Free Heartbeat by Faith Sullivan Page B

yourself around here? They’re gonna walk all over you.”
    “Honey, I’ve been stepped on my whole life,” she says. “Why would it stop now that I’m in the care of strangers?”
    That remark slices through my heart. Not because it is tinged with self-pity, but because it’s true.

Chapter Twenty-Four

Adam
    It is a Brian weekend. And I so need one. It’ll be good to get out of my head for a while and kick back with my brother.
    “You know you don’t have to ring the doorbell. About two vehicles a day go down this road—me and the mailman—I spotted you coming about a mile away,” I tease.
    “Adam, I like to observe the formalities. I mean, how am I supposed to know if you’re shacked up in here with some girl or not? I wouldn’t wanna interrupt anything,” Brian shoots back.
    “You’re the one tied down with a ball and chain, bro,” I say. “Not me, remember?”
    “Well the shackles are off and I say we head out for a night on the town instead of being cooped up in this log cabin all night.”
    “And where the hell do you wanna go?”
    “I don’t know,” he replies. “Somewhere downtown? I’m sure we can find some bar to hang out in.”
    “Brian, you do know it’s parade day. Are you crazy? You really feel like fighting our way through that crowd?” I challenge.
    “That’s the brother I love! Not even worried about having to use his fake ID, just concerned about the throngs of people,” he jokes.
    “Hey man, I’m not drinking,” I assert. “Everyone and their mother goes out on parade night. That’s all I need is for someone to see me. And it’ll be bye-bye, ambulance.”
    “Well, who says you have to drink?” he demands. “We can still scope out the babe situation. Adam, you desperately need to get laid, bro. I mean, seriously, how long has it been? I know you like living out in nature and all, but what are you now, like a Buddhist monk or something?”
    I don’t give him time to finish before slamming him in a headlock.
    “All right, all right…I won’t pressure you. I just think it’d take your mind off of things, ya know?” Brian says, his face bright red from my stranglehold.
    “Bri, if you came up here to hash out this whole April thing, it ain’t gonna happen, you understand? If that’s your game plan, you can get right back in your car…”
    “Whoa, hold up, man. I get it. I’ll drop it,” he asserts. “But I’m here now, and if you actually want to talk to a human being face to face about the painful situation you’ve had to endure—I’m here for you, okay?”
    “Yeah, man. I know,” I sigh. “But I don’t.”
    I turn away and look out the window at the mountain fully illuminated by the setting sun. Will the past continue to haunt me? I want to shut the door on it for good, and now is the time to start.
    “I met somebody else,” I declare.
    “What?” Brian exclaims.
    The look on my brother’s face is priceless. Maybe I really am turning into a Buddhist monk.
    “Who is she?” he demands.
    “She’s a girl I met on one of my ambulance calls a couple of weeks ago.”
    “Is this the damsel in distress you texted me about?”
    “Yeah.”
    “How many times have you gone out with her?”
    “None.”
    “You’re kidding me, right?”
    “No, it wasn’t the right time to ask her out,” I explain. “When I first met her, we were taking her grandmother to the hospital after a car accident.”
    “Bro, that would’ve been the perfect time to ask her out when she was all vulnerable and shit.”
    “I don’t know what Kelly sees in you. I really don’t.”
    “Hey, I’m not the one growing old and alone here.”
    “I tried calling her after that, but…”
    “But?”
    “Her father answered and basically hung up on me.”
    “Wait, she still lives at home?”
    “Yeah, so?”
    “You really wanna go there?”
    “Just because you’re seeing someone old enough to be your mother…”
    “Ha, ha, very funny.”
    “It is, if you think about