Rae of Light (The Chronicles of Kerrigan, #12) by W.J. May

Author:W.J. May [W.J. May]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Dark Shadow Publishing
Published: 2020-07-17T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter 9

“I CAN’T DO IT.” DEVON paced manically back and forth. “I just can’t do it.”

He and Rae were in his old childhood room. After the emotional brunch date with his mother spun accidentally off the rails, they had discreetly decided to take some time to recover. Marian had gone out grocery shopping—something she claimed she had been intending to do anyway, and now with Rae and Devon here there was even more need. Rae had followed Devon up the winding staircase and through the second door on the left.

A door that Devon had slammed shut behind them.

The second they were inside, he’d thrown his dinner jacket automatically on the bed—a bed that was still crumpled, like he’d only just left it. And while his fingers twisted up the worn lock, Rae looked around in wonder, trying rather unsuccessfully to play it cool.

This was where Devon grew up. The place where he’d spent his entire childhood. The room where he’d played. The bed where he’d slept.

Her forehead tightened slightly as her eyes flicked around the four corners, taking quick note of all the telling details. Not only did the bed look like it hadn’t been touched since the last time Devon was here, but the rest of the room showed similar signs of neglect. Or maybe neglect wasn’t the right word. It was more like...the room had been intentionally left alone.

There was a discarded sweatshirt lying on the floor just beyond the bed. From the way that Devon had automatically cast off his jacket, she suspected it was a long-standing habit. An empty coffee mug was sitting on the dresser. A book was still open on the desk—a crumpled receipt marking the page—and the expensive speaker system mounted in the corners of the walls had been left on, draining unnecessary power and filling the room with an almost inaudible hum.

The hum caught Devon’s attention at the same time and he strode to the wall to flip it off, banging his hand against the control panel and looking as out of sorts as Rae had ever seen him.

Her heart tightened in her chest. Marian Wardell didn’t seem like the kind of woman who would let one room in her immaculate house fall along the wayside. This was a preservation attempt. A shrine. A desperate grab at maintaining any illusion of the presence of her departed son.

A son who had no idea how to live here anymore.

“I can’t,” he muttered again, almost to himself. “I just can’t do it.”

“Yes, you can,” Rae insisted quietly, angling herself supportively beside him and reaching out for his hand. “You can—I promise, you can.”

“No, I can’t,” he said flatly. “I don’t know how. I have no idea how to be the person who has this conversation. I have no idea how to be...honest with her.”

His face fell, and Rae’s heart broke as she ached to reach out and take him in her arms.

“You’ll figure it out,” she encouraged gently. The Devon she knew had never met a problem he couldn’t face.

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