Page 20 of Change

My father had already abandoned me once; how awful would it be if he decided to do it again?

“Did you know that he doesn’t know what you look like?” Brayden’s quiet statement reached my ears, breaking through my spiriting thoughts. My mouth went dry and my head was beginning to ache.

So, it was true. He reallydidn’tcare.

“He wants to see you in person the first time.” Brayden continued, still not meeting my eyes. “Bryce’s phone wallpaper is a picture of you eating. He snuck it when the two of you went out once.”

Well, that was a little bit alarming.

“Dad refuses to even touch Bryce’s phone. When we found out you were alive…” Brayden said, shoulders slumping. “He’d given up hope. Kieran was supposed to contact us throughout the years, and we’d heard nothing. Even though he was afraid you died, Dad still set aside money and a room, everything you’d need, just in case you came back. When Bryce and I first told him we’d found you, he changed. He’s notsadanymore. But Dad is also really dramatic. No matter how excited he was, he refused to even look at your picture.” Brayden pointed his finger in the air as his voice changed slightly. “He says that there’s no way a photograph can accurately capture your essence, so he’ll wait until you’re ready to meet him in person. He smacked his head into a wall trying to get away when Bryce tried to show him. He cares.” Brayden finally lifted his eyes. “More than you can even imagine.”

I swallowed—almost unable to breathe under the weight of this heavy atmosphere—and nodded. I was still terrified, but for a different reason now.

But if it was like this, maybe I was afraid of nothing. “Maybe I’ll go.”

Brayden’s face lit up, and his smile was blinding. “That’sawesome.”

We could discuss details later—there were things I still needed to process. “Bryce has a picture of me?”

“Yes. Lots of pictures.” And for some reason, Brayden’s face colored. “You don’t get it.”

I didn’t get a lot of things, and I knew that, but I was growing rather tired of hearing that phrase. “Get what?”

“Weadoreyou,” Brayden muttered, almost shy. “And Bryce… he’s been dealing with guilt all these years. You’re back, but now he blames himself for everything that you’ve gone through. I make fun of him,” he almost whispered, his tone a bit petulant, “but heisa good brother. To continue our earlier conversation, Bryce mightlistento you, but let me make something perfectly clear about us.” His tone became serious, and his eyes were harder when he looked back to me. “If we believefor a secondthat there’s a significant threat to your life, or that you’re putting yourself in harm’s way, we will not hesitate to do what we think is best.”

Conflicting emotions warred inside me. On one hand, it was rather nice to be so… treasured, was it? Although I could see it becoming slightly overbearing.

On the other…

How in the world was I supposed to do myjob correctly—whatever it was exactly I was meant to do—if two of the people meant to support me thought they could intervene at any time?