Hate to Love You novel · Chapter 22 of 24

Chapter 22: Cold Shoulder

Dad dropped me at the rental on the way home, and said he'd wait in the truck.

"Take as long as you need," he said.

I climbed the porch steps in the dark.

The light was on in the garage, and I could hear the ball: a thud against concrete, a pause, another thud.

I walked around the side of the house and stood in the open garage door.

Shay was throwing a basketball at the back wall.

He caught it on the bounce, turned, and saw me.

He did not look surprised.

"You came," he said.

"You didn't answer."

"I know." He set the ball down. "I'm sorry. I couldn't."

"Your mom said the board voided it."

"She texted me." His voice was flat. "It's what I wanted, for ten months. It's all I wanted. I expected to feel something."

"And?"

"I feel like I've been carrying a piano up stairs and someone just told me it was never mine."

I came in a few steps.

The garage was cold, and the ball's thudding had left a dent in the drywall.

"I'm sorry it took so long," I said.

"That's the thing."

"What is?"

"It took so long." He looked straight at me.

"You knew in October that something was wrong with his story."

"You saw it before I told you."

"I watched you see it at the overlook."

"And you waited."

"I was scared."

"I know you were."

"He's my brother."

"I know that too." He laughed, a short hard sound.

"But I told you my side, and you made it smaller for him."

His jaw worked.

"I heard it."

"I was trying to keep both of you."

"There was no both. There was a truth and a lie, and you stood in the middle for three months."

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