Free Coming Home Again (A Coming Home Again Novel Book 1) by T.I. Lowe Page A

doing the whole vacation
thing as a family. The boys always got invited. I never did. I think it’s
because they only had boys, but I still would have liked to have gone.
    Panicked
with being left alone, I begged the boys fruitlessly not to go up until the
very minute they left me.
    “Please don’t
go.”
    “No way!
This is going to be a blast!” John Paul replied when I begged.
    I crossed
my arms over my bowed out chest and glared at him as he gathered camping
supplies from the garage. “Then I’m going to tell Daddy and Jean on you. They
said no leaving the house overnight!”
    “Don’t be a
brat about it, Savannah,” he said as he threw a flashlight into his duffle bag.
Bradley was cramming one in his too, but he gave no commentary.
    “It’s fine.
I gave them permission.” Evan’s voice came from behind me and made me jump. I
spun around and gave him the stink eye, but it only made him chuckle. He
wandered back into the house as the boys kept packing all kinds of junk. I
watched him until the door closed. I would have brought him another Miss May
dessert, but I don’t think I could have gotten him to eat it.
    I
eventually stormed over to the sidewalk’s edge and slung myself down on the
curb. Every so often, I would huff as loudly as I could to let them know I was
still there and still not happy. Bradley would give pause to eye me, but John
Paul just ignored me completely. They passed me as they began their trek to the
neighbor’s house with their camping gear in tow. They were too excited to wait
to be picked up and decided to head over and help with loading up. They looked
like twins almost, in cutoff camouflage pants with all sorts of pockets, black
T-shirts, and tattered Chuck Taylors. Both boys had a head full of long, wavy
hair, just in different hues. They did everything together. You never saw one
without the other. It made me even more jealous that they were so close. I
wanted that with Julia, but our relationship had shifted away from each other
over the last year. I felt lonely all the time.
    Bradley
hesitated beside me. “You okay?” he asked with concern in his green eyes.
    “Please
don’t go.” I begged. “Please don’t leave us alone with him.”
    “Stop being
a brat,” John Paul said again over his shoulder.
    “I’m not
being a brat, you jerk!” I hollered back.
    Bradley
slightly nudged me with his shoe. “Sorry, Savannah. It’s just… Well, we really
want to go camping so bad is all.”
    “Stop
messin’ it up for us,” John Paul said as he continued walking.
    “It’s just
three days. I promise to take you fishing when we get back, okay?”
      Bradley waited for my reply, but I didn’t give
him one. I just sat there, staring down at my scuffed-up Converse sneakers.
They used to be John Paul’s until he outgrew them, and I took them as my own.
Boys’ clothes seemed so much more practical and comfortable than girls’
clothing, so I mostly wore his outgrown clothes. Jean hated this.
    “Savannah?”
Bradley tried again, but I continued to ignore him. So with a shrug of his
shoulders, he followed behind John Paul.
    I sat out
there willing the boys to return with all my might. By the time the sky
darkened completely, I gave up the hope. I had stayed firmly planted to that
sidewalk for hours and needed to pee something fierce, so I reluctantly went
inside.
    I sensed
that it was bad before witnessing anything as I crept into the dark house.
Tiffany was singing about her thinking we’re alone now from the living room’s
stereo, and Evan was laughing in the kitchen. I rounded the corner and spotted
Julia sitting at the table in just her panties and bra, causing the hairs to
rise on my neck. Bad…This is bad…
    I oddly
remember her bra was the same baby pink bra I had just gotten for my birthday.
I was wearing mine, coincidentally. I remember it being itchy and damp from
sweat. Bra wearing was new to me, and I already hated it with a vengeance.
    “Now the
party can