Freeing Tuesday (28 page)

I push up gently, trying not to wake Evan up but fail miserably. His arms tighten around me more and when I look up, he’s staring at me.

“Don’t even try it.”

“Try what?” I ask as my fingers wrap around my necklace.

His hand comes up and grips my chin, “Running. I’m not letting you do it again. Understand?”

I nod and turn my head so I can press my lips against his hand.

“Understood.”
      

Tuesday

My hands shake like hell until Evan takes them in his when he comes up behind me on the stairs. His chin rests in the crook of my neck, his breath calming me as it caresses my skin.

“I’m going to warn you again. Abby, is really pissed off at you.”

I take a deep breath and chuckle sadly, “Yeah, I figure if she ever talks to me again I’ll be lucky.”

Evan reaches around me, knocking quickly and wrapping his arms around me. It takes a minute for the door to be opened and Jameson immediately reaches for me. His arms attempt to pull me into a hug but Evan doesn’t let me go so he just settles to wrap his arms around both of us.

“It’s about fuckin’ time you came home,” he says gruffly and spins on his heel.

I just nod, not able to get words past the lump in my throat. Evan pushes me from behind, urging me through the door and into the kitchen. I keep my eyes trained on the floor, watching my feet with every step.

I know Abby is pissed off. I could feel the vibe the second I walked through the door because I did what everyone else in her life had done to her.
I left
.

The sound of a knife slicing and hitting against the counter draws my attention to where Abby is roughly chopping something with her back turned toward us. Jameson runs his hand over her back, mimicking the motions that Evan is doing to me. He leans over, whispering something in her ear and she sets the knife down with a loud
smack
. Turning, Abby’s eyes meet mine quickly, glaring at me before she storms out of the kitchen.

My hand rounds the back of my neck, trying to rub the sudden ache away. Jameson tries to push by me to follow her but I stop him.

“I did this, Jameson, I’ll fix it. I’m so sorry that I left you to deal with that.”

“Tuesday,” he points toward the door Abby left through, “I married her, for better or worse. I love you, but I love her more. You didn’t just break Evan’s heart when you left, but you broke everyone else too. I don’t need you to explain it to me. Hell, I probably don’t even want to know at this point. But there are two girls in this house that broke when you left.”

I hang my head, officially more ashamed of myself than I ever have been and turn to walk away. Evan grabs my arm just as I’m about to leave the kitchen and spins me back around, crushing me to his chest and slamming his mouth to mine.

Our breathing is labored by the time he releases me.

“He’s right,” Evan whispers, looking over to where Jameson is standing. “You broke my heart so bad I didn’t think I would survive it. Don’t you ever do it again.”

I nod. I can’t seem to get my mouth to cooperate with my head. I’ve had a hard time wrapping my head around everything I want but I knew what I wanted the second I left. I wanted him. I wanted this.
Family
. There is no denying how any of them make me feel, especially Evan. Leaving him again would kill me.

I kiss him gently and push past him, climbing the stairs to Abby’s bedroom. I take a deep breath, steeling myself for everything I know she’s going to throw out at me. Pushing open the door, my eyes rake over her tiny frame lying on the left side of the bed.

Her sniffling stops, “I’m fine, Jameson. I’ll be back down in a few minutes.”

“That
fine
shit might work on your husband, but I know better.”

Her body flings up and she glares at me, “Get the hell out of my bedroom.”

“No,” I say flatly.

“Excuse me?”

“I said no. I’m not going anywhere until we hash this shit out.”

Abby flops back onto her pillows and rolls away from me, sighing she says, “Fine, you’re gonna be sitting here a while.”

We stay silent for about two minutes before she jumps out of bed and stalks toward me. Stopping a few inches away from me, her fists ball by her sides as she looks up at me.

“In case you didn’t get the hint… You and me, we’re fighting. As in, get the fuck out of my bedroom before we-”

“I’m sorry,” I cut her off and make her lose her train of thought. “I’m so sorry, Abby.”

The stinging in my cheek registers before I even realize she had raised her hand to slap me. “Don’t. You left, so don’t you
dare
think that apologizing is going make up for that.”

“I know,” I raise my voice over her rant so she will hear me. “Ok? I know I fucked up thinking I was doing the right thing.”

“How the hell could leaving
ever
be the right thing!”

“Do you even remember what you said to me in the hospital?”

Abby takes a deep breath and I can tell she’s trying to go over everything she said to me the day all this shit started.

“You said that I put you guys in danger, and I knew it was true. How else was I supposed to fix that?”

She pushes my back against the door and gets in my face. “You must have missed the fucking protecting you shit too!”

