“Jacob and I are going to just surround ourselves with Henrys.” I smiled to myself. “And I’m going to figure out how to hang these lights. And I’ll watch football with him on Sundays. And dance with him every night while we cook dinner. And I’ll keep living by keeping the memory of you alive.”
I stood up. “Does that work? Does that fulfill the promise to keep living? It won’t be like when I went to California. Back when I decided that happiness was a bonus to your heart beating. I’ll be happy with Jacob. Just him. Please just tell me that’s okay.”
I waited for the wind to blow. For the leaves on the tree to rustle. For any sign that Miller agreed with my decision. But the night was eerily still.
Exposed - Chapter 3
Saturday
Matt
“Matt,” Kennedy said again.
I was aware of Kennedy’s presence beside me. I was aware of Nigel yelling weird things to the team. I was aware that there were only a few seconds left on the clock. But it was like I was numb to all of it.
She’s alive.
She’s alive.
She’s alive.
It was good the team didn’t need me. Because I was standing on the sidelines doing nothing. It didn’t even feel like I was here. I was back in that auditorium with Brooklyn. I’d forgotten how good she’d felt in my arms. And I’d forgotten how much it hurt to lose her. Because it felt like I’d just lost her all over again.
“Matt.” Kennedy touched my arm.
I pulled away from her. “Who else?” I asked.
“Who else what?”
I finally looked at her. “Who else knew Brooklyn was alive?”
She opened her mouth and then closed it again. But I saw her glance up at the stands.
I looked up there too. And Mason, Rob, and James all looked guilty. Tanner was missing. Maybe he couldn’t even face me. “Are you saying they all knew?”
“I don’t know. I know Brooklyn ran into Penny and…”
“Penny too?”What the fuck?
“Brooklyn said she wanted to tell you herself. She probably told them all the same thing. I was trying to respect her wishes. You know how much I regretted my last words to her. I didn’t want to regret something else.”
I just stared at her. “You let me fall for you. Don’t you regret that? How was that trying to respect her wishes?”
“Matt…”
“I don’t understand how you could do this to me. How you could look me in the eye and lie about everything.”
“I didn’t lie about anything. Everything that’s happened between us…”
“Don’t, Kennedy.”
“I fell for you before she came back. You have no idea how much this has torn me up.”
I didn’t respond. I knew. She’d been a mess all week.
“I tried to break it off with you on Saturday as soon as I found out.”
She’d known a whole week. But she’d also tried to push me away. She’d tried to put a wall between us. She’d tried to be a good friend to Brooklyn.
