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how he gets to swan off traveling the world while my daughter rots in the ground is something I’ll never come to terms with.”
“Meanwhile, you were seven years old when you came bounding up the lane.” He paused to drain the contents of his glass, before adding, “And even then, you were more of a man than he’ll ever be.”
“Maybe Liz will come around,” Claire offered in a hopeful tone. “When she’s not so sad anymore.” “She’s never not going to be sad,” Gibsie replied, sniffling again. “Trust me, that kind of sadness never goes away. The world just stops seeing it.”
The Boys of Tommen
“What’s wrong with her, Hugh?” Gibsie asked, giving me a strange look. “Nothing!” I snapped, pushing a hand through my hair. “She’s grieving her sister, that’s all.” “Yeah, but I know grief, Hugh,” Gibs replied slowly, brows furrowed.
Girls of Tommen
“Can you hear yourself right now?” he asked, looking thoroughly amused. “You’re practically in tears because your girlfriend wants you. That’s a top 1 percent problem, Hugh.” Chuckling, he added, “Have you any idea how the other 99 percent of lads struggle?”
Feely shrugged unapologetically. “It’s my hands.” He raised one for emphasis and wiggled his fingers. “Guitar fingers, lad.”
Freaky feely
I returned to the lads, only to find Gibs and Kav fighting like an old married couple.
“If you knew what you do to me, Liz.” His eyes were darker than usual, with large, dilated pupils and a hungry glint. Palming my ass, he gripped me tightly and roughly pulled my body flush against his. “If you only knew.”
Because despite withdrawing from life and locking everyone out of her world, she left a key out for me.
It wasn’t until I heard his voice in my ear and my blood ran cold that I realized I was dreaming. No, not dreaming. I had clearly tripped, bumped my head, and landed slap bang into my scariest nightmare to date… “Did you miss me?” the monster snarled,
No words
“That’s the plan,” I replied, catching a glimpse of Feely scampering off with a tiny redhead.
That wasn’t to say that Johnny wasn’t a good friend of mine. He was. He was the first one to step in to defend the three of us and always kept his word. If Cap told you he would do something, it got done, and if he told you he’d be somewhere, you didn’t have to worry about him not showing up. His word was good, his heart was gold, his love life was private, his lips were sealed, and his devotion to rugby was unmatched.
Which begged the question, how could Johnny relate to what I was going through with Liz? How could he understand that a girl came before rugby for me? He couldn’t. Maybe one day, a girl would walk into his world and bring him to his knees, like Liz did to me, but until that day came, it was easier to say nothing.
She was my chosen field, my strongest subject, and I was sure no other heart could be a specialist in the field of Elizabeth Eleanor Young.
“‘Silver Springs’?” I broke the moment by asking, taking a seat on the floor. Liz looked over her shoulder, giving me a glimpse of those soul-sucking blue eyes before turning back to her book. “Why break the habit of a lifetime?”
“You can’t keep doing this to me,” he cried hoarsely, battling to capture my hands that were touching him everywhere. “Liz, you’re fucking killing me.”
I knew this wasn’t who Liz was, and I knew she was sick, but I was too hurt and too fucking raw to separate the two.
“Who the fuck are you?” “Liz! Omigod, be nice!” “Okay,” I drawled. “Who the fuck are you please?” “Katie,”
My gaze flicked from my mother to Liz and then my sister before settling back on her. Always her.
Tears streamed down my cheeks as I tried to absorb his words. “Please don’t leave me.” “I didn’t leave you, Liz,” he croaked, lifting his head to look at me. “You left me.”
As painful as it was to hear, it was sound advice from a friend I knew had my best interests at heart and would never stab me in the back. Gibsie was a lot of things, but disloyal was not one of them. In my whole life, I had never met a more faithful human being.
“Do you think I’ll be okay?” I whispered, feeling so damaged inside, I needed someone to reassure me. “Will I be able to get past this?” “Hell yes you will,” he replied confidently. “And if you get stuck on the path of getting past this, I’ll be right behind you to push you over the line.”
“Promises have to be kept to mean something,”
I would have spent the rest of my life beside her if she could have just shown me the same commitment.
