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“What?” He zipped a shocked glance my way before turning accusing eyes toward Thane. “Why would you tell her that?”
Thane’s mouth opened in question, and then he squinted in my direction as if trying to figure out how Foster had gleaned any information at all about what had happened. Then he turned back to his friend. “I—I… I thought she knew.”
“Dammit.” Foster closed his eyes briefly, then turned his attention to his mother. “Mom. Mom?” He tried to pull back out of her arms just enough to see her face, but she clutched him harder and shook her head against his chest.
“You are not to blame,” she swore. “You were never to blame. It wasmyfault. Do you hear me? I’d always planned on taking you to the beach that day. You never did anything wrong.”
“What?” When Foster stiffened and pulled up straighter, his mom finally released him enough to wipe her eyes and meet his gaze.
“It was yourbirthday,” she told him through her tears. “And the beach was your favorite place to go. I’d meant for it to be a surprise, but then you started begging and wheedling, and I stupidly tried tokeepit a surprise for too long. You didn’t causeanyof this.”
Foster’s face went red as he looked into her shattered eyes. And then his own expression crumbled. “But I didn’t watch him when you asked me to,” he rasped. “I should’ve helped you?—”
“No!” his mother inserted forcefully. “Never. Hayes wasmychild. My responsibility. You never ever had to—God…” Clutching her face, she shook her head insistently, and her tears only seemed to run thicker. “How did I never realize that you’d put all this on yourself?”
“Mom.” When Foster tried to reach for her shoulders in an attempt to calm her, she pulled back and hopped off the bed to stand over him.
“That’s it,” she announced, wiping down her shirt to iron out the wrinkles. Then she lifted her chin regally and looked her oldest son in the eyes. “I want you to move out.”
His mouth fell open. “What?”
“We have relied on you too much around here. We’ve let you help us with bills, with the kids, with food. And that’s going to stop. You do not owe usanything, Foster.” Tears shimmered from her eyelashes but remained too courageous to fall. “You are the most noble and amazing young man I have ever met, and you should be allowed to go out there and start living your life foryourself. Not for us. I amnotgoing to let this guilt you feel over Hayes tie you here anymore.”
“It’s not!” Foster swore, pushing up from the bed to go to his mom. He opened his arms to hug her, but she held up a hand, stopping him. “I stay because you’re family,” he insisted. “Iwantto help.”
“Well, I’m sorry.” She shook her head sternly, not budging. “I’ll give you until the end of the semester and all summer to look, but by the time you start your senior year in the fall, you need to be gone. You need to take care ofyounow.”
Then she turned to walk from his room. As a wide-eyed Thane leaped out of the doorway to let her by, Foster took a step after her. “Mom.”
She halted but held up a hand to caution him from following her. “Little will start elementary school in the fall. I’ll be able to get a full-time job. We’ll be fine.”
Then she walked away without a backward glance.
18
FOSTER
It took a good two seconds after my mom disappeared into the hall before I could figure out how to close my gaping mouth.
But seriously…
I spun toward Thane as he stepped into the room after her departure, and he was already lifting his hands in surrender.
Or maybe he was trying to calm me down because he knew I was about to blow a fuse.
“What the hell did you say to her?” I exploded.
“I—I…” He shook his head, seemingly lost.
“I just got kicked out of my house,” I ranted.
Thane bobbed his head once. “Yeah. I did not see that coming. I?—”
“I’ve never seen her so upset.”
“He really didn’t mean it,” Raina broke in, stepping forward to defend my friend. When I swerved an incredulous glance her way, she started to wring her hands. “When he told her he came by to check on you, she wanted to know why you needed to be checked on in the first place. So he explained about my wreck and how you felt responsible, and she didn’t seem to like learning thatheknew something about you that she didn’t and?—”
“All I did,” Thane finally started. “Was?—”
