Until Friday Night (The Field Party #1)(19)

Brady and West both ignored her comment.

“Sooo, how about that game Friday night, eh?” Dick said with a nervous smile.

Brady lifted his head to shoot Dick an annoyed glance before going back to his meal.

“I don’t think they’re here to talk to us,” Shane whispered loudly.

No one said anything for a few moments. Awkward silence was something I had grown used to. But right now I really wanted Charlie to be chatty.

“You ever been to the Grand Ole Opry?” Charlie asked me.

I started to shake my head when Brady spoke up. “No. She hasn’t.”

I glanced over at my cousin, who was eating his food like he was mad at it.

“Oh, well. You’re gonna love it,” Charlie said brightly. He didn’t seem at all affected by Brady’s rude behavior.

“I still can’t believe you’re taking her. You hardly know her. You know I’ve been dying to see Dierks Bentley in concert forever,” May said, sounding hurt.

Charlie glanced at me, and I saw the frustration in his eyes. He didn’t want to let May down. Why had he asked me, then? I didn’t have to go.

“She’s not going with you. Anywhere,” Brady said in his less-than-jolly tone.

It was times like these I was glad I wasn’t expected to say anything.

The End Hurts

CHAPTER 12

WEST

The guys were going to watch the video of Friday night’s game at Brady’s tonight. His mom would make tacos and chocolate cake. She always did. It was something we did every week during football season.

I hadn’t planned on going. Hospice had come today for the first time. Dealing with that was harder than I’d thought it would be. Dad had needed the pain meds so much this past week, he wasn’t coherent enough to even ask about Friday night’s game. I’d sat in his room and told him anyway. Hoping that, in his drugged sleep, he’d heard me.

That he was proud of me.

Soon I wouldn’t be able to sit in his room and talk to him at all.

Getting away from the heaviness in my house was necessary to keep sane. Having a stranger there, taking care of dad while my mother sat beside him, holding his hand, was too much.

So I ran. And I felt guilty about it.

Parking my truck outside Brady’s house, I realized I was the last one here. They all probably thought I wasn’t coming. When I walked inside, there would be laughter and joking. None of them had any worries or pain to deal with. It was all good food and football.

I glanced up at the window that had been Brady’s before Maggie had moved in. I wondered if she was up there now or if she was downstairs eating tacos with the guys. If it were up to her, she wouldn’t be. But if it was up to Coralee, I had a feeling she would be forced to sit down there with them.

I didn’t know a lot about Maggie, but I watched her. So much so that I was afraid someone was going to notice and say something about it. Watching her eased my mind. Even from afar she was enough to help me breathe. I was becoming dependent on a girl I hardly knew.

Footsteps snapped me out of my thoughts. I turned to see who it was, and my gaze found her.

“Brady doesn’t think you’re coming. Aunt Coralee pulled Brady aside this afternoon and told her about your dad. She knows. Brady was upset and wanted to come see you, but she said to give you time. That you needed to tell him yourself.” Maggie’s sweet voice made my chest warm. That wasn’t something I was familiar with anymore. The coldness had been there for so long now.

She had her long hair tucked behind her ears, and she was staring at the house like I had been. There was a peace that came with her presence. I didn’t understand it because she carried so much heaviness. But for me, she brought peace.

“Hospice came today. Feels like the end,” I told her.

She tilted her head back and looked up at me. At six- foot-two, I towered over her five-foot-five frame. “The end hurts,” she said simply.

She wasn’t sugarcoating it. She wasn’t telling me I had to be strong. She was just being honest. She knew that words meant nothing right now. I reached over and covered her small hand with mine.

“It hurts like hell,” I replied.

She let me hold her hand as we stood there silently. This was what I needed today. Having her beside me, knowing she understood.

“Thanks. For talking to me,” I whispered, as if someone would hear me.

She turned her hand in mine and squeezed. “I’m here whenever you need to talk.”

“You didn’t talk to me today at school,” I reminded her.

“You didn’t need me to then.”

“I did. You just didn’t realize how much.”

The front door of the house opened, and Maggie quickly moved her hand from mine.

Brady stood there staring. At first I expected him to yell at me for being out here with Maggie. But then I saw it wasn’t anger in his eyes. It was sadness. He was sad for me. Then there was the sympathy I didn’t want.

“He loves you. He’s going to feel bad for you. Let him,” Maggie whispered so quietly, I doubted Brady could tell she had said anything from where he stood.

Let him.

She said I should let him feel sorry for me. Because he loved me. I could do that. I had to. There was no way to keep it from happening. Knowing there was one person who understood my pain in a way no one ever could was enough.