“You shouldn’t
have
to protect me! This is my fucked up mess of a life and I didn’t ever want to pull you guys into this. I never meant to get attached but you’re so goddamn pushy and you wouldn’t leave me alone! One day Abby, one day,” I shake my head sadly.

“One day what?” she spits out.

“One day, either this is all going to come crashing down around me and take you with it. Or, you’ll realize how much of a mistake having me around is.”

Abby’s body sags back, looking defeated as she runs her hands over her face and through her hair.

“If that time ever comes, I know that the reason is because I wanted you here, not because of you. None of it is your fault. You’re my best friend, Tuesday. That has to count for something right?”

I nod, wiping the tears away from my eyes before they fall. “It counts for more than you will ever know.”

“I’m still pissed off at you,” she says, crossing her arms over her chest.

“I figured as much.”

“But… there’s one pissed off nine year old you haven’t had to deal with yet.”

A little while later I sigh and follow her back down to the guys, trying to sort out in my head how I’m going to deal with Izzy.

Evan

The air is still thick with tension when the girls come back down after yelling at each other, but it’s not
as
thick. Tuesday immediately seeks me out and crumples to the couch next to me. Her hand rests gently on my thigh, thumb stroking as she sinks in against me. I brush the hair back from her neck and kiss the bare skin I reveal.

“Everything copacetic?” I breathe against her skin.

“With Abby? We’ll get there. With-”

“I hate you!”

Tuesday’s head snaps toward the stairs where the words that suddenly brake my heart were yelled from.

“I hate you! Aunnie Abby hates you,” Izzy stops glaring at Tuesday long enough to glare at me. “Uncle Evan
hated
you.”

“Isabelle Cara Irons, go to your room and don’t come back until you can come back down here and be respectful,” Abby scolds.

Izzy’s eyes flick back to Tuesday’s and I can see the pain in them through the welled up tears.

“I wish you had stayed gone,” she yells but as she turns around I hear her whisper, “I wish you had died instead of my dad.”

I didn’t think anyone else heard but Abby jumps off the chair she was in with Jameson and storms toward her. I pull Tuesday back into me, my hand rubbing gently up and down her arms as she shakes.

Abby spins Izzy on the stairs and ushers her forward toward her bedroom. Jameson chuckles from the chair.
Glad to know someone finds this entertaining.

“She’s starting to get an attitude like Abby’s. I’m not sure I can handle more than one of them.”

“None of us hate you, I
never
hated you,” I whisper as I ghost my lips across Tuesday’s neck and jaw.

Tuesday trembles as she attempts to speak, “You should. How the hell am I supposed to explain all this shit to her? I can’t tell her I left so I could keep all this shit away from her. She’s nine! I’m not telling her this shit.”

“Exactly Tuesday, she’s nine,” I repeat the words that she just said and turn her face toward me. “It’ll blow over. You’ll figure out something.”

“He’s right. Why don’t you guys go for tonight and I’ll give you a jingle tomorrow, maybe we can do dinner then instead? We’ll talk to Izzy and get some things straightened out.”

I lead Tuesday back to the door and help her back into her jacket and out the door. Instead of heading straight towards my truck I pull her in the opposite direction, toward where her car sits.

She hesitates behind me but I tug her forward and slide myself behind her when she stops in front of her car. Her head hangs low and I know she is remembering the day everything started to go downhill.

“I did something other than alter my body while you were gone.”

She shivers and a small smile tilts the corners of her mouth, her back arches as she leans into me. “I like those modifications. I
don’t
like the ones I made to my car so why are you making me look again?”

I turn her face towards mine and kiss her slowly before resting my forehead against hers.

“I want you to see something,” I whisper. Pushing her forward, we walk toward the car and I slide the cover back slowly without letting go of her. She squeezes her eyes shut as tight as she can get them. “Open your eyes.”

Tuesday’s eyes creak open slowly and as soon as she lays eyes on her car she gasps. Her hand flies to cover her mouth and she spins in my arms and crushes her chest to mine.

Her words are muffled as she speaks against my neck. “You fixed my car. Why did you fix it?”

“Because,” I say as I pull her back so she is looking at me and cradle her cheek in the palm of my hand, “I wanted you to see that just because something was broken, doesn’t mean it’s not worth trying to put back together.”

Tuesday

What the hell am I doing back in this damn town? Every noise I hear, person that bumps into me or room I walk into without knowing what’s on the other side, scares the hell out of me. The only thing getting me through is knowing that this is my last show that I have to be at. Well, that and the warm hand that mine rests in.

Vegas on New Year’s Eve can kiss my ass! There is so much going on, and so many people, even with amped up security it’s hard to keep track of who is coming and going and who’s supposed to even be here.