Page 30 of Dear Future Husband

I shifted in my seat as I remembered the rest of the night, specifically when I had Maybelle in my arms. The way her gorgeous eyes looked up at me and how she asked if this was a game. Admitting that, like me, her whole heart was on the line.

I tensed, thinking back to our almost kiss. The kiss I’d been fantasizing about for almost three years. Recalling the feel of her hauled up against me. Literally a breath away from finally pressing into her when the reminder of Liam’s face, full of anger and betrayal, interrupted.

That sucked.

I was such a tool, letting my desperation and attraction for Maybelle fog my common sense. I should’ve talked to Liam about my feelings a long time ago. Liam was cool. He would’ve been completely fine with me liking his sister.

Tonight, Liam was caught by surprise, a little drunk, and finally had his arm around Penny Howell. The pretty redhead cheerleader he’d had his eyes set on all senior year. Liam and Penny had been best friends since Liam’s first day at Harbor High. He was obsessed with her from the start, but she always kept him at arm’s length when it came to being anything more than friends. She must’ve finally given into his begging tonight but finding me with his sister interrupted whatever they had planned.

God, I felt like an idiot.

I owed my brother an apology. And—I needed to talk to him about what his speech had been about. Liam never talked about what their lives had been like before their family moved here three years ago… But I couldn’t get his voice out of my head.

“I don’t cry when I remember what it was like to be powerless. I smile and I move on...”

I would need to call him tomorrow, after a day of sleeping off the alcohol and dramatic events of the night.

Checking the time on my phone, I saw how late it was, but it was only a few hours from when mom would need me to come pick her up. I wanted to sleep in my own bed, but I was too tired to drive home alone, and I was closer to the hospital from here, so I reclined my chair back and closed my eyes.

***

The chaotic ringing of my phone had me sitting up in my Jeep with a jerk. I glanced down at my phone to see my mom was calling. Instantly, I was filled with anxiety that I was late to pick her up, but the sun was barely turning the sky purple with morning and my clock proved that I still had a couple hours before her shift was done.

I answered the call curiously, “Hey Mom, what’s up?”

There was hesitation on the other line. Thinking she couldn’t hear me because of poor reception, I repeated, “Hey, Mom. Can you hear me alright?”

This time I was answered with a choked sob and sniffling.

“Mom, what’s wrong?” I asked, panic gripping my gut as I waited. Hearing my mom cry always brought on a sense of urgency.

There was a deep breath fuzzing through the phone speaker before she finally said, “I’m alright, Hun. Where are you?”

Despite her answer, I could tell something was wrong, but I answered, “At the beach still. I fell asleep in my car.”

She sniffed some more. “Okay, you didn’t drinkduring the party last night, did you?”

I shook my head without thinking, then responded aloud, “No, I didn’t drink, I was just tired.” I hesitated a beat before asking again, “What’s wrong? What happened?”

Mom let out a relieved sigh, and her next words shattered my whole world.

“Your friend, Liam Mason and his family are here… There was an accident.”

12 Dear Future Husband

Trey

I used to love hospitals.

Visiting my mom, the clean smell, the nurses bribing me with candy, but now it was a hellhole drenched in my heartache. The walls were colorless. It was eerily cold, and death polluted the air, making me sick.

Three weeks ago, I was at the beach when my mom called me to break the news that a drunk driver hit the Mason family, and they were brought to the hospital she worked the night shift at.

I didn’t say goodbye to her before I hung up and raced to the hospital. When I entered the main doors, Mom was there, her eyes were rimmed with held back tears. I stumbled into her embrace as she led me away from prying eyes, informing me that Stephanie Mason had died on impact, and Liam…

Liam died on the operation table in the middle of emergency surgery only minutes before I arrived.

It was all a blur after that. I remembered collapsing to my knees, letting grief overtake me as my mom grappled me to her in a private hallway. I didn’t cry, I couldn’t, as my limbs shook, and stomach roiled. I could only free-fall into an abyss of depressing mind numb.