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“It took me years to stop from hurting every time I thought of you Tyler. I spent every day wanting to be here with you until I found something that made me stop thinking about it, okay? I wanted to meet you that night, but I just couldn’t do it to our families.”
“Your parents’ acceptance meant that much more to you than I did?” Tyler questioned, anger pounding through his veins, not only for her choosing her family over him, but for her thinking he’d ever stoop so low as to hurt her by revealing their secret. Not only would it blow up his world as well, but he’d never tell anyone simply to hurt her—not even at his angriest had he ever thought of revealing their truth to anyone.
“No, your parents’ acceptance ofyouand your sister’s health meant more to me than my own happiness,” she said making his forehead knit together in total confusion because there’s no wayshe could have known about Hailey’s health issues.Hehadn’t even know about them when she left. “So I left, alone. It was the only way to guarantee that the two sides didn’t kill each other because of us.”
“What would you know about any of my sister’s health, Justine?” he asked, cursing under his breath when he saw her parents hit the edge of the parking lot. “This isn’t finished Just. I want to know what you meant by that.”
“Room four-eighteen, sometime after eleven tonight,” Justine said knowing it was past time to get the rest of the story out there, for him to know without a doubt that he’d meant everything to her no matter that a future between them was impossible.
“Fine,” he said sliding between two vehicles to reach his truck, letting her get into her parents’ SUV without them spotting him.
The afternoon was long for her, between all of the family, their questions which she did her best to avoid answering, and her tiredness from not sleeping she was ready for bed by eight. She gave up the pretense of reading at ten after and curled up on the bed for a nap.
It didn’t take long for the memories of the last five years to turn into dreams, which quickly turned into a nightmare that had her bolting up on the bed in panic. She could handle the memories if only they didn’t lead to the nightmares, but every night since they had. Now she just wanted them to stop for one night—just one night of peaceful sleep was all she needed.
A knock sounded on the door, and she got up glancing at the clock to see it just after eleven. Tyler was always prompt, something she’d loved about him since she was always early—well she had always been early until the night that started the nightmares.
She pushed those thoughts aside and opened the door after ensuring that it was indeed Tyler behind it. “Come on in,” she said after seeing the hallway behind him empty.
“What did you mean about my sister’s health Justine? You left town before I even found out that…”
“That Hailey needed a kidney transplant and none of you were matches?” Justine offered when he stopped.
“How did you…”
“The night before I left—before we were supposed to leave together I overheard an argument between my parents about the fact that your dad was trying to overturn the contracts he had in favor of his own being used.”
“What’s new about that?” Tyler asked knowing the two men went behind the other’s backs constantly to try to edge the other out.
“Nothing but your dad was being more aggressive about it, and I headed to your place to warn you that we should probably stay away a little longer than we originally planned.”
“And?” he questioned when she stopped, sitting down on the edge of the bed to straighten the covers. He moved over to the chair and pulled it forward stopping her movements as he stared into her face. “What changed your mind Justine?”
“You,” she admitted with a sigh. “I overheard your parents outside by the shed talking about Hailey—that she wasn’t getting better, and they had to look outside of the family for someone who might be a match. I was surprised because you hadn’t said anything to me about it…”
“They didn’t tell us, they kept the depth of her illness to themselves until they took Hailey up to Seattle for the kidney transplant. We knew she was on medication, but we just thought it was a regular infection up until then,” Tyler said shaking his head. “Why didn’t you tell me? Why did you just leave town?”
“Your parents got into a fight. Your mom said he was just going after my dad because he was too afraid of what might happen. He came back saying it wasn’t fair that we had everything, and he couldn’t get one little thing to go his way.”
“What?” Tyler said confused.
“I wasn’t sure what he meant by it at first either, not until your mother said it wasn’t his fault that Hailey was blood type O…half of my family is blood type O, Tyler.”
“While most of us are either A or B, which is why none of us could donate a kidney to Hailey. Dad was going after your dad’s livelihood because he had what Dad needed,” he said as she looked away from him.
“Yeah, your mom said maybe they should just put it out there—ask for the town to be tested but your dad was adamant that none of the Crawfords would ever come near his family—that he would never ask them for anything. I was trying to figure out what to do knowing all of that and I found you reading to Hailey and Isabelle. Your parents were already on the verge of losing their daughter. I couldn’t stay and run away with you—have your mom lose you too or you lose what might be the last bit of time with your sister,” Justine said looking back at Tyler.
“So you leave me a note and just disappear? Damn it Just we were going to get married! Don’t you think I deserved a little more than a note saying we couldn’t ever change our families’ opinions, and you were sorry?” he demanded as she bit the inside of her lips together to stop from showing him the depth of the pain she still felt about the decision.
“I couldn’t face you Tyler. I knew if I did, I wouldn’t be able to leave. Even if we didn’t run away and get married then it would have been harder on us. The way tensions were mounting made it impossible to see any other solution.”
“Are you fucking kidding me?” he spat out at her, the cursing telling her just how angry it’d made him because he’d alwaysdone his best to avoid it around her which she’d always thought was silly, but sweet. “You knew my sister was potentially dying and you left me a ‘Dear John’ letter, Justine. Did you ever wonder what would happen to me if I lost her and you all at the same time?”
“Yes…which is why I couldn’t let that happen,” she said, reaching out to take a folder off the nightstand revealing the expanse of skin between her top and shorts.
Tyler couldn’t believe how difficult it was to stop himself from reaching for her even after she’d just admitted to him that she’d known the potential heartache she’d left behind for him. He took the folder she handed over and glanced down at the top page. It was a medical lab report that was only half-understandable with his knowledge of botany biology. “What is this Just?”
“Keep reading,” she said turning to the next page for him.
