“I’m so sorry, baby,” she said. “I am.”
“I don’t understand what happened.” Pacing the living room, I kicked an old shoe box out of my way and against the wall, getting angry suddenly...but even the anger couldn’t control the devastation that clung to my soul and poisoned by body. “Everything was going great. I thought she washappy.”
“Sometimes these things don’t work out for a reason,” my mom said gently. “Sometimes people aren’t meant to be together, J, and maybe that was the case with you and Macey.”
“I don’t believe that, not for a second.” I slammed my open palm against the wall as confused anger overtook me, pushing me towards the edge, relishing in the sharp sting it left behind. And then I hit it again.
“Baby,” my mom soothed. “You have to trust that maybe this was going to eventually happen.”
“Why would I ever assume that this was going to happen?” I asked, dropping my throbbing hand to my side to lean forward and rest my head against the wall instead. “Didyouthink we were destined to be doomed?”
A short silence followed this, followed up by a quiet, “No. No, I didn’t.” I knew my mother well, and I could tell she wasn’t lying. She didn’t believe it, either. She’d liked Macey a lot; Iknowshe had.
“Then why did it happen?”
“I don’t know.”
“Then I’m going to find out.” Wheeling around, I began to pace again, focusing instead on the pain in my hand rather than the pain in my heart. The physical pain seemed easier. “I don’t think this was random, Mom, I think something is wrong with Macey, and I intend to find out.”
“Jayce.”
“I have to go, Mom, but I’ll call you tomorrow.”
“Jayce.”
“Yeah?”
Another heavy silence. And then my mom sighed. “Be careful digging around, J, you might not like what you find.”
Chapter 38
Macey
“Hey, kiddo,” my UncleErik said, nudging me gently in the arm. “You look positively forlorn. Anything I can do to help?”
“I’m fine,” I said softly. “I just have a lot on my mind.”
