BooksBarbecue
Back The Edge of Us
Chapters (45)
  1. Contents
  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. epilogue
  42. other books by jamie mcguire
  43. about the author
  44. acknowledgements
  45. out of the woods

She nodded, seeming apologetic. “Zeke is a good man. He’ll come around. I know he wants to fight for you, he just doesn’t know how.”

“He doesn’t have to fight for me. I’m already his.”

Darby’s bottom lip jutted out, and she brought me into a hug, squeezing me tight. “It’s going to work out.”

When she released me, I fled the lobby before tears tumbled over my lashes onto my cheeks. I sat in the FJ, grabbing the steering wheel tight and bowing my head while my shoulders shook with grief. It doesn’t matter how someone you love leaves. Loss is loss.

I didn’t drive home, instead cruising the streets of Colorado Springs for two hours before deciding to take the highway north toward Denver. My mind jumped from sad to angry, from sympathetic to spiteful. I knew why Zeke was pushing me away. I was an independent, strong woman, and it had always been an issue meeting someone secure in himself enough to pursue any kind of relationship. Zeke didn’t want to feel weak next to me. He didn’t want to get sick and die and put me through another funeral. For those reasons, it was hard to stay mad at him, but I was damn sure going to try.

chapter thirty-four

clean

Zeke

T

he white walls of my hotel room were the only things I could stand to keep me company. The cheap painting of the mountains—none that I’d seen in Colorado so far—didn’t judge me, and no one on the television sent me thoughts and prayers. The Maddoxes were with their girlfriends, most of my friends were either at their Southern homes or with family, and I was in my shithole hotel drinking Ensure and feeling like a waste.

Brad and Jenn were calling twice a day, but the longer I went without speaking to Naomi, the less I wanted to talk to anyone. So I sat. I sat in my green chair next to a dozen or so bottles of prescriptions, and I stared at the wall. Anger helped, but I missed her more than I thought possible. My heart hurt in ways that was worse than death, and some days I wished for it. Still, knowing she was waiting for me to call, I sat here in misery and felt sorry for myself.

A knock on the door forced me to move for the first time since I’d rolled out of bed. I trudged across the room and peeked through the peephole.

“What do you want?” I asked.

Reese leaned closer, her eye misshapen in the glass. “Open the door, Zeke.”

“No.”

She crossed her arms, a white plastic sack hanging from one wrist. “Watts called me. I drove all the way over here, and I’m not leaving. Open the damn door.”

I narrowed my eye then sighed, yanking it open.