I Need You (Learning to Let Go) Read Online Free PDF Page A

else wouldn’t, Sara. Christ, your dad was like a father to me; more so than the piece of shit that I was blessed with. He taught me everything I know about fixing anything with a motor. I see those summers a lot differently than you do.”
    Sara thought long and hard about what he had said and what he left unsaid. Inwardly cursing herself for bringing up something that she knew would be a buzz kill for the both of them was not what she had intended. Darrin was like a son to her father, but in all reality, she knew that the subject was not something either of them wanted to talk about.
    Darrin had grown up near Madison with his younger brother, Corey, but their parents had been crack heads that ended up living on the street with two very young children. Both boys spent years in foster care before their great aunt had legally adopted them and brought them to Amulet to live. Darrin had been barely eighteen when she died, leaving him to raise a young and rebellious Corey on the farm that she left to both the boys.
    Sara was a freshman in high school when Darrin decided to enlist in the Marines. Corey had straightened out somewhat, and lived most of his senior year with the Lonnemans. Sara had just graduated from high school when Darrin was honorably discharged from the Corp. The once overly energetic Darrin was back from overseas, but in his place was a cautious, aloof man that was torn up both inside and out. Sara herself had never seen any physical scars, but the pain in his eyes told her that he had been through something awful.
    Sara had no idea what to say to him at this point, instead she lay her hand on the seat in between them palm up, hoping that he would reach out to her. Darrin looked down at her proffered hand, unlatched his fingers from the steering wheel and laced them together with Sara’s instead. Darrin looked over at her and gave her a smile before squeezing her hand tightly and then leaving their fingers loosely hanging together. Sara knew that the gesture would mean more to him than any words, so she continued to hold onto him the rest of the way into town in comfortable silence.

Chapter Four

    T hey stopped at the convenience store in town and Darrin picked up their pizza, while Sara grabbed sodas, candy bars and paperware. The store was full to the brim with the local crowd fueling up for a night out, buying pizzas or grabbing essentials. Waiting for the line at the check-out to advance, Sara stood next to Darrin, but he surprised her when he pulled her in front, and wrapped his free arm around her waist. He flattened his hand out, leaving it lay on top of her shirt over her tummy. Every time the line would inch forward, he would slide both of them forward, precariously balancing the pizza in his left hand.
    Once they reached the check-out, Darrin had pushed her to the side when she offered to pay for what she had in her hands. Scowling at her, he paid for everything, and grabbed all the bags along with the pizza and started walking back out the door. Sara was inwardly glad that he did not want her to help pay for dinner; she had very little money left and payday was another week away yet.
    Darrin went directly past the beach access to Lake Amulet and kept heading south and east around the residential side of the lake. Once they had driven by all the cabins and condos, Sara finally realized where he was driving to.
    “Do you still own a cabin on the lake, Darrin?”
    “Sort of. Aunt Nel had a shack out here, but we had to knock it down last summer; it was in such bad shape. I still own the land and the beach access, but I hardly ever come down here.”
    Darrin pulled into a little lot at the end of the road, way back from any other cabins. Sara quickly climbed out of the truck and walked towards the water. The lot was small and had been overgrown with weeds and prairie grasses, but there was still a long dock with a small two-person bench sitting on it.
    The view of the lake from this side was