Until Lexi by Kate Stacy & Boom Factory Publishing

Author:Kate Stacy & Boom Factory Publishing [Stacy, Kate]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Boom Factory Publishing, LLC
Published: 2022-06-02T16:00:00+00:00

13

LEXI

Jake has become my sanctuary.

My safe space.

Things at home have been a total shit show.

Everyone is waiting—impatiently—for the results of the DNA test so we can figure out what comes next. The anticipation is maddening. The tension in the house is suffocating, and I think we’re all close to reaching our breaking points. The tension, the stress…it’s killing me.

Which is why I spend my days at work, or at home with my family.

And the nights…

The nights are when I run to Jake, seeking solace in him.

Maybe it’s selfish of me to need to escape, but I can’t bring myself to care.

“Are you sure you don’t mind staying home tonight?”

I glance over at Penny, and the desperation in her eyes slays me, cementing my decision. Forcing down my own selfish wants, I plaster a smile on my face. “Yeah, of course. I could use a girls’ night.”

“I’ll hang out here, too,” Riley offers.

Like me, I know she’d rather be anywhere else. Literally, anywhere but here.

That tension I mentioned? We all feel it.

All the bullshit we’re dealing with? It isn’t Penny’s fault. She didn’t ask for all hell to break loose, but she’s had to suffer through it the most because of Mercy.

Hope is the one to blame.

And she’s handling things worse than the rest of us.

Meaning not at all.

Hope is spiraling, and we have no idea what we can do to help her. She won’t talk to any of us, let alone listen to anything we have to say. She leaves the house randomly, disappearing overnight without saying a word, and when she is home… she locks herself in her room. It’s like she’s stopped caring about us completely.

And Mercy.

Poor Mercy.

Hope wants absolutely nothing to do with Mercy. She won’t acknowledge her at all, won’t even look at her. Which honestly isn’t a far cry from the norm, but before all this happened, things seemed like they were getting a little better. Hope started spending short amounts of time with her daughter, interacting with her here and there. It was progress—a scant amount—but better than nothing.

Now we’re back to square one.

“Is she home?” I ask Penny, having just gotten home myself.

Penny shakes her head solemnly, but her eyes say what her lips won’t.

She’s pissed.

We all are.

Everyone who’s been through something traumatic handles it differently, and we understand that this is Hope’s way of coping.

But it doesn’t make it right.

I know it’s not fair for us to judge, and deep down, we’re not. But it kills us to see her refuse to get any kind of help. She’s kept this poison inside her for six years, letting it fester and rot, changing who she is inside and out. Now, it’s seeping out of her and infecting the rest of us. We love Hope. We want to support her and stand by her side like we have all these years, but there comes a point when enough is enough.

We can’t keep carrying her burden.

It’s too fucking heavy.

I’m coming to realize that it’s not our job to “fix” Hope.

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