Page 94 of Embers of You
I shake my head. “I’m not talking about this with you right now. Do you need help with anything before I go feed the animals?”
I can see she wants to argue her point. She probably wants to yell at me, but doesn’t have the energy and that thought feels like a slap in the face.
“No, but while you’re doing whatever you feel like you need to do, at least think about what you’ve done. Because pushing that girl away would be the greatest mistake of your life.”
“Ma—”
“Jameson,” she snaps, loudly. “Think about what your life would look like if you really let that girl go. And don’t even try to lie to me about how much she means to you. I’ve seen it written all over your face. You love her, and you need to realize what losing that kind of love will do to you.”
I clench my jaw and shake my head, but before I can say anything she speaks up again.
“You may think your dad didn’t care, but he did. More than you know, and trust me when I say that you throwing away love because of him would have him really angry with you.”
I have nothing to say now, and I’m not going to argue about it, because I know he didn’t care. I know we didn’t get any closure and I know he wouldn’t have cared if I let Sutton go. He never seemed to have an opinion on anything other than me leaving.
And now he’s the one that left us. How horribly ironic.
CHAPTER 44
Sutton
It’s beena week that I’ve been living back in my house, and a week since I’ve spoken to Jameson. I don’t want to reach out and overwhelm him because I know he’s going through a lot. But when I saw his truck parked at the fire station this morning and realized he’s back at work, I thought maybe he would come over here to talk to me like he’s done in the past.
I’ve been here for several hours and that hasn’t happened. My stomach sinks and even Lily’s insane ramblings aren’t enough to break me out of the funk I’m in.
I could tell something was wrong that last night with him. Especially in the morning when he basically kicked me out. Except, deep down, I know he didn’t, I just couldn’t handle it if he did so I rushed out.
“Hey, are you okay?” Lily asks gently, and the seriousness of her tone takes me off guard because it’s Lily.
“I’m…” I sigh. “No. Everything has been rough since, well, you know.”
She nods. “I’m sorry about that. Parker tried checking in on Jameson several times and he never got back to him.”
I perk up slightly. “Oh, you’re talking to Parker?”
“No, I mean, not really. We’ve known each other forever, but,” she waves her hand around, “not the point, this isn’t about that.”
I sigh, thinking that may have been enough of a distraction, even though it wouldn’t have been.
Jerry Lee, with his impeccable timing, chooses right now to grace us with his commentary.“Shut up, Vern.”
“One day I want to know who Vern is and why he needs to shut up,” Lily comments.
“With how much Jerry Lee holds a grudge I don’t think he was a very great guy.”
“Fair point, but anyway, how’s Jameson holding up?”
I fight the tears pricking at the back of my eyes at hearing his name. “I wouldn’t really know, he hasn’t talked to me in about a week.”
“Oh.” Her face falls, and I catch the small flinch she tries to hide. “I’m sure he’s just really busy, it’s not you.”
“Right.” I look over at the fire station where I know he is. She’s trying to make me feel better and I appreciate it, but we both know there’s more to it. Especially me.
“What if we have a girls night or something,” she suggests and I look back at her.
“I don’t think I could keep up with you and your crazy nights out.”
“What do you—oh stop. Notice how none of my stories are ever aboutmedoing anything. It’s my friends that are the crazy ones. We could have a simple night in with some wine and rom coms.”
