Called Up by Jen Doyle Read Free Book Online

years since.
    But it was fine. If Jules needed this to process what was going on with the man as part of their divorce, Fitz could handle it. In the scheme of things, it wasn’t that big of a deal.
    “I’m okay with the nickname, Jules.”
    The nickname hadn’t come until the spring and by that time Fitz had developed a much thicker skin. No, it hadn’t exactly been her favorite moment to sit in her history class and endure an entire discussion on how medieval law handled bastard children. Or to find out that “Fitz” was the surname they’d used at the time. But when her teacher had looked right at her and provided “Fitzpatrick” as an example, Fitz had known the town would never forgive Patrick Hawkins or his illegitimate daughter for what he’d done, and she’d better get used to it. Jeremiah started calling her Fitz and it stuck.
    But it was something Fitz had actually come to take pride in. Well, not pride so much as I don’t give a fuck , a feeling Nate had helped her perfect.
    “Really,” she said. “I wouldn’t have let people call me that for all these years if it was a problem.”
    Except then Jules teared up. “Not the nickname.” She shook her head. “I just found out what Peggy did.”
    Fitz’s first thought was, That’s why you drank so much today?
    But then she realized the ramifications of that statement and all the air left her lungs as she froze in place.
    Please do not be referring to the most humiliating moment of my entire life.
    Please do not be referring to it in front of Deke, of all people.
    The ground dropped out from beneath Fitz’s feet and her head started spinning, and not in a happy-ish, Tilt-A-Whirl way.
    “I think maybe they did it because of Jeremiah,” Jules was saying, “Because he kept teasing you and I didn’t make him stop. But I...I didn’t know. I swear I didn’t kno—”
    Deke started toward them, a look of confusion on his face as he started to say, “Know what?” But Fitz spoke over him and asked, “How did you find out?”
    “Tristan told me,” Jules said. “Over dinner last night.”
    Tristan was Tuck’s younger brother. He’d been a couple of years ahead in school and a friend of Jeremiah’s. More a friend of Jules, apparently, since he’d taken her side in the divorce, but they’d all known each other for a really long time. He’d even dated Peggy for a while after she and Nate broke up. Then again, so had Deke.
    Summoning up all the strength in the universe, Fitz briskly said, “It was nothing. Peggy’s a bitch.” Deke went tense and Fitz was momentarily sorry. That was another sentiment she’d kept to herself for half her life, this time out of deference to Deke and his thing for Peggy. His inexplicable thing, but whatever.
    “It’s not nothing,” Jules persisted. “If Nate hadn’t gotten there in time, Lyle might have...”
    And now they were entering forbidden waters. “Do you need a glass of water?” Fitz asked, hoping Jules would get the freaking hint .
    But Jules refused to be put off.
    “I watch Emily try and protect Geo and Matt from everything,” she said, “and I get so angry because they’re getting so battered by this divorce. Then I think about how Ella did that with Nate and with me, but...” With tears streaming down her face, she looked up at Fitz. “It wasn’t just that you had no one. That you had lost both your parents in the storm when we’d only lost Dad. But I was so...” A shudder ran through her as she looked away. As the guilt came over her face. “So awful.”
    Fitz had never blamed Jules for any of that high school stuff. Peggy Miller, yes. And Jeremiah for being a complete asshole because he’d wanted to impress Jules, who had made her dislike of Fitz clear way back then? Absolutely. Jules, however? Even back when Jules was being horrible, Fitz had understood how badly she was hurting, too. As devastated and even angry as Fitz had been, she’d never doubted her father’s love for her.