Then I’d marry him. We’d have kids, and everything would beperfect.
That was thefantasy.
Then mymomdied.
Sethhappened.
A whole lot of other shithappened.
And in the midst of my grieving and my awkward coming-of-age among my brother’s friends, infatuated with a man I didn’t yet know how to make mine and foolishly thinking I had all the time in the world to figure it out… it was the heartbreak I didn’t even see coming that trampled mydreams.
ChapterThirteen
Brody
“So… how youbeen,Bro?”
“Great,”Isaid.
I was hammering on a punching bag and Jesse was looking at me like I wasn’t fucking great at all. More like I’d grown horns out of my head. That cautious tone of voice really fuckingirritatedme.
Since the wedding, everyone had been talking to melikethat.
Well, since I’d walked Jessa back to her cabin and told her she broke my heart, and she blew me the fuck off, and I started leaving a trail of broken shit inmywake.
I didn’t know you were in love with me, and it’s not my fault ifyouwere.
Fuck.
Couldn’t they all just get a fucking clue? I didn’t wanna talk. Usually, Jesse was fine with that. Heart-to-hearts with his bros weren’t exactly his forte. But he did have a gym in his house, and I definitely felt like punching things.Alot.
I hadn’t counted on Jude being here,though.
Jude had little patience for other people’s bullshit, just like I did, so usually that worked for me. But when he said, “He means what the fuck’s up your ass?” I started to seriously regret dropping by. “You’ve been wearing that ugly face all week. You know, you keep scowling like that, it might getstuck.”
I threw an ugly look his way and keptpunching.
“Think about it. How’re you gonna get laid, that happens? Your sparkling personality isn’t gonnadoit.”
Iignoredhim.
“He’s right,” Jesse put in. “Ladies like to laugh, and you’ve got shit for jokes. Good thing you’ve gotmoney.”
They were fucking with me. Trying to make me laugh, ease up a bit. Or piss me off enough that I snapped and maybe flipped out of this shit mood Iwasin.
I glanced over at them, where Jude was spotting Jesse on the bench press. “How about you girls worry about your own prettyfaces,yeah?”
I caught Jude throwing a sideways glance at Jesse. “This wouldn’t have anything to do with Jessa coming back totown,huh?”
I turned my focus back to the punching bag. “Broke up withAmanda.”
Yeah, that sounded convincing. A convenient excuse for the rotten funk I’d been in. And it was true; I’d broken up with her as soon as we got back from the wedding. Which sucked, in a way, because there was a whole lot to like about Amanda. She was smart, compassionate, pretty, athletic, and seriously into me. Plus, she hadn’t broken my heart, so she had that goingforher.
If I’d never met Jessa Mayes, I probably could’ve seriously fallen for anAmanda.
But I did meet Jessa Mayes. I met her when I was young, angry and had shit all in the way of love in my life, and that lonely eight-year-old girl with the big brown eyes made me smile for the first time in alongtime.
She made me smile a lot,backthen.
