Chapter 40
JUST LIKE OLD TIMES
The sound of kids screaming tore me from my fitful sleep.
I blinked at the stained ceiling, trying to place where I was.
Why I felt heavy. Like I wasn’t right. There was something that I couldn’t put my finger on but desperately needed to fix.
Craig moaned and rolled over, hitting me in the face with his arm.
“Shit, sorry.” He rubbed his face.
Now I remembered. I was in Parkfield, and Tristan was in jail.
The hotel had been booked except for one junior suite.
Apparently, there was some craft thing going on.
The room had a king-size bed and a pullout couch.
At over six feet, Craig wasn’t going to fit on the pullout, and after pulling it out and seeing the paper-thin mattress, I wouldn’t be able to walk if I slept on it. So we slept together. Not that way.
“If you were anyone other than my best friend’s man, this would be weird.” I looked over at him. “Why don’t you have a shirt on?” He had one on when we went to bed.
He rubbed his face. “I don’t know. It was a rough night. So how do you want to do this? With Tris, I mean.”
I lay there, listening to the kids still yelling and running down the hall. “We could draw straws.”
Craig scoffed, sitting up. His cell rang. “Noah.”
I grabbed my phone, slipped out of bed, and headed to the bathroom. I groaned when I saw my reflection. I looked like shit. Tired and a little gray under the fluorescent light. I could hear Craig talking to Noah as he dressed and tried to make coffee.
I texted Callie, feeling like I needed to confess something. Not about Craig.
Me:
carter’s not talking to me
and I slept with your man
Callie:
did he kick you
Me:
yes twice
he do that often?
Callie:
only when he’s stressed
are you worried about carter
Me:
shouldn’t I be
Callie:
I don’t know. have you talked to tris
Me:
no but I have to let him go right
Tristan not carter
Callie:
you have to do what’s right for you
Me:
that’s not what you said last week
Callie:
sorry I was hormonal
Me:
and what if I don’t know what’s right
Callie:
you will
Me:
and if that means being with Tristan
Callie:
then I guess I’ll visit you in FL
Me:
im not moving
Callie:
if you say so
got to go client’s here
tell craig to call me
love ya
Me: love ya
I washed my face and brushed my teeth. I told my reflection I could do this. I could face Tristan. And I could leave him.
“Ev?” Craig knocked on the bathroom door.
I opened it, ready to face reality. “Well?”
“I’ll give you the choice. Bail out pissy pants or take Noah to the funeral home.” Craig looked at his phone. Both made my stomach turn. I hadn’t been to a funeral home since my dad died. But I wasn’t sure if I was ready to see Tristan.
“I’ll take Noah. I don’t know if Tristan would want to see me.” I stepped past Craig.
“He would. But I think Noah could use a sister more than a weird uncle. I barely know the kid.” Craig smiled.
“You’re not his uncle.”
We dressed, and Craig dropped me off at Noah’s.
It was weird being back and not knowing the people who lived on the streets I once roamed.
It felt surreal. Not as odd as seeing Noah.
He stood in the doorway of the small house, all grown up.
Noah’s once white-blond hair was darker.
He and Tristan looked nothing alike now.
Noah looked a lot like James. I had never thought of James as a handsome man. But Noah was.
“Look at you, all grown up.” I smiled at him. He was tall and lean and had a smile that reminded me of Tristan’s.
“Evan,” he said, pulling me into his embrace. “Thank god you’re here.”
It was odd, hugging this Noah. The scared little boy I had made mac and cheese for was now a grown man. But the memories of him and Tristan—the fights and the days at the beach, the melted ice cream and tears—were all still there. I pulled away and looked up at him, not sure what to say.
“Noah?” A pregnant girl came out, wiping her hands on a towel. She was young with a pretty, round face and long dark blonde hair.
“Bailey. This is Evan.” Noah stepped into the small living room.
“The Evan? I’ve heard so much about you. It’s so good to finally meet you.” She hugged me quickly. “Can I get you anything? Coffee? Tea?”
“Coffee would be great if you have some. Otherwise, I’ll stop at First Street.”
“Oh no, we have some.” She touched Noah before leaving the room.
“Ev, I’m sorry about… Tris wasn’t trying to hide—”
“Noah, whatever happened between your brother and me has nothing to do with you. We have an extremely complicated history. And this isn’t about Tristan and me.
” He still felt like my little brother. I wanted to gather him in my arms and kiss away the crease on his brow.
Tuck him into bed and tell him everything would be okay.
“Have you seen him? Tristan.” He ran his hands through his hair.
God, he was so much like his brother. His voice, the way he moved around the room.
It hurt, and yet I was glad I came. “No, Craig went to bail him out.” I looked around the small room.
It was a cozy house filled with soft surfaces and things.
Photos of Noah and Bailey. Little pockets of baby things. “Did James hurt him?”
“Nothing more than normal. Fuck. All these years, and you’re still the one saving us from him. Saving Tristan. You’d think after all these years things would’ve gotten better. But they haven’t. It’s still a fucking shit show.”
Bailey came back into the room. “Here. I put it in a to-go cup. You have to get going.” Bailey nervously tugged at her shirt. She looked at Noah and back to me. “Did you ask her?”
“It’s fine.” He pulled her into his embrace. “You don’t have to come.”
“I would, but you know how James is, and after my last appointment…” Her hand went to her stomach.
“It’s okay,” I said. “I want to go. I hope you don’t mind.” I smiled, trying to tell her I got it. This family was a fucking mess, and I wouldn’t want James Anderson anywhere near my unborn child either.
“It’s not what you think.” She looked up at Noah.
“Really, it’s okay. Thank you for the coffee. The hotel coffee is horrible.” I took a sip.
“Oh, you’re not staying at the Parkfield Inn, are you? That place is horrible. You are welcome to stay here. We have a spare bedroom. It’s being turned into the nursery, but we can make room.”
“It’s fine. My mother lives in town, so I can go stay with her.” This was where Tristan would want to be. “We should go.”
“Right.” Noah hugged and kissed Bailey before ushering me out the door and to his car. “It’s not what you think. James has never laid a hand on her,” Noah said, starting the car. “I wouldn’t let him.”
“I know,” I said, putting on my seat belt.
“She was the one who called the cops that night I was arrested. James showed up. He wanted me to break up with her. He doesn’t approve of her. James and I got into a fight. I shoved him, and he fell down. When the cops got there, he played the victim.”
“And they believed him?”
“He’s changed since you were here. He has found God.
Bailey and I aren’t married. She wants to wait until we can afford it.
So that means we’re living in sin in the eyes of James and his newfound religion.
Tristan has offered to pay for the wedding so James will lay off. But I need to do this one on my own.”
“Jesus fucking Christ. Is that why Tristan’s in jail?”
“No. Tristan’s in jail because he finally fought back.
” Noah drove down the familiar streets. They were the same, but some of the colors and faces had changed.
White houses were now gray with black shutters.
New families had moved in. The old high school looked different.
The long sidewalk that led up to the school was gone.
“I’m sorry I wasn’t a better friend.” I felt guilty seeing the man Noah was. “I didn’t break up with you. I should have been there for you. I’m sorry.”
“Ev, you were eighteen. There was nothing you could do.” Noah shook his head. “Tristan took it pretty hard. I don’t think he believed you’d leave or that he’d let you.”
“Yeah, I know the feeling.” I watched the familiar main street turn to a residential area. I had never been so happy to see the funeral home in my life.
It was going to be harder to untangle myself from Tristan than I thought. I was starting to doubt I even wanted to.