Page 6 of Wrong Number, Right Grumpy Brother’s Best Friend

I can’t help myself. I want her to need me.

I need her to want me.

Most days I don’t think she even likes me. We can’t spend more than ten minutes without arguing.

Which makes it even more fucked up that I can’t stop thinking about her. Her smart mouth, the stubborn tilt of her chin, her pouty lips when she’s pissed at me. Makes me want to kiss the attitude right out of her.

And now she’s going back to that loser. The one she ran off with, thinking she’d conquer the world. All she got out of it was one way ride and a train ticket home.

“Lynn’s an adult,” Logan says. “Way past the age where I get a say in what she does.”

“Yeah, yeah. Nobody’s the boss of her.” I pace toward the kitchen, thinking a beer would do me good right now, then change my mind. “But she respects you, man. You’re the only damn person she listens to. You could’ve talked some sense into her.”

“Let it go, Brian.”

“You know I can’t let it go.” I stop pacing and scrub a hand over my face. “I’ve tried. I can’t man.”

I know what’s coming when Logan is silent on the other end of the phone—the same argument he’s been making for years.

“It’s never been a good time,” Logan finally says. “You know that.”

I stare across the room, my jaw clenched tight enough to crack a tooth. He’s right. And I fucking hate that he’s right.

“Yeah.”

Another time. Another place. Another version of Lynn who knows what she wants. The settled Lynn who’s outgrown impulse decisions. The one who’s ready to quit running, thinking the grass is greener somewhere else.

I’ve been telling myself it isn’t the right time for years. Thought that one day the timing would finally work in my favor.

My phone beeps. I pull it away from my ear and spot a new message waiting... from Lynn.

“I gotta go,” I say quickly.

“Try not to do anything stupid.”

“Funny,” I say, but there’s nothing humorous about it.

I open the text.

Today was amazing. – Lynn

My stomach drops before something hot and ugly lands there.

Amazing.

I stare at the message until the words blur together, every stupid ounce of hope turning sour in my gut.

I can’t keep doing this.

CHAPTER FIVE

Lynn

The highway stretches ahead of me, the early evening sun spilling across the pavement as it falls behind the mountains in the distance. Even though I’m driving back home, back to my roots, it feels like I’m heading toward something rather than running from it.

I did it. And I did it on my own. My terms.

When Josh blocked me from leaving and begged me to stay, I stood my ground. I listened to his promises of how things would be different, how he was different. All the same promises he made before.