Read Online The Fear of Letting Go by Sarra Cannon - Free Book Online Page B

beauty that greets me.
    The wide ocean expands as far as the eye can see in either direction. The moon is huge and full, its light shining on the water, highlighting each crested wave. The sky above is endless, dotted with millions of bright stars that cover us like a blanket. I have never felt so open. So free.
    So completely insignificant.
    “I told you it would be worth it,” she whispers.
    Without taking my eyes off the night sky, I reach for her hand and lace my fingers with hers.
    She was right.
    Being up here with her is worth every terrifying moment.

Chapter Eleven
    Jenna
     
    I take the beers from my pockets and set them down on the platform. I've been up here more than a dozen times, but the view always takes my breath away.
    I take the top off one and hand it to Preston, but he shakes his head.
    “I think you've earned it,” I say. I knew he was scared to climb up here, but I don't think the extent of his fear was clear to me until he was halfway up, clinging to the ladder for dear life. I feel a little guilty for pushing him so hard.
    “Okay, one,” he says, taking the beer and downing half of it in one gulp.
    I laugh and open one for myself. I sit down, threading my legs through the railing and leaning my arms and head against the middle rung.
    “I love it up here,” I say. “It's so beautifully lonely, you know?”
    “It's beautiful,” he says. He sits next to me, but doesn't dare to dangle his legs over the side like I have. “There's no freaking way I would ever come up here alone. They might never find my body at the bottom of this old thing.”
    I laugh and shake my head. “I shouldn't have teased you. I didn't realize how scared you really were.”
    He shrugs and takes another sip of his beer. “You were right. I need to push myself more. It's easy to get stuck in the same old routine,” he says. “You didn't seem scared at all. Do you come here a lot?”
    “Every once in a while. I usually leave my phone in the truck, so it's just me and the wind,” I say. “No one to bother me or interrupt my thoughts.”
    “What do you think about?”
    I smile and look out at the ocean and the sky full of stars. “I usually come because I want to think about my future. Where I'm headed. Where I want to be someday,” I say. “But usually I end up thinking way too much about my past.”
    “You don't like to talk about it much, do you?”
    “Very observant,” I say, a hint of sarcasm in my tone. I know it's a sore spot with my friends, but they know better than to push the issue. Most of the time.
    “I think about my future a lot, too,” he says. He must have decided now wasn't a good time to push me, either, and I'm glad he didn't ask more about my past.
    “What's there to think about?” I ask. “I don't want to be rude, but isn't your future all cinched up? It seems obvious your father is grooming you to take over the company someday. I'm surprised there's not already an arranged marriage to go along with it.”
    He laughs. “My relationship with Leigh Anne was the closest thing to it,” he says. “Everyone, including my parents—okay, especially my parents—wanted us to get married someday.”
    “I bet her parents wanted it even more,” I say, thinking about the ridiculous things Leigh Anne's mom has said to her in the past. That woman has the emotional intelligence of a dollar bill.
    “You're probably right,” he says. “I screwed it up big time, though.”
    “Why did you cheat?” I ask, my heart beating a little faster than I want it to. We're on shaky ground here, talking about past relationships.
    “I don't know,” he says. He rests his arms on the railing and stares out, his eyes dark. “I was a stupid kid who had no idea what real consequences were. My parents always jumped in to clean up any mess I made, so I never thought about how being with Bailey might really hurt Leigh Anne. Bailey kept coming on to me and Leigh Anne and I were arguing a lot about school. She