Broken Dreams (Broken 2)

I let out a gentle laugh, so I wouldn’t wake up Reed. “Nope, not at all. I’m heading to bed, Mom. I love you. Night.”

“Night, sweetie. Sleep good,” she said with an evil little laugh.

I could almost picture her wiggling her eyebrows up and down.

“Night, Mom.”

I hit End and set my phone on the side table. I turned to look at my passed-out husband. I watched his chest moving up and down. Each breath caused me to relax more and more until I could no longer keep my eyes open. As sleep took over, the pit in my stomach slowly started to go away.

He’s not here, Courtney. He can’t hurt you anymore.

The wedding was starting in two hours, and I was pretty sure my mother was going to have a breakdown. Meg had been too quiet all day, so I made my way up to my parents’ room where she was getting her hair done.

I knocked on the door and barely heard her say, “Come in.”

I opened the door to see her sitting there, alone, staring out the window. When she looked at me, she gave me a weak smile.

“Hey, you. Is everything okay?”

She patted lightly on the seat next to her. As I walked over toward her, I couldn’t help but notice how sad she looked.

I’d known Meg since high school. She was a year older than me and a year younger than my brother. They had been dating since Tyler’s senior year and her junior year of high school.

I sat down and followed her gaze. I wasn’t sure how long we sat there before she began talking.

“Have you ever carried a secret so dark that you felt like you were drowning in it?”

I snapped my head over at her. Does she know? I quickly looked away and nodded my head as I said, “Yes.”

Now, it was her turn to look at me. “Sometimes, I just want to run away.”

I looked at her and gave her a weak smile. “Are you having second thoughts?”

She looked down and said, “I don’t deserve your brother.”

“What? Meg, of course you do. He’s damn lucky to have you. How you put up with his ass, I’ll never know.”

She laughed slightly and said, “I’ve tried talking him into moving to Texas. I just want to leave New York. I hate it here.” She looked back out the window. “The memories here are too…painful.”

I grabbed her hand and held on to it as I took a deep breath. “Meg, is there something you want to talk about?”

She turned, and when I saw the tears in her eyes, I caught my breath.

“Something happened. It was a few years back, but I never told Tyler, and the guilt is killing me.”

My heart started pounding. “Did you cheat on him?”

Her eyes widened, and she shook her head. “No! God, I would never do that to Tyler.” She quickly wiped the tears away. “I’ve never told anyone, and I just can’t do this anymore. I’m so scared, Courtney.”

“You can trust me, Meg. I promise you.”

She was just about to start talking when the door opened, and my mother, Sissy, and Meg’s mom all walked in.

“Oh hell, Megan, your eyes are going to be all puffy now.” Meg’s mother stood there with her hands on her hips, looking at her daughter, clearly not caring that her daughter was upset.

Meg pulled her hand from mine and stood up. She wiped away any evidence of sadness and replaced it with a smile. I recognized that smile. I’d seen it a million times on my own face.

“Sorry, Mama.”