Page 10 of Broken Promise
“Shane?” A feeling of dread sweeps throughme and I quickly pull up onto the shoulder while I wait for him tospeak. “What’s wrong?”
“You need to come home, sweets,” he says,his voice a hoarse whisper as he uses the old familiar nickname.“Mom died.”
My phone falls from my hand as shock coursesthrough my body. I hear Lenor talking in the background, but Idon’t hear any of the words. A new pain radiates through me andtears at a different part of my heart. I know this feeling.
Loss.
Grief.
Disbelief.
Lenor puts her hand on my shoulder, and Iface her.
“You need to let me drive.”
“I’m fine,” I argue.
“Babe, we’ve been sitting here for the lastthirty minutes. You’re not fine.”
Nodding, I step out of my car and walkaround the hood while Lenor does the same.
“We should find a hotel for the night anddrive back tomorrow,” she says as she pulls back onto the road.
“I need to be there.”
“Are you sure?” she asks softly, finding aspot where she can turn around. “You just left.”
“He was there when Tommy died,” I saysoftly. “I need to be there for him. And Mrs. Blake was just asmuch a mother to me as my own. I need to pay my last respects.”
She nods, cranking the radio up loud.Neither of us wants to discuss what is going on. Driving back withthe music blasting is the best thing. We can avoid dealing withthis heartbreaking reality until we get there. And even then, Idon’t know what I am going to do.
****
The sun is starting to rise as we drive backinto Severn. We left and returned in less than twenty-four hoursand I’m not quite sure how I feel about it. If it were anyone else,I wouldn’t have come back, but this is Wesley. I can’t abandon him.And not just him, Adam and Shane too. They have always been part ofmy family, and they would all do the same for me.
“You need to take me to the bar,” I say aswe drive down Main Street.
“Karmen…”
“Don’t. I’ll be fine. And I’ll deal with thefallout later,” I cut in. “Right now, he’s in pain and he’s myfriend, if nothing else.”
“Fine,” she mumbles. “But don’t say I didn’twarn you.”
“Noted.”
I use the spare key once Lenor drops me offand drives away. I didn’t ever grab a change of clothing from mycar before she left but it’s not like she is leaving the country,she’s just going to her mom’s place.
Letting myself in, I climb the stairs to hisapartment. I jump over the second step remembering it creakssomething awful and I don’t want to risk waking him if he is stillasleep. I slowly make my way through his open plan kitchen,slipping my flats off as I walk.
Pushing open the bedroom door, I expect tofind him sleeping but he is sitting in his favorite brown armchairstaring out the window, smoking a cigarette.
“I wondered if you’d remember about thestep,” he says not looking at me.
“How could I forget?”
I grab the cigarette from his hand and takea drag as I sit on the little bench seat beside the window.
“I thought you quit when I did,” I say justto fill the tense silence.