“Piss off, Jackson. I don’t have time for this.”

“My mother’s dead because of this situation, and your life is shit due to it all. You could’ve told me. I would’ve never let that family anywhere near our shop. I would’ve fought for you, for us. I would’ve—”

“That shit is over and done with. Get the hell out of my house.”

“But Dad—”

“Look, your mother is dead, and she ain’t ever coming back, all right? Let it go. Don’t make me tell you again. Get out. I don’t want to see your face.”

He spoke to me in his drunken state as if it wasn’t a big deal. As if my mother’s death was nothing but a passing memory instead of a daily soul-burning sensation. He spoke as if he didn’t relive the nightmare each day, the same way I did. He spoke as if she were nothing when, in fact, she was everything.

And the man responsible for her tragic ending lived right down the road.

The father to the woman who I had the nerve of almost falling for.

A few more days and I would’ve let her into my heart.

A few more days and I would’ve told her words that I’d never discovered before.

Yet that morning, the chains on my soul locked up tight once again, and there wasn’t a chance I’d let Gracelyn Mae anywhere close to me.

44

Grace

“Okay, Jackson, two things. One, I only have about a week left in town to finish the last two seasons of Game of Thrones with you, so we better start doing two-a-day marathons. And two, I’m hungry, so I think we should order in Chinese food for the episodes tonight,” I expressed, walking into the auto shop where Jackson’s head was under the hood of a car.

He didn’t respond right away, so when I walked over to him, I placed my hand on his shoulder, feeling him tense up.

Knots formed in my stomach. “Hey, is everything okay?”

“Yup,” he replied shortly, not looking up.

Obviously, that was a lie. “Jackson, what’s going on?”

“I’m working.”

“Okay…but…you’re also being super short with me.”

He looked up in my direction, and I was taken aback by his cold stare. I hadn’t seen those hard eyes in so long, and I was almost confused as to why he was shooting them in my direction.

“What is it?” I whispered as the palms of my hands grew moist. “What’s going on?”

“I think it’s best if we cut off this whole arrangement right now,” he told me, going back to working on his car.

“What?”

“I just don’t see the point. We aren’t going anywhere, so we might as well end it now.”

“What are you talking about? Where is all this coming from?”

“I just been thinking, and the truth is, I don’t want anything to do with you.”

“You’re lying. What we have…what we are…” My voice was shaky because I was so thrown off by his change.

He locked his eyes with mine, his chilled stare piercing my soul, and he grimaced. “We aren’t anything, princess, all right? Everything that happened this summer was a mistake—you were a mistake, and it’s one I won’t make again, all right?”

“Why are you acting like this?”

“Because this is who I am,” he snapped. “This is who I’ll always be.”

“No. You’re good, Jackson. You’re kind, and gentle, and—”

“Drop it, Grace. I ain’t got shit to say to you. Turn around and walk away because this conversation is over.”

“Who’s in your head right now?” I asked, gently placing my hands on his cheeks, staring into his eyes. I saw it, too. The small tremble in his bottom lip. “Who’s feeding you these thoughts? Is it your father? Finn? My mother?”

He wrapped his hands around my wrists and lowered them from my face. “Walk away, princess, and don’t look back. There’s nothing here left for you.”

My eyes watered over, and I took a few strides backward.

What changed so fast? How had it happened?

Just the other day, we saw possibilities. How did we go so quickly to the final chapter of our story when I was convinced we were only on chapter two?

“I know you,” I swore to him. “This isn’t you.”

“You don’t know me,” he said, his voice sounded flat and somber. “You never did, and I never knew you. You were nothing more than another lay, and I’m done taking off your clothes, so you can go now.”

I stumbled back a bit more by his words. I felt betrayed. Stung. Unbelievably hurt. “You don’t mean that. You don’t mean any of this. When we had no one, we had one another. I don’t know what’s going on in that head of yours, but whatever it is, we can figure it out together because that’s what we do, Jackson. We help one another.”

