Page 16 of Until Waverly

To avoid any conversations, I dove deep into the rest of my studies and acted like everything was fine, when it was anything but. Still, I couldn’t stop thinking about her. I pulled apart each second we’d been together, sure if I tried hard enough I could pinpoint the instant things went south, and I could fix the issue, no matter how big or small.

I never could find that answer.

A little more than a year now and I still rubbed the center of my chest absently whenever I thought about Waverly and what might have been. Who knows, we could’ve been planning our wedding currently if she’d only answered one text. Instead, I walked around like a zombie most days because I couldn’t sleep properly, and when I fell asleep, all I could see were her blue eyes and curly sandy-blonde hair. Or the way the strands would flutter in her face when the breeze cut through the barn out behind Mack’s ranch. The sound of her laughter when she said something funny or when we were watching her favorite movie. Her soft moans when I’d filled her for the first time. The way she cried out my name.

Everything lost meaning to me when she ghosted me. It was almost like mourning the death of my parents all over again. One minute they were there and the next, gone. The emptiness was consuming. If I hadn’t had a job with Mack or my siblings, even though they didn’t fully understand, I don’t think I would have made it through the last year without Waverly.

Which made standing in the middle of a semi-packed restaurant holding a phone to my ear a little weirder. No one from Mack’s family had said a word to me. They didn’t act differently, but they just gave me curious looks every so often. Nothing to show anything was wrong. However, seeing Mack Sr.’s name on my screen made me doubt every interaction I’d had with the Redman family over the past year.

Ireland’s phone rang, and she let me go, stepping away from me taking her strength with her. In that moment, I wanted to be a kid again, begging her to stay with me while our parents were out for the night. I needed Ireland to make all this better because I had the sinking suspicion, whatever Mack’s father said, my life was about to change. Whether good or bad, I wouldn’t know until someone told me why my sister looked like she was about to shit her pants.

I listened closely to the breathing on the other side of the phone, worried perhaps he hadn’t meant to call me and had dialed by mistake. It happened to the best of us, after all. When he didn’t answer, I cleared my throat and tried again, hoping this time he might hear me and decide to reply. “Mr. Redman?”

Chapter5

Jackson

Soft, anxious feminine chatter caught my attention. I’d know Sarah Jane, Waverly’s mom's, voice anywhere. I strained to listen. Either my heart was pounding too hard or Sarah Jane was hurrying away from Mack Sr. I waited patiently for him to answer, since he’d called me. Which, again, was unusual. If something was planned, Sarah Jane sent out the family chats, and we went from there.

Come to think of it, since we had been added to that chat, Waverly never used it. My gut squeezed, imploring me to understand the severity of the situation, but I was floundering. All I knew was if someone didn’t start talking to me, I was going to lose my shit, and that scene wasn’t going to be pretty.

The anxiousness built within me as what felt like hours passed by while I waited for Mack Sr. to speak to me, when in reality it was probably only a few seconds. When he cleared his throat, I braced for whatever he was about to say. No matter what came out of his mouth, I was prepared for whatever consequences were coming my way.

“Jackson,” Mack Sr.’s gruff tone, sparked an emotion I couldn’t explain inside of me. It wasn’t fear or anger it was disappointment. Whatever came out of his mouth next, I knew my world was going to come crashing down around me.

“Yes, sir,” I replied. “What’s happened?”

“Son, I don’t understand what you and Waverly have been doing this past year, but it’s time for the games to stop, and I mean right now.” The angry growl in his voice reminded me of my father when he’d get pissed off at one of us for our crazy antics. Only, I hadn’t seen Waverly in over thirteen months. I wasn’t sure what he was talking about.

“Maybe if you clarify what has happened I can explain myself?” I said, unsure why he’d called me and why my sister was pacing while she kept her back to me.

“You damn well understand what I’m talking about Jackson,” Mack Sr. said, exasperated by my comment. “I thought you were better than this.”

Obviously, I wasn’t? Because I’d yet to understand what was going on or how it pertained to me. “Sir, I don’t know how to break this to you, but Waverly and I haven’t been together in quite some time. She hasn’t answered any of my texts since right before spring break.”

“What?” The incredulousness in his tone rubbed me the wrong way. Here I was suffering in silence thinking everyone in her family realized what happened, and it turned out, no one did. “Sarah Jane…”

Their muffled frantic conversation had bile biting at the back of my throat. It was obvious something had happened to Waverly, but what or how, they weren’t being forthcoming. If they thought we were together still, Waverly must have been in terrible shape.

“Son,” Mack Sr. said, returning my attention to him. “I need you to listen to me and do as I am telling you to do.”

Was this one of those moments when someone says “don’t freak out” and you do and then they get mad? “Sure, whatever you need, sir. We’re family after all.”

“I need you to go with your sister to Vanderbilt Hospital. Don’t stop anywhere, y’hear? We’ll meet you there.”

Still stuck between pure panic and utter confusion, I nodded then agreed. “Anywhere in particular I need to go?”

“Just go to the hospital, son,” Mack Sr.’s voice softened. “We’ll figure it out from there.”

The line went dead, and I stared at the device like it had grown legs and was ready to crawl away. I exhaled roughly as Ireland turned around with fresh tears tracking down her face. The conversation with Mack Sr. made things more confusing for me. He asked about Waverly, then never specifically said what was going on or why we needed to hurry.

Nothing.

Nor did he explain why my sister looked like she’d lost her best damn friend or was missing her family or both at the same time. I honestly didn’t understand. “If somebody doesn’t make a lick of sense soon—” I rubbed the back of my neck “—I’m liable to lose my shit on everyone around me.”

Ireland took my hand. “We should go now. We need to hurry.”

“Again, a little more information would be great. I have a job to do. I don’t appreciate being accused of playing games with a girl who hasn’t said a word to me since last year. Now, why the fuck are we going to Vanderbilt Hospital, and what does this have to do with Waverly?”

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