Unspeakable Truths Read Online Free PDF

own grief and unable to move forward.
    I knew Everly hated me. I could understand it, understand why she’d felt the way she did. I don’t blame her, truth be told I was never her favorite person, I made sure of that. It was better for me to let her hate me all those years ago and to let her believe that I was an asshole. This way she never got to see the truth, she got to have her perfect relationship while never knowing how deep my feelings for her really ran. A revelation like that would have ruined my relationship with Tyler, and he was always like a brother to me. Above everything else my loyalty lay with him, it had to.
    I sit in my car for a while; I haven’t been here before now. I’d left town before the funeral took place, and it’s hard to come to grips with this, even now after so much time has passed. I get out of the car and walk across the lawn. It takes me a few minutes of searching before I found the one I was looking for. I notice the fresh flowers as I run my hand over the engraved lettering on the tombstone, Tyler Maxwell West . I let out a chuckle and shake my head.
    “Dude. Maxwell? I knew you practically all your life, and I never knew that was your middle name. I don’t blame you for hiding it though.” I release a sigh and look around me, unsure exactly of what or who I’m looking for. I crouch down until I’m eye level with the headstone.
    “I’m so sorry man.” My voice cracks as I say the words that I’ve been holding in for so long. “I’m sorry for so many things. Mostly I’m sorry for not being there for her, even though she didn’t want me around, even though I know it’s what you would have expected from me. I couldn’t, I couldn’t be around her. And she would never have accepted my presence. I’ve never had such mixed emotions for anyone in all my life.”
    I close my eyes, pinch the bridge of my nose, and let out a shaky breath. “If I had known how bad things had gotten with Everly, how she shut her whole life down and let her grief take over, I would never have stayed away as long as I did. She may hate me, but I would have at least tried to help her dig out of this hole she’s planted herself in. I don’t know, I think it might be too late. Her mind is made up about me, and she won’t even look at me. And if I’m being perfectly honest, I don’t know if I can stand to be around her either. I hate her too.”

    I finish unpacking the rest of my boxes, putting away the last of my belongings in the closet of the small one bedroom apartment I rented in town. If you’d have asked me a few years ago if I’d ever come back here, I would have told you I would never come back to this town again. I knew that Everly and Tyler’s family blamed me for what happened, and I guess a part of me blamed myself too. It was just easier for everyone involved for me to go away since I was leaving anyway. No one knew that I had been accepted into law school in Chicago, not even Ty, but I knew even before everything got screwed up that I needed to go. I’d been contemplating coming home for a long time, but the job offer at one of the top law firms in the state is what ultimately drew me back.
    “Knock, knock.” I smile at the voice coming from the stairway that leads up to my apartment.
    “Hey Mom, come on up.”
    My mother has been on cloud nine ever since I came back to New Jersey. My leaving had been hard on her, I know she would’ve wanted me to stay, but she supported my move anyway.
    “I wanted to stop by and see the new apartment. I hope that’s okay,” she says as she walks in with bags in both her hands and takes in her surroundings.
    My mom and I have always been close, but I don’t think I could have gotten through the last few years without her. It was a dark time for me and even though we were living thousands of miles apart, she found a way to let me know that she was always right there.
    “You can come by anytime you want, Mom. You know that.”
    She gives