Releasing 10 (Boys of Tommen, #6)

by Chloe Walsh

“You’re pe...

“I’m sick.” Her hand shot out from under the covers and covered mine. “I’m not right in the head.” “Don’t say that,” I pleaded, feeling panicked. “You’...

“Will I be okay, Hugh?” she asked then, looking up at me like I had the answers. “Will I ever be normal like the other girls?”

“It’s just a word,” I repeated, wiping a tear from her cheek. “And you are way too special to tick the ‘normal’ box.”

“You could never be described by a word, Liz, and especially not a boring one like normal. You know what else? I wouldn’t change a single thing about you. I love that you don’t tick that boring box.”

“You wouldn’t change me if you could?” “Nope.” “How come?” “Because then you wouldn’t be you,” I explained, wiping away another one of her tears. “And a world without Lizzie Young would be a travesty.”

I smiled back at her, feeling relieved, because I liked Catherine Young a lot. She was a really nice lady, and it sucked that she spent so much time in the hospital. I understood why—my own mother had explained her illness to me—and I was rooting for her to get better. I even said a prayer for her before I went to bed at night. Every night. I made sure to never skip. Just to be safe.

“When you open your eyes in the morning, my face is the first thing you’re going to see.

Because you are more important to me than anything else in my life. And because there’s nowhere else that I would rather be than right there with you.”

Because there was something wrong with me, something broken inside of my head, and while I used to have some control over it before, that control had been eradicated that day at my sister’s graveside. When I realized no one would ever believe me. When I decided I didn’t believe myself, either. Since that day, I didn’t have it in me to mask and conceal.

“Well, maybe Liz is a little short on belief these days, Mam, especially considering nobody has shown her the same grace.”

“Don’t say it,” I warned, instantly on edge, as I held a hand up in warning. “Don’t use her bipolar disorder against her. Don’t be like the others.”

“No, I don’t have a crush on the girl,” I countered evenly. “I’m in love with the girl, and contrary to your dismissal of my feelings, I assure you that not only are they very real but very permanent.”

“But it’s good to know where you stand on my relationship, Mam. Let’s rehash this conversation in twenty years when I swing by the house with my wife—previously

Anyone else would have turned on their heels and bolted, but not Hugh. He stayed despite the tears, trauma, and tantrums. He stayed. For me.

I’d always known I loved Hugh, but my feelings for him had deepened over the summer. Like the roots of the tall oak tree in the meadow that sprawled deep beneath the surface of the earth, the love I felt for this boy had taken ahold of my heart to the point where I honestly thought I might die without him.

Every night without fail, Liz would wake in a panicked state, and every night without fail, nobody would come to check on her. It didn’t matter how loud she screamed or how frantic she became; she was left alone with her demons.