Read Online Forever My Girl by Heidi McLaughlin - Free Book Online Page B

he’s your dad and totally ditched us when I was pregnant even though I never told him. Yeah that won’t work.
    “I don’t want you talking to Liam Westbury anymore.”
    “Why not?” Noah deadpans.
     “Because… because I said so that’s why.” I get up and move back into the kitchen and dump out my coffee. It no longer tastes very good and isn’t doing its job. I just want to crawl into bed and forget this conversation ever started.
    Noah slams his magazine down on the table, spilling the rest of his cereal. He sits there, stewing, not moving an inch to clean up his mess.
    “Are you going to clean that?” I ask before throwing him a dishtowel. Anger flashes in his eyes. I know I’ve upset him, but he’s just too young to understand the magnitude of this situation. Liam is going to hurt him.
    “No,” he says without making eye contact.
    “Excuse me?”
    He pushes his chair out and picks up his magazine. He turns and looks at me, a look I’ve never seen from my precious boy. His face is red, his breathing is labored.
    “I like Liam,” he yells.
    I’m taken aback by his outburst. If this is how he’s going to be after two encounters there is no way I can let Liam into his life.
    “Liam doesn’t live here, Noah, and once he’s gone you won’t see him again. Let it go.”
    “Why do you hate him?”  
    I don’t, that’s the problem and I wish I did, but he’s a disruption and he’s already ruining things in my house and I don’t want that. I can’t have that.
    “I don’t hate him,” I mumble. I press my fingertips to my temple to hopefully ward off the impending headache.
    “You used to kiss him, a lot. I’ve seen the DVD’s. How can you kiss someone so much and not like him?” Noah stands in front of me, his arms clutching his magazine. His eyes are trained on me and all I see is Liam.
    “That was a long time ago, Noah. People change. I’ve changed and so has Liam. We aren’t friends anymore and I don’t want you talking to him. I’m the adult here and I make the rules. Liam Westbury is off limits.”
    “You’re not being fair. I like him and he’s good at football just like me. He can help me get better and he said he would come to my game today!” My heart breaks at the sight of his tears, but I’d take this one day of tears over the months of tears he’ll cry when Liam leaves him. I reach out for Noah, but he moves away and runs off to his room. I’m going to have to find a way to get a hold of Liam and tell him he can’t come to the game. That he needs to just ignore Noah for all of our sakes. It will be easier that way.
    At least that is what I tell myself.
    When the doorbell rings I rush to let in Katelyn. She takes one look at me and shakes her head, pulling me into her arms.
    “What am I going to do?” I ask Katelyn. I lead her into the kitchen, sitting down. She’s across from me, holding my hand when I should be holding hers. I should be her rock right now. She’s just lost her husband and here I am complaining to her.
    “I’m not sure I can answer that for you,” she says, her eyes full of pity. I really need to stop thinking about myself and start thinking about her.
    “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t be dumping this on you. You have enough to deal with.” I remove my hand and start cleaning up our mess. I invited her over for breakfast, not problem solving.
    “I’m your friend, Josie. You can dump anything on me.”
    I shake my head and leave her sitting at the table. She comes and stands next to me while the sink fills with hot sudsy water.
    “I remember everything so clearly. It’s like all my memories are this vivid coloring book turned into a nightmare. I dreamt about him last night and I haven’t done that since Noah was about two. I stopped reading the magazines and looking for the music videos because I needed a clean break and now he’s here for the next few days and there’s nothing I can do to keep him from coming to Noah’s game