Always Conall (Bitterroot #2) Read Online Free PDF Page B

a deep breath, then opened and pinned that haunting blue color on me. “Are you planning to stay? Or are you just stopping through? What’s going on, Conall?”
    “I didn’t really know what I was doing when I came home. I got out of the Army, and I just… had to come see you.”
    “You came back to see me?” Her voice held a trace of wonder mixed with sadness and even a hint of relief.
    I lowered my frame and sat on the grassy shore, pitching a small pebble into the water as I shrugged, shaking my head slightly. My gaze focused on the ripples moving through the water for a moment before I answered.
    “I always promised Matt I’d look out for you when he wasn’t around. And he’s not.” A bitter sensation curled in my stomach at the half-truth. I had promised Matt, but I was really here because I wanted to see her. I had to see her.
    “So, it was out of duty to Matt?” she murmured dejectedly as she settled down beside me leaning forward to wrap her arms about her bent knees. “Who was supposed to be looking out for me over the last five years, then? Why come back now?”
    “It was always supposed to be me. I just… I ran from it. Joined the Army. Signed up for five years. I learned a bit about responsibility. And I realized that, no matter where I went or who I was with, I couldn’t really escape it. So I had to check on you.”
    “For Matt…” she trailed off, resting her chin on her knees.
    My little white lie twisted in my chest with her somber tone, and the silence dragged on as we both tried to make sense of this situation we’d created. Finally, swallowing past the regret in my throat, I spoke.
    “So, tell me what happened after I left,” I quietly said.
    Her eyes lifted, the cornflower blue luminous with the pain of unhappy memories. “Well, for a couple weeks,” she slowly began with a shaky, solemn sigh, “nothing really happened.”
    I watched her lower lip catch against her teeth as her eyes lowered. “Nothing?” I asked.
    “Yeah, really. Not for a while. It was all very pathetic. Mom and I just kind of… existed. Things were all just kind of hazy and dreamlike. Mentally, she had just disappeared.” Sage took a deep breath and exhaled as she continued to speak quietly. “I kept waiting for the shock to wear off. I’d try to talk to her, but it was like I wasn’t even there.” Swallowing hard, she focused her gaze on her hands. “After a while, the school contacted Child and Family Services because I hadn’t been going. My teachers had tried to call the house, but I didn’t answer. School was the last place I wanted to be. Everyone knew about Matt.” Her voice became hoarse as she looked back over at me. “Everyone knew you’d left, too. All the security I’d felt was gone.”
    My chest squeezed with remorse. All this time, I’d thought my absence would have been helpful. I didn’t want to be a reminder of everything she’d lost. I had rationalized leaving by thinking she could have a clean break to heal.
    “Anyway,” she continued sadly, “once the school got in touch with the authorities, things changed pretty rapidly. My mom was practically comatose, completely unresponsive to everyone around her. She was like a robot, like a switch had flipped and turned her awareness of others completely off. She was institutionalized immediately, and I was to become a ward of the court. I didn’t have the will to fight it, even though I could have probably emancipated myself. But I guess part of me was actually hopeful that someone might… care.” She paused for a minute before she went on. “They were making preparations to place me into a foster home when I realized I was pregnant.”
    Something about her saying that, something about the words coming out of her mouth, shook me. Hooked me deep in my chest and pulled. I ’d obviously known. I’d seen Mattie, for Christ’s sake. But that phrase leaving her lips squeezed at my soul and rendered me speechless. Her eyes