The Strongest Love by Melissa Storm

Author:Melissa Storm [Storm, Melissa]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Partridge & Pear Press

Chapter 14

Brenna and Matt left the skating track earlier than they’d originally planned, but the air had grown so deeply cold that neither could stand being outside much longer. It seemed most of the other skaters had the same idea, and soon they found themselves waiting for a long line of cars leading up to a single stoplight.

Brenna’s phone buzzed with a text: Mom says you’re not coming home for Christmas?!

Sorry, Brenna typed back as she tried to push aside the feelings of guilt that immediately took over. She knew it was hard for her younger sister to understand why she had to leave. And Brenna did feel terrible knowing that she’d left Olivia alone with their mother. But she’d do it all over again if given the chance.

For the first time in her life, Brenna had learned to put herself first. An empty vessel can’t fill, her therapist had told her. If she kept giving pieces of herself away to everyone else, there wouldn’t be anything left. She wanted to fade into the background, yes, but not disappear.

Her phone buzzed again with another message from Olivia. Well, Christmas is still almost a month away. I’m sure you’ll change your mind. Just don’t wait too long because flights are crazy expensive this time of year.

Brenna put her phone back in her pocket and offered Matt an apologetic smile. She hadn’t even realized they’d made it through traffic stop and were now in line at a drive thru for one of Anchorage’s famous coffee shacks that offered hot beverages guaranteed to kick you in the butt.

“Everything okay?” Matt asked, studying her as he handed her a warm cup of hot chocolate. How had he known she’d been fantasizing about just this thing earlier that night?

She sank back into the seat and took an appreciative sip, savoring the warmth as it spread through her body. Her phone vibrated in her pocket again. “Thanks for the cocoa,” she said, raising the cup to him in a salute. “I’m fine. It’s just my sister is having a hard time understanding why I ran away to Alaska, as she puts it.”

“Ugh, it’s never easy when family fights.” Matt accepted his change from the cashier and pulled back onto the main road before continuing. “She’ll come around, though. Everyone has their own way of dealing with things. With time, she’ll understand that for you, getting better meant getting away from the place where all the memories first played out.”

Wow, he really gets it.

Brenna smiled as she tipped her head and watched him. How could this man she’d only met already understand better than her own family? Should she tell him the rest and see if he got that, too? Perhaps it would help if he understood why she’d…

No. It was too soon. She didn’t want to confront that memory yet, and she also didn’t want to lose Matt. Yes, he came from a rough-and-tumble past of his own, but he’d never done anything half as bad as what she’d been through.

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