“What happened?”
Liam is almost at a loss for words. He sits down on one of the benches, putting his face in his hands. I watch his back as he takes a few deep breathes, then pushes his fingers through his hair. “Walker told me she wasn’t doing well, so I went to check on her. She had pills and booze. The pills were lined up.”
The world around me tilts and I’m on my ass in two seconds flat.
Drew sees what happens and comes running, Liam jumps up to help me. The father and son share a look, and I’m escorted quickly into the office.
I don’t know where everyone goes, but when I come back to myself we’re alone.
“Is she alive?” I let the words fall out of my lips with no emotion. Because if she’s dead, I have nothing anymore.
Liam confirms. “She’s alive, I got to her before she did anything stupid, but she needs help, Dalton. You all do, fuck, we all do. I called Doc Jones, and she made a recommendation to have her hospitalized for a couple of days. So I called an ambulance.”
I didn’t even get to say goodbye.
“She asked not to see you.”
Somehow that doesn’t surprise me after everything we’ve been through.
“Where’s Walker?”
I need to make sure my kid is okay. I couldn’t be the husband Mandy needed, but I can be the father Walker needs.
“Still at school, I figured you’d want to go get him.”
Immediately, I have this burning urge to go get him, to hold my son in my arms, and to try and put his life back together. To put our lives back together.
I’ve let Mandy call the shots for too long, assuming she would realize what was happening. It’s time for me to be the responsible one, to hold us together instead of letting us fall apart.
“I’m gonna take off and go get him, let him know what’s going on.”
Liam stops me. “He knows, Dalton. Don’t treat him like a kid. He knows.”
The implication chills me to my core.
I’m on my bike and driving to the school faster than I should be.
Only then do I let a few tears fall. For the life we had, and the one that’s unknown.
Glancing up at the sky, I send out a prayer that we make it through.
I don’t know how to live without my family, and now? I flat out refuse to.
“Dad?” The small, unsure voice of my son is enough to get the waterworks started again, but I push them back, not wanting to scare him and not wanting to make a spectacle of myself here in the principal’s office. We already get enough looks as is.
“Yeah, come on. I’m checkin’ you out early today.”
Instead of being excited about leaving, his eyes, so much like Mandy’s, are full of questions and uncertainties. These last few months have taken just as much of a toll on him as they’ve taken on me and Mandy.
“Is Mom okay?”
Those are the first words we speak as we walk out of the school. “She’s going to be,” there, at least I’m not lying to him.
“She’s not been okay for a while,” his voice is soft, so soft I can barely make it out.
“Look,” I lean down so that we’re eye-to-eye. “There are things that have been happening I don’t expect you to understand. It’s hard for us, as adults to understand. What I need you to know is none of this is your fault, there’s nothing either of us could have done to make this better for Mom. What we’re gonna do from here on out though, is support her in whatever way she needs.”
He nods. “How do we need to support her?”
The better question is what in the hell did I do to deserve this kid? “She’s going away for a while to get better.”
“So I won’t see her every day?”
“No, but you’ll be seeing me every day until you get to see her again.”
His brow furrows and I know this is hard for him to understand.
“This is gonna be hard for both of us, but I love you, and we both love your mom.”
He grabs my hand, holding it tightly. “I love you too, Dad. I’ve missed you.”
There’s no way I can hold back anymore. Grabbing him by the shoulders I hug him tightly to me. “I love you too, and I promise we’ll come out on the other side of this.”
“Papaw Liam always says what’s meant to be, will be.”
Pulling back, I give him a small smile. “Papaw Liam is right, and our family is definitely meant to be.”
The End.
About the Author
Laramie Briscoe is the USA Today and Wall Street Journal Bestselling Author of over 30 books.
Since self-publishing her first book in May of 2013, Laramie has appeared on the Top 100 Bestselling E-books Lists on Amazon Kindle, Apple Books, Barnes & Noble, and Kobo. Her books have been known to make readers laugh and cry. They are guaranteed to be emotional, steamy reads.
When she's not writing alpha males who seriously love their women, she loves spending time with friends, reading, and marathoning shows on Netflix. Married to her high school sweetheart, Laramie lives in Bowling Green, KY with her husband (the Travel Coordinator) and a sometimes crazy cat named Beau.
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