisions. And I didn’t want her to get into trouble because of me.

“If you want me to come with you, say the word. I can Uber back here.”

I didn’t know Brad or how he would react after what went down tonight.

She circled a finger around in the air. “From the look on your face, you’re thinking worst case. Dad may be an asshole, but he’s notthatkind of asshole. I can handle him.”

I was still skeptical. “Are you sure?”

“Yep.”

Getting up, she took my phone out of my hand.

“Here are my digits.” Tongue stuck between her teeth, she added her contact to my phone and texted herself, so she’d have mine. “Is it okay if I text you sometime? Maybe a Facetime or something?”

“Absolutely. But I doubt Brad or Mom will want you to have anything to do with me now.”

She grinned and handed me back my phone. “Dad won’t be able to tell me to do shit in a month when I turn eighteen.”

Was I ever that young and rebellious? April and I were only a year or so apart, but I felt like an old man compared to her. I’d seen too much and lived through too much. It was sad in a way, being forced to grow up so early. I hoped April would be able to keep that youthfully defiant part of herself for a little while longer.

Instead of leaving, she took a seat next to me on the bed, her hands doing nervous cartwheels in her lap.

“How do you handle it?”

I stretched my arms overhead and yawned. I’d stay up until I knew she got home safely, then my ass was crashing for a few hours until I had to get up to meet Julien at Charleston Executive Airport, where Fallon’s private plane would be landing.

“Handle what?”

She looked down at her lap and started tapping her index fingers together. “The stuff with your mom. Having a parent who couldn’t care if you existed. Does it get better?”

I knew she wasn’t asking to be rude, but I hated hearing it just the same. April and I were so different in a lot of ways. She was brash and fearless, whereas I grew up the timid wallflower. But we were similar, too.

“I don’t know. Ask me again in a year when I don’t feel so carved out and hollow.”

She nodded solemnly. I wished I could give her a different answer. Something uplifting that she could cling to with hope. That, yes, someday things would be better with her dad. But did a child ever get over that kind of rejection? I sure as hell hadn’t. I might have found some closure tonight, but that crack in my heart that belonged to Mom would never heal properly.

April slapped her knees like she was playing the bongos. “Guess I should get going. Give your stepsis a hug.”

Gladly.

“No matter what, you need me, I’m there,” I said.

She pressed her nose to my shirt. “I’m going to hold you to that.”

We took the elevator to the ground floor and waved to the woman at the check-in counter as I walked April out to the car. A minivan pulled up under the overhang, and a bedraggled woman got out. Her kids were fast asleep in the back seat, heads drooped against the window glass.

“Thanks for the burger and chocolate cake.”

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