Sometimes It Lasts(Sea Breeze #5)(12)

She wouldn’t be leaving with me now. No. . . neither of us would be leaving. I couldn’t leave her to deal with this alone. She needed me and I needed her.

“I won’t leave her side. She’s not losing me,” I said more to myself than anyone else.

“Good. She’s gonna need you.”

“She’s got me. Always.”

“Eva doesn’t deal well with grief. Just remember that. No matter how hard it gets remember that. Josh was with her when she lost her mom. He and I both were. She was a kid but she lost herself for awhile. Josh reminded her how to live. When she lost Josh I thought I’d never get her back. I went through the motions and stayed by her side but she was lost. . . until you came. You helped her find life again. I figure you’re the only one who can pull her through this. I wasn’t enough with Josh but you were.”

“Nothing she does will push me away,” I swore.

We stood there in silence. My thoughts on Eva and what she would face over the next few months. My heart breaking for her with every second that ticked by. Hurting for myself was one thing. Hurting for Eva was deeper. The pain was harder. I didn’t want her to hurt.

“Cage.” Eva’s voice was broken as I spun around to look at her. The tears streaking down her face as she looked at me hopelessly tore my heart out. I took three long strides until I could grab her and pull her into my arms.

“I’m here, baby.”

She began to sob pitifully in my arms. “Take me to Daddy’s. Jeremy will bring him home once they’re done with his examination. I need time to cry where he can’t see me.”

I looked over her head at Jeremy and he nodded. “Take her. I’ll text when we’re heaed home.”

“Thanks,” I said, then took her purse from his outstretched hand and held her as we walked to the elevator.

She didn’t say anything until we were both inside her Jeep. She turned her stricken face toward me. “I’m gonna lose my daddy,” she whispered then her tears began to fall again. I reached over and grabbed her hand and held it.

There were no words that I could say right now to make this okay for her.

* * *

When we pulled into the driveway of her dad’s house I got a text from Jeremy that they were leaving the hospital. She had an hour to pull herself together before her dad got home. She had silently sobbed on our drive here.

I got out of the car and walked around and opened her door then took her hand and pulled her out. She was pitiful. It was tearing me up. I kept my hand wrapped around her shoulders as I led her to the house. Once we got inside I took her to the living room and sat down on the sofa and pulled her into my lap.

“Cry, scream, hit me, do whatever you need to. Just get it out,” I told her.

And she did.

Chapter Five

EVA

If I didn’t know that my daddy was sick, then everything would seem almost normal. He still got up in the morning and went outside to work. He still came inside everyday for lunch. He still talked about the cattle that he’d need to sell off at the end of the summer.

The difference was he didn’t eat a big breakfast like he used to. When I looked for him during the day he was often sitting down in the shade staring off in thought. And at lunch he hardly touched his food. Then there were the times I couldn’t find him. Those were the times he was sick. He hid from me then.

It had only been a week since I’d found out. A week since my world had been altered. I refused to leave him. I had to be here. He had begged me to go at first but after arguing with him I finally broke down and cried like the little girl inside me that was terrified. He had held me and told me I could stay. He understood.

I knew that he didn’t understand. He wasn’t the one who was going to be left. He’d get to be with Momma again. I was the one that would be without them. The doctors had said he could live for six more months if we were lucky. I prayed every night that we were the luckiest people on earth.

“Eva?” Jeremy called my name as the screen door slammed shut behind him. I stopped watching Daddy as he walked across the back yard and walked to the front of the house to see Jeremy.

“Yeah,” I called out as I turned the corner into the kitchen. He was already fixing himself a glass of lemonade. He glanced over at me and frowned.

I knew that frown. He was here to talk. I wasn’t in the mood to talk.

“Cage coming back this afternoon?” he asked while pulling out a chair and flipping it around backwards before sitting in it.

“Yes. He went to get some more things from the apartment that I needed.” The guilt started eating at me again. I tried to ignore it but it was getting worse.

“You gonna make him go aren’t you? It’s his future, Eva.” I had expected this conversation from either Daddy or Jeremy eventually. They’d given me a week reprieve. No one had pushed me to make a decision yet. But Cage had put off going to Tennessee for a week. They were expecting him. He was waiting on me. I knew that if I asked him to stay he would. It was that simple.

“I know that, Jeremy,” I snapped. Because I did know that. I didn’t need him to tell me that I was being selfish. That I was being needy. Cage had a future ahead of him. Going to Tennessee was the first step. He had fought hard for this chance. I loved him enough to let him go without me. I wouldn’t be going with him though. Not this year. I had to stay here. “I’m going to make him leave tomorrow. I planned on talking to him tonight.”