Page 24 of Unsaid Things

With a final goodbye, Megan left and Abby got ready for bed, feeling very alone. She wanted Lance, and regretted making him stay behind, especially after what Megan had said. Was he upset that she’d made him stay? She knew he wasn’t thrilled about it, but he’d seemed to understand. And when she’d talked to him on the phone after getting back to the apartment he hadn’t sounded upset. She wished she could call him now, but it was after midnight in Texas, and they’d been up early this morning.

Tired, but restless, she unpacked her suitcase before crawling into the cold, empty bed and curling up with Lance’s pillow. She dreaded confronting her brother tomorrow, and she was starting to wish Lance was here to come with her. Maybe she should take Megan up on her offer to come along. The thought of moral support, someone having her back, seemed more appealing than it had when Megan had suggested it. She’d always dealt with everything on her own, but the last few months she hadn’t had to, and she’d gotten used to it. Maybe that was more reason than anything to deal with this on her own, though. Just so she didn’t get too accustomed to having someone help her. People left. People left her. She needed to be able to deal on her own and not rely on anyone. Even if that thought left a cold, empty ache in her chest.

Abby woke up with gritty, gunky eyes, the product of terrible sleep and loneliness. She forced herself to get up and take a shower, the hot water soothing her to some extent. During breakfast she texted with Lance while she ate a bowl of cold cereal. Not quite the family-filled Christmas morning she’d been planning on for the last couple of months.

Her stupid brother. Why couldn’t he just stay gone? She knew he wouldn’t stick around. If he planned on staying, why wouldn’t he say so on the phone? What did he want, anyway?

She sighed, rinsing her bowl. Only one way to find out. Her phone dinged with a text alert as she gathered her coat and purse to head to her mom’s.

Megan:When are you going to your mom’s?

Abby:Now.

Megan:Hang on. Don’t go yet.

Abby:Why not?

Megan:Chris and I are coming over. We want to bring your Christmas present. Be there in 10.

Abby flopped down on the couch. She didn’t want to wait, but she didn’t feel like arguing. She flipped through the channels, landing on a Christmas special while she waited for Chris and Megan.

Megan barged her way in when Abby answered the door, Chris trailing behind her, his sandy blond hair in its usual casual, messy style. “Merry Christmas!”

“Merry Christmas to you, too.”

Chris bent and gave Abby a quick hug. “Merry Christmas.”

“Merry Christmas, Chris.”

His hazel eyes were serious as they examined her. “How are you doing?”

Abby tugged at her lower lip, then forced her hand to her side. “I’m fine. Just worried about my mom. Anyway,” she turned to Megan, “you said you wanted to give me a Christmas present. But we exchanged presents before Lance and I left, remember?”

An impish smile coming to her lips, Megan shrugged. “We’re coming with you to your mom’s. Merry Christmas.”

Abby shook her head, taking a step back. “No. That wasn’t—“

Chris stepped in front of her. “Abby. Yes. I don’t feel good about letting you go alone. Not with some random dude in your mom’s house. I don’t trust him.”

“He’s my brother, Chris.”

“Maybe technically. I don’t care. He gives me a bad feeling, and there’s no way I’m going to let you go by yourself. Megan was going to insist on coming with you, but I don’t want her around that asshole either.” Chris’s chest had puffed up as he talked making him more intimidating than normal. Broad shoulders topped his expansive chest, covered in hard muscles honed from hours spent on the football field and in the gym.

“But, Megan—“

Chris cut Abby off with a shake of his head, crossing his arms. “I’m not changing my mind. Either we go with you, or you’re not going.”

“But my mom—“

He nodded. “I agree. We need to check on your mom. I don’t like that he wouldn’t let us see her, not even Megan. And Megan told me that he wouldn’t let you talk to her on the phone last night?” Abby nodded. “Yeah. I don’t trust that guy. So I’m going with you. I’ll stay outside if you want, but you have to leave the door open so I can hear what’s going on. Those are my terms.” He raised an eyebrow and angled his body toward the door. “Shall we?”

Abby sighed, defeated. What was it with these stubborn guys and their overbearing need to be involved with everything? In some ways, Chris was worse than Lance.

But deep down where she’d barely admit it to herself, she was grateful they were here. That Chris insisted on coming. She was more worried than she let on about the whole situation. While she had no way of knowing how her brother would react to having two more people around, she felt stronger, safer, more reassured with them than she would’ve on her own.

The ride to her mom’s house seemed to take forever, passing in tense silence. She knew Chris had been here before, but she still felt a pang of embarrassment at the overgrown dead weeds poking through the thin crust of snow around the edges of the property, the rutted track that passed for a driveway, and the crumbling edges of the siding on her mom’s double-wide. She’d grown up here, but she barely ever had friends over. When she was little, it was because her mom didn’t like having people over, but as she got older, Abby didn’t want anyone seeing where she lived.

Megan had been there off and on over the years, but other than her, Lance was the only person Abby had brought here. After he’d met her mom over the summer, he’d insisted on helping with the mowing, which was why the dead knapweed stayed on the edges of the yard, instead of taking it over like it used to. He’d offered to paint, but her mom had declined, and no amount of reasoning would make her change her mind. Lance had suggested just buying paint and doing it anyway, but Abby had convinced him that that would alienate her mom, and she couldn’t do that.

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