Free Nash by Jay Crownover Page B

at Denver Health Medical Center and had come home to help out and try and
    minimize the damage. My mom was on the brink of a meltdown. I could see it coming like speeding lights
    at the other end of the tunnel, but there didn’t seem to be anything I could do to prevent it. She was self-
    medicating, taking pills and drinking her weight in wine to try and deal with the hurt. It sucked for all of us
    because even though my dad’s actions hurt us all, it was impossible just to cut him entirely out of our lives,
    and that drove my mom crazy.
    “Yes, something happened. One of the neighbors called me to let me know that the fire department was
    out at the house. Apparently she went to the backyard and put all the old family photos in the barbecue and
    decided to burn them.”
    I groaned and made my way to the parking lot where my car was.
    “Seriously?”
    Faith exhaled and I could hear how tired she was. “Yeah. The fire got out of control because of the
    wind and the amount of lighter fluid she used. It caught part of the backyard on fire. I guess it wouldn’t
    have been a huge deal if Mom had reacted, tried to put water on it or something, but the neighbor said she
    just stood there and watched it burn while laughing like a lunatic until the fire department arrived. She
    could have burned the entire neighborhood down. The homeowners’ association isn’t happy.”
    She hollered something at one of the kids and muttered something at her husband while I got in the car
    and turned on the engine.
    “She’s going off the deep end, Saint, and I don’t know how to stop it. She’s going to end up in a mental
    ward or in jail if we don’t figure something out. She’s gone from a handful to a menace. What if she tries to
    hurt herself?”
    I had to crank the radio off when a Band of Skulls song came blasting out as the car started. I turned up
    the heat and tapped my fingers on the steering wheel.
    “I’m off on Thursday. I’ll go and talk to her.”
    “Oh, Saint, don’t. It just makes both of you upset. I just needed to vent to someone. I’m so tired of both
    of them.”
    “This is so sad, Faith. Someone needs to try and talk some sense into her. So she got dumped, it’s not
    the end of the world. I know she took Dad’s cheating really hard, is having a hell of a time with the new
    girlfriend, but she really needs to stop it and move on. We did.” I think it had been easier for me because I
    never really had any expectations of a man ever being able to be faithful to one woman.
    Faith snorted and I heard the connection rustle as she shifted the phone from one shoulder to another.
    “Says the girl who let one mean boy spoil her on love for the last eight years. Face it, Saint, the women
    in this family do not deal well with heartache.”
    I must have made an involuntary noise because her voice got sharp when she asked, “Did you see him
    again?”
    I blew a breath out between my teeth and closed my eyes and let my head flop back on the seat. I never
    should have mentioned running into Nash when he came to pick up Rome after that bar fight a few months
    ago. All I wanted to do was go home, take a hot shower, and wash this day down the drain.
    “He has a family member in the oncology unit at the hospital. I’ve run into him a couple times.”
    She made a growling noise in the back of her throat that had me chuckling at the protective gesture.
    “Did you tell him to go to hell?”
    Faith had long thought that I needed to tell Nash off, tell him how horrible his careless words had felt,
    and leave the damage he had done firmly at his door. She thought he was a thorn in my side that needed to
    just be yanked out quick and clean.
    “No. I pretty much just turn into a mime around him. I just gape at him and stare at him awkwardly
    until he gets uncomfortable and goes away.”
    She laughed a little and I heard her husband ask her a question.
    “It really is too bad he didn’t gain a bunch of weight or come down