“Stop making it out like we’re something we’re not. I am not your friend. I am not your lover. I am nothing to you, and you are nothing to me.” He turned away and went back to work, leaving me standing there stunned.

I wiped my tears away and turned to walk back toward the front door. I didn’t see a point in continuing the conversation with Jackson. It was clear he had no goals of letting me back in.

“Grace?”

I turned to face Jackson as he stared my way.

“Yes?”

“Don’t come back.”

Those three words hurt the most because they meant that all our possibilities were officially gone.

*

“Grace, what are you doing here?” Finn asked as I stood in the hospital hallway. I’d been waiting for him to come past so I could speak to him. “What’s wrong? Are you okay?” he asked me, sounding alarmed.

“Did you say something to him?” I asked, crossing my arms. “Did you tell Jackson something?”

“What?”

The blank stare in his eyes made me frown. His confusion was strong as if he hadn’t a clue what I was talking about.

“I haven’t seen him since the fight,” he told me.

“Don’t lie to me, Finn.”

“I’m not. I swear. Why did…?” He cocked an eyebrow and shook his head. “He let you down.”

“You don’t know what you’re talking about,” I told him as I turned and walked away.

Finn called after me. “You can’t really be surprised, Grace. That’s what everyone’s been trying to tell you. He’s a ticking time bomb, and it was only a matter of time before he hurt you.”

“He’s not what you think he is,” I swore. I knew Jackson. I knew the corners of his dusty soul that he never shared with anyone else. Something happened, and it had to be bad if it meant he’d pushed me away like he did. “He’s kind.”

“Look at my face, Grace. How kind could he be?” Finn argued.

“You started that fight.”

“I was drunk. He did this sober. Besides, I know you. I know you better than you know yourself. He’s not the right move for you, Grace. You’re better than him.”

I snickered. “That’s funny.”

“What’s funny?”

“That you think you know me. The truth is, the girl you knew died the moment you betrayed her.”

“He’s a monster, Grace. He’ll keep hurting you and letting you down.” I walked away without responding as a tear rolled down my cheek. Yet Finn kept calling my way. “I’m not giving up on us, Grace! I’m not going to stop fighting for us.”

It was insane to me how life worked.

As Finley was going on and on about “us,” my mind was locked on Jackson and what scarred his heart.

“Gracelyn Mae,” Autumn said, sitting at the reception table. She stood slowly, revealing her growing baby bump.

Every time I saw her, a part of me wanted to die.

She hurried around the desk in my direction. “What are you doing here? Is someone hurt?”

“Don’t act like you care, Autumn,” I softly spoke.

“But I do. I…” Her eyes watered over, and a chill raced over me. The last thing she needed to do was cry. I didn’t have time for her tears. “Were you talking to Finn?”

I raised an eyebrow but didn’t reply.

She continued as her body began to shake. “I know it’s not really my business, but, well, everything’s a mess. My own family won’t hardly talk to me, and now Finn is so distant. Are you two…is there something…?”

I crossed my arms. “Are you asking me if my soon-to-be ex-husband is cheating on you with me?”

Her tears fell.

I hated her beautiful tears.

“I just… I’m so lost. I don’t even know how to deal with it. Finn made all of these promises to me about a future, and I just can’t—”

“No,” I cut her off. “You do understand why none of this is my concern, right? I’m not your person anymore, Autumn. You don’t get to confide in me when you’re the one who stole my life. You get that, right?”

She took a few steps back. “Yes, of course. I’m sorry.”

As I started to walk away, I heard her break into a sob, and my stomach knotted up. Even though I hated her, a part of me that still felt sorry for her. Call it stupidity, or call it ignorance, but her loneliness was something I once lived. The place where you wonder about all your faults for Finn not coming home to you. The place where you doubt every heartbeat in your chest.

Autumn wasn’t a good friend. She hurt me to my core in more ways than one, but those words that Dad taught me slowly danced through my head.

If you turn your back on one, then you turn your back on all.