Free Backwoods by Jill Sorenson

sure what to say. Lydia hadn’t wanted Leo to know she’d been unfaithful. She’d said he was too young to understand the complexity. After mulling it over, Nathan had agreed with her. They’d settled on a “mutual story,” which was that they just weren’t happy together. It was true, well before Ray came into the picture. Nathan had cursed Lydia to hell and tossed out scathing insults on multiple occasions—in Leo’s earshot—but he’d managed to stay quiet about the cheating.
    Since Nathan had moved out, his relationship with Leo had been difficult. They hadn’t talked about Lydia or the divorce. Nathan had been bitter and angry, but not interested in dragging her name through the mud. Lydia, in turn, hadn’t taken him to the cleaners. Leo had probably assumed that she’d gotten fed up with Nathan’s drinking. And that was the bottom line. It was the reason she’d strayed.
    “I’m sorry,” he said, shifting his gaze from Brooke to Leo. He was sorry they had to go through this again. “You were only thirteen.”
    “I was old enough to hear the truth,” Leo said.
    “It was a mutual decision, Leo. We split up because I was drunk all the time. I don’t care what happened between your mother and Ray. I care about what you do. I don’t want you to make the same mistakes I did.”
    Leo looked away, his mouth set in an angry line. Instead of talking things out, he picked up the water bag and strode away from camp with Brooke.

CHAPTER SEVEN
    T HIS WHOLE TRIP was fucking stupid.
    Leo walked to the creek in front of Brooke, keeping an eye out for intruders. He was hungry and tired and annoyed with everything. He couldn’t believe his dad hadn’t told him his mom had cheated.
    Leo didn’t know what to think. Brooke never lied about anything important, and Abby seemed like the honest type. His mom, on the other hand, had been known to stretch the truth. He doubted she had a sprained ankle, for example.
    “Shit,” he said, kicking the dirt. For the past six years, he’d operated under the assumption that his mom had left his dad because he was a surly drunk. Now he found out that she’d only told Leo half the truth. He was furious with both of his parents for deceiving him. The reason they got divorced was important.
    Leo resented being kept out of the loop. He resented Ray for taking his car away, and his mom for backing up Ray. Most of all, he resented his dad for trying to interfere in his life after making a mess of his own.
    Leo’s recreational drug use was nobody’s damned business. He was nineteen, not twelve. Pot was hardly even illegal. In a few years, it would be sold in every supermarket. Compared to alcohol and other drugs, it was healthy.
    Leo wasn’t a heroin addict. He didn’t rob banks. He didn’t drive drunk or disrespect girls or brawl in the streets. He was fine, and he didn’t need his dad or anyone else getting in his face about smoking a little weed.
    It made him happy. Why shouldn’t he be happy? Adults wanted everyone to be boring and miserable, like them. He had to climb on the hamster wheel and become a “productive member of society.”
    Well, fuck that.
    This wasn’t even about him, it was about his dad. Mr. Bigshot Pro Baller had decided that drugs and alcohol were evil because he’d made a fool of himself on YouTube. Leo shouldn’t have to get sober just because his dad couldn’t handle his liquor.
    It was stupid of Brooke to hint that she’d gotten high with him, too. Ray already thought Leo was a bad influence. If Ray learned that Leo had crossed the line with his daughter—in more ways than one—he’d go ape-shit. Ray had threatened to make Leo’s life a living hell if he ever dared to touch Brooke. There were worse things than not having a car to drive. Leo could end up getting kicked out of the house or thrown in jail.
    Leo knew he’d caused trouble between his mother and Ray. They fought over his bad grades and worse attitude. Was it any wonder that he