Page 40 of Unsaid Things

Abby’s eyes bugged out of her head, but she quickly brought her expression back to normal. “You seriously want me to ask my boyfriend for money for you.”

He just nodded, holding his breath while he waited for her answer.

“If I get this money for you,”—though she already knew she would—“you’ll get a job and get your own place. Or you’ll leave town. I don’t care which one you choose, but you have to do one or the other.”

“Abby—“

She cut him off when she heard the tone in his voice that meant he was about to try to negotiate. “No, Aaron. That’s the deal. I get you the money, and you get out of Mom’s house. Either find a job and rent your own place if you want to stay here. Or go back to Arizona. Or try Texas. Or anywhere else in the whole world. I don’t give a shit. And if you ever get in this situation again, I will not help you.”

“But who’ll look after Mom if I’m not there?”

“Oh my God.” Laughter bubbled out of her at the absurdity of his question. “You can’t be serious.” She couldn’t hold it back. It kept coming until she was doubled over, gasping for air, holding herself up with her hand on a desk and tears in her eyes. Soon the laughter fell away, her gasps more like sobs, the tears still coming. Why did Aaron have to come back? Everything had been going fine. And now he was here ruining everything. First Christmas, now her birthday. What else would he wreck? Was he already stealing from Mom? Is that why he didn’t want to move out?

She collapsed into the attached seat of the desk, calming down, wiping the tears off her face. At least she’d worn her waterproof mascara today. Her brother looked at her warily, appearing unsure what to make of her outburst. Shaking her head at him, she met his eyes once more. “We’ve been fine without you around for years. I’ll look out for her like I’ve been doing. And you don’t have to worry about a thing. Just like you haven’t for a long time. We were fine without you. So just go.”

He stared at her, examining her face, and licked his lips once more. “So that means you’ll help me?”

She nodded once, stood, and left. God help her, she would give him the money, even though it would clean out her bank account, and she’d have to figure out a way to tell Lance she’d let him pay for pretty much everything for the rest of the semester. Without telling him about Aaron. She didn’t want to fight with him if he tried to stop her. And she didn’t want him to offer to pay Aaron’s debts. It was bad enough that Lance had already given him money. She wouldn’t let him do it again.

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