Free Easier to Run by Silver Rain Page B

our dates were at the library so I could help her with her homework.”
    “She stopped studying at home because of me?” When I was younger, I had crashed plenty of their study dates. If Ben was around, I wasn’t far away. I preferred to study with Ben and my sister because at least their work was interesting.
    “She was terrified of getting bad grades because you never had to try.”
    “And I was terrified of not fitting in—she never had to try at that. ‘Be more outgoing like your sister,’” I said with a falsetto voice. “’Your sister doesn't care what people think.’”
    “She really did,” Ben said. “Made me swear not to tell anyone though.”
    I made a sound in my throat. I couldn’t believe it. “And you always kept your promises, even when you were stuck in the middle of every Bryant sister spat.”
    He chuckled and flipped down his visor against the setting sun. “I tried.”
    “I miss her. Even after this long, it hurts more than I can stand. Our parents, then her....” I swallowed. Then, Ben.
    Even though he wasn't gone for good, as our current situation proved. I had spent most of my time terrified to come back to what I'd left behind.
    “I'm sorry, Cas,” Ben whispered. His voice was low and gravely. But he had no reason to be sorry. He did everything he could to stand by me and help me get through life. I was the one with countless mistakes to apologize for.
    I still wondered why our reunion was so easy. Why the only thing Ben had at home was a rotten bitch of an ex. He could have easily had his picking of the town—hell, the state and beyond. Then again, this trip alone involved ten days on the road—maybe he just wasn't around to find anything lasting.
    “Can we talk about something not so dire?” I asked with a strained laugh. A nervous tick that I couldn't break. The more anxious I got, the more I laughed, and the two normally snowballed together until I crumbled under an avalanche of my own creation. We still had a few more hours on the road yet, and I didn’t think I could make it if I had to keep thinking about the past.

 

    Rachel rubbed her hands over her face. Her eyes were bloodshot and circled in pink. “We’ll have to get together a place for Cassie to sleep.” Her words were intended for Mitchel, but she stared off into the center of the room as she spoke, unable to focus on anyone in particular.
    “We still have beds from when all the kids were home,” Beth said, wrapping an arm around her shoulder. “How about you come back with us and get some rest. You’ll have more time to get everything prepared decide what you need to do.”
    Rachel silently agreed, and the group slowly marched out of the hospital. Lack of sleep and the emotional drain left them silent and their movements stiff and clumsy. They filed into cars and trucks moving the procession back to Ben’s home.
    Ben pulled in the drive first and parked near the front porch. He carefully opened the passenger door to his truck and eased Cassie’s sleeping body out of the cab without waking her. Beth came up behind him to close the door, and followed him up to one of the empty bedrooms, pulling back the sheets and taking off Cassie’s shoes so he could slip her into bed without waking her.
    “Stay with her for a minute?” Ben asked.
    “You need sleep,” she said. “You’re not thinking of staying up just to watch her sleep, are you?”
    “No. I just want to run and grab something. I don’t want her to wake up alone, yet.”
    Beth nodded and sat at the foot of the bed.
    Ben ran downstairs, out the front door, and across the yard to Cassie’s house. After pulling the spare key out from under a board on the porch, he stepped inside the house. It already seemed eerily quiet and empty as he jogged up the stairs to Cassie’s room and grabbed the stuffed Manatee from the head of her bed. She’d picked it up when their families went to Florida together and kept it close wherever she went.
    He