Page 98 of Sing Me Home
Dad looked completely wounded.
“Ashton,” Tally said, horrified.
“Well, it’s true.”
Holden chuckled. “Ford can throw his money our way any time he wants.”
Aunt Christy raised her hands to the roof, seconding that.
“Stop acting like a jackass,” Mom barked, eyes blazing at Ashton. “Ford’s just trying to help.”
“We don’t need anyone’s help,” Ashton said with a huff. His eyes snapped to my dad, full of fire. “I swear on Grandma Louise’s grave, Ford, if you--”
“You aren’t swearing on your grandmother’s grave,” Granny snapped. “What is wrong with?—”
“—pay off her bills, we will tussle in the front yard and you won’t come out on—” Ashton tried to finish.
“I’vegot it!” Charlie roared, silencing the room. “This is why I didn’t tell you all! I made this mess when I married Lorne and I’m the one who needs to clean it up.” She looked directly at me, her expression pleading for me to understand. “It might take me a decade butIam paying it off and no one else. My credit is completely shot and I love you too much to drag you into my financial ruin.” Her hands balled into fists. “I won’t.”
The room was zero decibels, a total shutdown, as everyone’s attention volleyed between the two of us.
“What do you want me to say?” I asked, so frustrated I wanted to punch something. “Do you know how hard it is for me to leave you every night, even to drive up the hill and sleep in my own bed? There’s enough money in this room to wipe your debt out in a blink.” I threw my arms out. “I mean, take your pick, really. But no. You’re determined to be as stubborn as ever, too hard headed to accept anyone’s help.” She stared at me, shamefaced, but I didn’t hear her relent. So I kept going. “Just rushing headlong into decisions, not taking anyone else’s feelings into account. Telling us all how it’s gonna be. And you think I’m going to be okay with that?” I exhaled carefully. Then I looked her right in the eye and very slowly but firmly said, “You are out of your damn mind if you think I’m waiting a decade to marry you.”
Everyone let out a collective oof.
Her face fell like I’d shattered her. But she wasn't as shattered as I was right now.
“Cash,” she said, taking one step toward me.
I held a hand up to stop her. “No.”
Then, for once,Iturned and walked out of the house.
thirty-two
Charlie
Everything will be okay. Everything will be okay. Everything will be okay.I repeated over and over, starting the moment Cash walked out the door, with everyone watching. Even with my chest caving in, my heart begging me to go after him, I chanted those words. And I kept repeating them as my family tried to change my mind. And as I lay in bed trying to fall asleep, and all night as sleep evaded me. And the next morning as I got ready for the race, and the entire two-hour ride to the venue.
But when I wandered around the sponsors’ booths for an hour before the race began and couldn’t find Cash, I knew I’d only been fooling myself.
Everything was not okay.
Where was he? Was he even coming?
One by one, when family found us, partners broke off to check out the tents, until finally it was just me and Theo. Fifteen minutes before our start time, Cash still wasn’t there, and Theo had to go find his race partner.
What if Cash didn’t show at all? What if I’d hurt him so badly that he wasn’t coming?
There were walls I had to climb that I wasn’t sure I could get over without a boost. The penalty for failing to get over a wall was thirty burpees. Burpees sapped my energy faster than anything.
When he still wasn’t there ten minutes before our heat began, I started to panic.
I typed yet another text on my watch, asking where he was.
“He’ll be here,” Theo said after I checked the time on my watch again. “I need to go find Blaze.”
“I’ll come with you.”
