Letting Go by Bridie Hall Read Free Book Online

day in school?”
    “We were nine back then. I’m a grown-up now. Come on.”
    “Promise you won’t tell anyone?”
    “I promise.”
    “I mean anyone , Chloe.”
    “I swear, Isabelle, I won’t tell a soul. You have my word. Cross my heart. Scout’s honor.”
    “When have you ever been a scout?” Isabelle frowned.
    “That’s beside the point,” Chloe said. “Spill already.”
    Isabelle sighed. “Jamie once let slip that ... well, that Harper did drugs.”
    “No shit!” Isabelle could hear Chloe’s gasp on the other end of the line. “For real? I mean, hardcore stuff?”
    “He wouldn’t tell me any details. He didn’t mean to say anything in the first place. So please, C, don’t tell this anyone. I mean it.”
    “ Sure. It’s too bad, though.”
    “That’s what I’ve been telling you, but you wouldn’t listen.”
    “Still, he’s hot. You can’t deny that.”
    “I guess,” Isabelle said. But when she remembered his chocolate brown eyes glancing at her every now and then on their ride here, his lips smirking at her, revealing his even white teeth when he smiled, his tanned hands gripping the wheel ... Chloe was right, there was no doubt about it. If you liked bad boys, he was it. But she had Jamie. He was perfect for her and he loved her. That was all she needed. All she ever wanted.
    “I guess,” Chloe mockingly repeated. “What is so great about Jamie?”
    “Now you’re being mean. He’s this perfect, nice guy and you keep picking on him. I don’t even understand why you don’t like him.”
    “Boooring .”
    “Well, I’ll pick boring over a drug addict any day, Chloe. Go ahead, make fun of me for it.” Isabelle was overreacting about Harper being a drug addict when she had no proof that he’d ever done drugs at all, but she was upset because of Chloe’s constant digs at Jamie. They were best friends, but she wished Chloe were more supportive of her relationship with Jamie. It made her sad that she couldn’t share her happiness with Chloe because every time she told her about something nice that Jamie did for her, Chloe always managed to find a negative aspect to it, making him look ridiculous, sappy, manipulative or something worse.
    For a long while, s tatic was all that reached Isabelle over the line.
    “I’m sorry, Isabelle,” Chloe finally said repentant, sighing. “It’s just ... I’d want you to have fun. And Jamie is so ... safe.”
    “What does it matter? He’s a good guy. And I want safe. I’m not you, Chloe.”
    “I know, I know. I’m being an idiot, you know that. I’m the one who dated Jasper and then had to lie to the police that he wasn’t growing pot in his grandma’s garden. That’s how I am, and I’m sorry if I’ve been bugging you too much, Izzy. I love you, you know that, right?”
    “I know, love you too. And you’re not bugging me. That much.”
    “Though, Harper is sort of scorching hot.”
    Isabelle had to laugh at Chloe’s last attempt at convincing her. “Okay, okay, I admit it. He’s hot but he’s also my boyfriend’s brother.”
    “Fair enough, Izzy.”
    “Hey, C, have you seen Dad around? He’s not answering his phone.”
    “No, I haven’t. He probably lost it again. Didn’t you say it happened like a dozen times last year?”
    “Probably. I don’t know if he even realizes I was supposed to come home today.”
    “It’s better that way; otherwise he’d be worried sick. Especially if he didn’t notice his phone was missing.” Isabelle couldn’t imagine him being worried sick—she didn’t think he was capable of such strong feelings—but Chloe did have a point.
    “You’re right. I just wish ...” She wanted to say that she wished he’d call the police the second she didn’t return home on time, organize a search party, raise the alarm in the entire town. At least then she could be certain that he cared. She sometimes thought he wasn’t even aware that he had a daughter. She knew it was her insecurities