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Back Surrender Your Sons Save as PDF
Chapters (43)
  1. Author’s Note with Content Warnings
  2. CHAPTER ONE
  3. CHAPTER TWO
  4. CHAPTER THREE
  5. CHAPTER FOUR
  6. CHAPTER FIVE
  7. CHAPTER SIX
  8. CHAPTER SEVEN
  9. CHAPTER EIGHT
  10. CHAPTER NINE
  11. CHAPTER TEN
  12. CHAPTER ELEVEN
  13. CHAPTER TWELVE
  14. CHAPTER THIRTEEN
  15. CHAPTER FOURTEEN
  16. CHAPTER FIFTEEN
  17. CHAPTER SIXTEEN
  18. CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
  19. CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
  20. CHAPTER NINETEEN
  21. CHAPTER TWENTY
  22. CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
  23. CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
  24. CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
  25. CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
  26. CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE
  27. CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX
  28. CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN
  29. CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT
  30. CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE
  31. CHAPTER THIRTY
  32. CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE
  33. CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO
  34. CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE
  35. CHAPTER THIRTY-FOUR
  36. CHAPTER THIRTY-FIVE
  37. CHAPTER THIRTY-SIX
  38. CHAPTER THIRTY-SEVEN
  39. CHAPTER THIRTY-EIGHT
  40. CHAPTER THIRTY-NINE
  41. CHAPTER FORTY
  42. EPILOGUE
  43. Acknowledgments

“His mom was a camper too?” I ask to a stony glare. “Well…their loss, I guess.”

“Mr. Major, I rejected my responsibility, and I hate myself for it. I’d hate to think someday you’ll send Avery a birthday card, pour your heart and soul into it, everything you ever wanted to tell him, every apology, and he’ll just send it back. Never opened.”

Briggs flings the card over his shoulder and it collapses open on the warped, knotted floor: Today Is a Big Deal—and So Are You! “You of all people should know the pain of a father’s rejection,” he says, leaning closer. “I won’t let this happen to you too. We’ve got work to do.”

In the midst of humid, sweltering tropical air, my skin becomes ice. This is it. This is my mother’s endgame with Nightlight—to force me to claim Avery as mine. Nightlight won’t let me leave until I confirm he’s my son.

Did Mom get this idea herself…or was it the Reverend whispering to her during all those lonely, heartfelt phone calls? The terrible thought climbs inside my mind like a coconut crab—hideous and unwanted.

My eyes fall on Briggs’s son’s birthday card, and I suppress a dull laugh.

Well done, Mom. Checkmate.

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

MISS MANNERS

Briggs returns me down the zigzagging stairs and departs with some words about fatherhood and responsibility that I refuse to pay attention to—all sounds drown in my rage. Mom has trapped me at Nightlight, and my only way out is through Vicky and Avery. It doesn’t seem real. It doesn’t seem possible that my mother could be calculating enough to do this alone. This ploy reeks of the Reverend.

I’m only one class in, and already my plan to fake my way through Nightlight has met a grotesque wrinkle: they’re going to force me to lie and say I’m Avery’s dad. Or worse, the pressure will get too intense and I’ll blurt the truth: Vicky had sex with her adult boss and has been protecting him. She’d never speak to me again.

But what if I did lie and say I was the dad?

A white lie to save myself. Vicky would understand. I could come home and help her out until we graduated, and then we’d quietly go our separate ways. Later on, we could admit we’d been lying. Before Avery gets old enough. Whatever I decide, that’s the line I can’t cross—Avery can never think of me as his dad. I can’t break a kid’s heart.

Like Briggs did.