Always: Broken Series Book Four Read Online Free PDF Page A

bad mother.” I felt like puking. There was something going on with Addison, apparently, and I didn’t even bother to pick up the phone.
    Nick put his hand on my neck. “What’s going on?”
    I was suddenly angry with him. Extremely angry with him. “Like you give a shit.”
    “Hey. That’s uncalled for.”
    “Is it? There’s something absolutely blowing up at home, and I had my phone turned off. And why did I have my phone turned off? Because you, you controlling bastard, took it from me. You turned it off. I hope you’re happy.”
    To my surprise, Nick didn’t fight back. That was very unusual for him, because, in our fights, he usually gave as good as he got. Not in this case, though. He was just silent as he stared ahead at the road. He kept his hand on my neck, though, and rubbed it a little.
    He finally spoke. “You’re right. That was irresponsible of me. I just wanted us to be in our little bubble and not have to worry about anything for two solid days and three solid nights. I should have known that wasn’t possible.”
    “Of course it’s not possible. We have three girls, one of whom is in her twenties, but troubled. I mean, no more troubled than any other girl her age, but Olivia isn’t the most responsible person in the entire world. Yet she was in charge. What were we thinking?”
    “We were thinking that Addison was really responsible enough to take care of herself. Olivia was just there as a backup in case Addy needed a ride or something. It’s not like our girls are tiny and there wasn’t anybody there for them.”
    “You’re justifying our own neglect.”
    “You’re being dramatic.” He took his hand from around my neck and put it back on the steering wheel. “And I said that I was sorry. I guess that, in the future, we can’t really have any time to ourselves.”
    “Now you’re the one being dramatic.” I knew that he was right, though. We were parents, we didn’t have a nanny anymore, even though we could well afford one, and we both had high-pressure jobs. To say that downtime was a luxury in our lives was an understatement.
    “Look, maybe we shouldn’t get ahead of ourselves. Now, tell me what Olivia just told you.”
    Nick was always able to be calm about most things, which was something that I always admired. I knew that he wouldn’t necessarily jump to conclusions, which I tended to do. Long ago, a psychologist told me that I tended to catastrophize, which meant that I immediately went, in my head, to the worse-case scenario. Even though I had gone through many years of therapy, I knew that I still had the same tendencies when the going got rough. I never quite was able to shake my adolescent years and what had happened to me with Mr. Lucas, even though the bastard was long dead. I had come a long way with that, though.
    “She simply told me that Addison was in her room crying and wouldn’t tell her why. Chloe even called us. Say what you will, but Chloe isn’t one to get too fussed about things.” Of all our girls, Chloe was the most level-headed. Addison, God love her, was a sweet, sweet child, but she had an inner worry-wart. As for Olivia…she had her issues, and was always rebellious and brilliant. An iconoclast was the most charitable term I could think of for her. She was a handful and always had been.
    “Chloe might not be one to be fussed but Addison is.”
    “Yes, but Chloe isn’t taken in by Addy’s histrionics. If she’s worried enough to call us while we’re on vacation, then there’s probably a problem.”
    “Okay. There’s not much that we can do about it right this very second. We’ll be home as soon as possible, and then we can get to the bottom of what’s going on.”
    I had a gut feeling that Nick was putting too little stock into this problem. A mother knows when there’s something really wrong, and I just had that sinking feeling. That feeling, deep down in my core, that all of our lives were about to be turned inside out and upside