Emma POV

My heart felt completely shattered.

Why would our parents do this to us? Just because they didn’t want to see each other? Is that even possible? Did dad lie? It just seemed crazy.

My head was buried in Mason’s neck. I was holding on to him like he was a lifeboat. I just couldn’t let go. I felt like I would shatter into a million pieces if I did. Mason was holding onto me even tighter than I was holding onto him. I knew that he didn’t want to let go either.

I didn’t cry. I was too shocked to cry.

“We need to call mom.” Mason said, making me stop breathing.

Shit.

I should have known that he would want to call her. What the hell should I do?! I can’t tell him the truth.

“Emma.” Mason called me when I didn’t answer.

My breath got stuck in my throat and my heart beat picked up. I couldn’t answer him.

Mason pushed me away gently. He looked at me and furrowed his eyebrows.

“What’s wrong?” he asked me, studying my face carefully.

“Maybe… Maybe we should do it another time.” I stuttered. “I can’t talk about this anymore.”

“I want to talk about it, Emma.” Mason said angrily. “I need to hear what she has to say for herself.”

I picked up a strand of my hair and twirled it between my fingers.

“She is probably working right now.” I mumbled. “We shouldn’t bother her.”

I had no idea if she was working or what time it was where she was staying. It was the first thing I thought of as an excuse.

Mason narrowed his eyes, and he looked at the strand of my hair between my fingers. I froze and stopped twirling my hair. Does he remember?

“Why are you lying, Emma?” he asked, looking back up at me. “Did you think I wouldn’t remember? I know you. I know what you do when you are nervous, sad, and lying. I know everything about you.”

I gulped and my eyes widened. Shit.

“Now, why don’t you stop lying to me and tell me what is going on.” Mason said, pulling the strand of my hair out of my hand.

“Nothing.” I mumbled as I tried to get up.

He pulled me back down onto his lap and tightened his arms around me.

“You are not leaving until you tell me the truth.” he said sternly. “Why don’t you want to call mom?”

I stared at him, unable to breathe. I tried to come up with a good excuse, but my brain was empty. It felt like it was completely shut off.

Mason’s stern gaze turned into a worried one. He rubbed my back soothingly.

“Emma?” he called me softly. “What’s wrong? You can tell me anything.”

I took a deep breath and tried to think of a way to give him as little information as I could.

“Mom won’t answer her phone.” I said quietly.

“Why?” Mason asked, studying my face.

“Because she is working.” I said quietly, resisting the urge to twirl a strand of hair between my fingers.

“It’s an important call, Emma.” Mason said. “She can take a break from working to talk to her daughter.”

My heart drummed against my rib cage. Why couldn’t I just tell him the truth?!

Mason narrowed his eyes when he noticed how distressed I was.

“What are you not telling me, Emma?” Mason asked angrily. “Did something happen to mom?”

“No.” I shook my head, letting out a breath I’d been holding. “She is okay, Mason. Nothing happened to her.”

“Then what?” he asked, annoyed.

I took a deep breath and closed my eyes. I will tell him only what he needs to know.

“She is not the mom you remember.” I said quietly as I opened my eyes and looked at him.

He furrowed his eyebrows in confusion. “What are you talking about?”

“She changed after we left you and dad.” I sighed. “She didn’t really care about me much. I was alone most of the time.”

There was no need for him to know the details. There was no need for him to know how many days I went without food because she didn’t go shopping. There was no need for him to know that I almost died one time when I got sick and she wasn’t home to take me to the doctor. I had the flu and my fever was almost 105. I was falling in and out of consciousness because I was severely dehydrated. If the nice lady who lived next door didn’t take care of me, I would probably be dead. She got worried when she didn’t see me leave for school for a couple of days, and she decided to come check on me. I always wondered why she didn’t call the police and report my mom for neglect. Later on, I found out that my mom paid her not to. I wasn’t surprised. My mom thinks that money can fix everything.

Mason’s eyes widened. “What do you mean she didn’t care about you?”

“She and her new husband work a lot.” I said quietly. “They weren’t home much.”

Mason went from shocked to angry in a second.

“She left her child home alone?!” he asked angrily.

“Most of the time.” I nodded.

“Who took care of you?” Mason asked, clenching his fists.

“A neighbor.” I mumbled.

Well, only once, but he doesn’t need to know that.

“Now I really want to talk to her.” Mason said angrily. “Get your phone and call her.”

“She won’t answer.” I mumbled.

“Why?” Mason asked, gripping me tightly.

“She doesn’t answer when I call her.” I sighed. “She would only answer if the principal was calling her. Or someone else important. She works a lot and she doesn’t like to waste time talking unless it is really important.”

Mason looked murderous. If I wasn’t sitting on his lap, he would probably break something. It was a good decision to not tell him the extent of our mom’s neglect.

“What about your stepfather?” he asked through his teeth.

“He is the same.” I said quietly.

“Fucker.” Mason mumbled angrily.

I ran my hand through his hair and leaned my head on his shoulder.

“We had enough bad news for today.” I said. “We can talk to her some other time, okay?”

I held my breath, waiting for his response. I was sure that he would know that I was hiding a lot from him if we continued talking about this.

“Fine.” Mason sighed, wrapping his arms around me. “But we are calling her. She will pick up if we are persistent. She has to.”

She won’t. I remembered calling her more than a dozen times in two days. I was home alone like usual when the heater broke. It was the middle of January and I was freezing. I was only 12 years old at the time, and I didn’t know who else to call. She called me after a day or two, yelling at me that I was interrupting important meetings.

“Okay.” I mumbled quietly, trying to think of a way to stall him from trying to call her.

“I am so sorry, Emma.” Mason said softly. “You didn’t deserve what happened. You deserve better parents. You deserve a better brother. I am sorry that I left you alone.”

I raised my head and looked at him. “Stop it. It wasn’t your fault. You didn’t know, Mason. You are an amazing brother. If you knew, you would have done something. It was their fault, not yours. Please don’t blame yourself. I don’t blame you. I will never blame you. I could have done a lot more as well. I could have sat on a plane and come to talk to you in person. I could have sent more letters. There are a lot of things I could have done and I didn’t do them.”

“You were a child.” Mason mumbled.

“So were you, Mason.” I said. “Please stop blaming yourself.”

He sighed and ran his hand through my hair. “Fine. I will.”

I smiled at him and stood up. “I should go back to my room. I can’t wait to go to bed.”

Mason stood up and pulled me into a hug. “I will miss you.”

“You will see me tomorrow.” I chuckled.

“I know.” Mason sighed. “It’s too long. I wish we could have sleepovers like we did when we were kids.”

I laughed. Mason’s room wasn’t really necessary. He always slept with me anyway.

“I don’t think you ever slept in your bed.” I said as I let him go.

Mason rolled his eyes playfully and took my hand in his.

“I’ll take you back to your room.” he said as he started walking out of the room.

I followed him out with a small smile on my face. I finally have my brother back.