Walk Me Home by Liza Kendall

Author:Liza Kendall
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Penguin Publishing Group
Published: 2020-01-06T16:00:00+00:00

* * *

“Jake, you’re like a second son to us,” Dave Nash had said, a regretful, tender expression on his craggy face. His hands, resting on the arms of the wheelchair, shook a little, but who knew whether it was from emotion or MS?

“Yes, darlin’, you are,” Maria Nash chimed in, enveloping him in one of her ample hugs. Jake loved her wide smile, the tiny smudge of coral lipstick that always ended up on one of her front teeth. He loved her messy, curly blond hair, the crinkles at her eyes, the way she looked at him as though she saw into his heart and approved of what was there.

This hug felt different, though. It felt . . . official. He couldn’t put his finger on it, but he didn’t want to let her go, even though normally he felt a little awkward at the physical contact.

“Sit down, Jake,” Dave said, a little too gently.

So he did, a nameless dread rising in him.

“It hasn’t escaped our notice that you have, uh . . . feelings . . . for Charlie.”

Heat suffused Jake’s face, and his palms instantly became damp. Prickles of sweat started in his armpits, too.

“Or that she has them for you.”

Okay, this was humiliating, but not a crime. Maybe Dave or Maria had seen him and Charlie making out behind the rosebushes yesterday. They’d just—

“That’s fine, son, just fine. But you’re both at an age where, given the circumstances, it’s just, uh, inappropriate for you both to be living under the same roof.”

Oh God. This was beyond awful. His armpits were now full of glue. Sweat trickled from Jake’s nape down to his lower back, pooling there, soaking into his T-shirt. “I haven’t—uh, we haven’t—”

Okay, so he’d thought about it. More than once. Even often. But, no, he’d never pressured Charlie . . .

Dave Nash closed his eyes and flapped a hand.

“I mean, it’s not a problem!” Jake blurted.

Maria gazed at him in her kindly but firm way, her expression soft and at the same time steely. “It is a problem, honey. And that’s normal. But what’s not normal is . . .” She paused and looked to Dave, who took up her slack.

“For you two to live in the same house.”

He stared at them, these two stand-in parents whom he’d grown to love. “So—what is this?” Jake said. “You’re firing me from your family?”

Maria made a sound of pure distress and got up as if to hug him.

Jake jumped out of his chair and backed away. A lump had grown in his throat, one that made it impossible to swallow. “Please . . .” His voice cracked, and he hated himself for it. “Please don’t do this. When my parents died, you said your house was mine now, that I would always be welcome. You said I was family.”

But Dave and Maria just looked at each other and then down at the floor.

They were family. Not Jake. Jake was once and always a Braddock, not a Nash.

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