Finding Never by C. M. Stunich Read Free Book Online

like a dead weight. He turns back towards
the table and smiles at Darla who won't eat any banana and reaches
out, takes a slice between his calloused fingers and eats it. Almost
immediately, the sister I didn't know I had until five minutes ago,
reaches out and eats one, too.
    “ I
like bananas,” she tells him confidently and he grins, dimples
deep and dark in that perfect fucking face. A sigh escapes my throat
and I catch several curious looks from my sisters.
    Luckily,
Ty is too busy making faces at Maple who's laughing and pointing at
his lip ring and saying, “Jewel, jewel.”
    “ Beth's
home!” Lorri shouts, peeping out the lacy curtains with a grin.
Jade crosses her arms over her chest and looks embarrassed. When
Beth sees her in it, she's going to get trashed. That is, if my
sister hasn't changed a whole lot since I left. “Yay! Yay!
Beth's going to be so happy, Never! She said you were the only line
on her bucket list.” The smile falls from my face, and I
suddenly can't catch my breath. Memories flash like lightning before
my eyes as I crouch over and try not to throw up.
    Beth
cracks me hard across the cheek. “Don't be selfish, Never,”
she snarls, pretty face not so pretty anymore. “Grow up.
Don't you want Mom to be happy? Dad is dead, and he's never coming
back, so get over it.”
    “ Get
her, get her,” Lettie is saying to Lorri, pushing her forward
as the two of them scramble to get out of the kitchen. My head spins
and my stomach knots in a hundred places. My heart feels so fragile
in that moment that I'm afraid it could shatter like glass, get stuck
in my soul and bleed me to death. And then I hear Ty's voice, feel
his hands sliding across the small of my back. My chair slides
closer to his.
    “ It's
okay, Nev,” he whispers as he presses a gentle kiss to my
cheek. In that moment, Ty really, truly falls head over fucking
heels for me. Maybe it's the crying or the raw emotions or finally
having a light shown on my fucking past, but Ty McCabe really, truly
gets himself in so deep there that he can't ever get back out again.
Nobody kisses like that if they're not in love. I know that somehow,
but I don't. Maybe I don't want to, not yet. Not until I know for
certain what's going to happen in this little town, in this little
piece of nowhere, this nothing that means everything.
    I
hear Beth before I see her.
    “ This
better not be a joke, Lorri, because it isn't funny.”
Footsteps, heels I think, move from the front door and pause at the
entry to the kitchen. Ty turns around first and stands up.
    “ Hi
there,” he says, voice casual but firm. He's afraid she's
going to hurt you again. He wants to protect you. Ty wants to
protect you, Never. “My name is Ty McCabe, and I'm here
with Never.” He doesn't specify our relationship, doesn't
define it. I like that about him. He doesn't want to corner me into
a position, a title, Ty just wants me to be me. He always has. “You
must be Beth.” I hear his bracelets jingle, and I assume
they're shaking hands, but I don't turn around, not yet. I have to
get some oxygen in my lungs before I pass out.
    “ Never.”
Beth's voice is like a whisper on the wind, a tiny slice of air, a
cluster of syllables. “Never.” Harder this time, more
emotion. “Never, I'm so sorry.” And then Beth is
sobbing and my chair is flying out from under me. I spin around,
step past Lettie and Lorri and find myself in my big sister's arms.
Her hand strokes back my hair while she rocks us back and forth like
she used to do when I was little. She's wearing a pretty cream
colored sweater dress and her hair is short and cut into a cute,
little bob. I remain the only Regali to have dyed my hair. Beth
pulls back and looks at me with big, round eyes jiggling with tears.
Her lipstick is smeared across her teeth from biting at her lips
nervously. She dashes her arm across her face.
    “ You
had a baby,” is the only thing I can say as I cry. Again.
It's getting old and my