Page 14 of When Sky Breaks

The word boyfriend briefly filters across my mind, but that was Johnny’s words, not mine.

“We’re casually dating.”

“What does that even mean? He gives me weird vibes.”

“Not that I need to tell you anything, but he’s a doctor at the hospital I work at. Oncologist. And it’s still new.”

Trek hums without saying another word, and we lapse into a tense silence. The clever asshole forced me to drive us back when he hitched a ride up here with a friend in exchange for pizza.

The remaining hours of the drive to Maizeville are stilted. My tears have dried—for now—yet the general anguish still hovers around us in my compact car.

I willfully ignored my dad’s efforts to bring me home for visits, and I’m betting he was trying to get me back to tell me about his diagnosis.

I’m such a stubborn fool. I stew, clenching my jaw.

“It’s not your fault, you know,” Trek says to break through the awful silence.

I’m tempted to turn up the radio so I don’t have to talk to him. But my heart fractures at his soft tone. It’s easy to forget he lost his mom at a young age, and now our father’s life is in limbo. The idea of him losing both parents tempers my anger. I wouldn’t wish that on anyone.

The sigh I release is not as bitter as before. “When you say it like that, it feels like my fault, even though logically, I know it’s not. What did he do, tell you to come up and bring me home like the sad, lost puppy I am?”

“You’re not sad, and you’re not really lost,” he drawls out, some semblance of humor breaching through his words. “But yeah, he wanted to tell you and not over the phone. I just got fed up with waiting on your ass.” He raises his hands once I flick him a hostile gaze. “Sorry, not sorry. You and I got shit to deal with, and although it’s incredibly crappy timing, it’s gonna happen. Just not until we get things with Dad squared away. He’s a priority.”

As he should be.

I ignore Trek like it’s my favorite pastime and focus on the road. I know I’ve let this go on for too long, but is there really a timeline for any sort of grief? Or on a grudge built from really fucking legit trauma?

“Are you staying at home, too? What about your job?” I ask because I truly don’t know. Most of the information I got was from Foster, but he knew I wasn’t interested in Trek’s comings and goings anymore.

“Well, if you had picked up that little device we all carry around on a daily basis, you’d know I’ve been living with Dad for the past few months. I work remotely, so it works.”

I sputter, gripping the steering wheel tighter. “He was diagnosed that long ago? What the fuck?”

Trek glares at the side of my face. “No, it hasn’t been that long. He noticed the knots in his lymph nodes a few weeks ago, but I guess he’s felt off for a while and chalked it up to getting older. I moved home to save money and keep an eye on him. The economy is shit. Apartments are stupid expensive, so he’s letting me stay. But again, you’d know all this if you picked up your damn phone.”

Because he’s mostly right, I chew the inside of my cheek, each lane of the highway blurring with unshed tears.

“Be mad at me. It’s okay, I can take it. But I was sick of waiting on you, and unfortunately, Dad’s health was the last straw. We need you whether you think you need us.” Trek’s hands tremble as I glance over. “Five years, sis. Five goddamn years since I last saw you. Since we’ve been together as a family.” He bites his lip in apparent frustration, and I turn back to the road before I crumble. “Jesus, I’m sorry. I’m taking shit out on you. Just know I missed you, okay?”

The tenuous grip on my emotions almost shatters. But I nod and hold in the many tears I fear I’ll be shedding in the days to come.

CHAPTER SIX

sky

Love is supposed to be unconditional. It shouldn’t take the threat of illness to pull me back to the man whom I call Dad with no hesitation.

But my heart wavers when Trek and I drive through town to the house I used to call home. Five years is nothing to some, but to those in this sleepy town, it might as well have been a lifetime.

Isolating myself was easier than remaining in a place that irrevocably changed me in a matter of months. The hollow feeling in my gut fuels the anger inward. I was selfish and let the terrible truths drive me away from someone who needed me the most.

A man who didn’t have to save me.

Foster could’ve wiped his hands clean after the fire. Let me age out in the group home. But he chose to find me. To name me as his daughter and shower me with a love I only dreamed of receiving. There are days I wish I changed my last name to Berry instead of clinging to my former life as if it would bring Chase back. I should’ve done everything to erase any trace of the man who truly betrayed me.

My biological father.

He was supposed to protect me and love me wholly and unconditionally. Instead, I was chronically disappointed, just like I am with myself.