The Truth about Broken Trees (Light Keeper Series Book 3)

by Kelly Hall

“Lily, you know I’d rather be here with you.” He put his arm around me and I lay my head on his shoulder. “Don’t make it worse by making me feel guilty. Besides, it’s not fair to tempt me.”

  “I know. I’m sorry.” I moaned, poking out my bottom lip, not wanting to remind him of his own temptations.

  “I’m sure Owen will keep you company.”

  Owen shot him a glance, hearing his name mentioned. He’d always taken advantage of Talon’s absence to entertain me. And that was exactly what scared me. I remembered his lips moving on mine, and it made the gumbo swirl in my stomach. Not that Owen wasn’t attractive, because he was; maybe even more than Talon in many ways. But factor in his impossible confidence, which somehow waned with me according to Hunter, and they ran about equal. Talon used our closeness as the reason for needing time.

  Owen had tried so hard when we first met, before the whole cousin lie, but I’d been totally infatuated with Talon. Something about him still captivated me and I wanted nothing more than for us to be back together some day.

  Before, I was spared from having to make a choice. The lie had chosen for me. Of course, I would have chosen Talon, but it made things easier not having to hurt Owen. Being totally honest with myself, I really loved him, but it felt different from the way I loved Talon.

  Chapter Three

  Later, I went to help Talon pack, and found him on his computer. He quickly minimized the window and turned around. “What’s up?” His eyes shifted back to the empty screen.

  “I told you I’d help you pack. Your mom will be here soon and I found your toothbrush still in the bathroom.” I held it out to him and gave him a disapproving look.

  “Oh, thanks. I lost track of the time.” He grabbed it and took his duffle bag out of the closet. “Will you fold?” He threw me a shirt he’d pulled from its hanger.

  “Sure.” I smiled. Talon threw more clothes onto his bed where I sat. “Do you mind if I sleep in your bed while you’re gone?” Holly liked sleeping in my bed rather than the blow-up mattress when she could.

  “Sure.” He bent down and then tossed some shoes near his bed. “You know you were going to anyway, so why ask?”

  “I just thought it would be polite.” I shook out a shirt before rolling it up and tucking it in his bag. “If you don’t want me to ...”

  “You are always welcome in my bed.” He flashed me a wide smile that touched his eyes as he walked closer and pulled me into his arms.

  I tensed. “Talon, I ...” Silenced by his lips, I relaxed and gave in to the warm familiar feeling that had broken my heart.

  Finally, he pulled away and saw the confusion on my face. “Sorry, Lily.” He sighed, dropping shoulders. “I did it again and I’m sorry.”

  “Yeah, well, you are the one who wanted time, Talon, not me. So this really messes with my head.”

  “I’m sorry.” He held his hands up. He knew he’d messed up and given me false hope. “We’ll talk more about us when I come back, okay?” He took my hand and laced his fingers in mine. “It’s been hard for me, too, Lily. I just know that this is best for now, even if old habits die hard.” He dropped my hand and went back to packing.

  I stood there, slack-jawed, and let out a short breath. “So, now I’m just an old habit you need to kick? Nice.” Without another word, I left. I’d just entered my own room when he called after me.

  “Lily, that’s not what I meant, just a poor choice of words.” He stopped talking when I slammed the door behind me.

  “Well, maybe you should just shut up,” I mumbled to the closed door.

  “I heard that,” he called, his voice getting higher.

  After he’d finished packing, he came and found me. Flat on my back, I stared up at the ceiling.

  “Hey, just wanted to say goodbye,” he said as he poked his head in the door.

  “You said that weeks ago, so why don’t you just leave already?” I waited, expecting the door to slam, wanting it to slam, and for him to walk away as usual, but he didn’t. It would have been easier.

  “Don’t be that way, okay? I’m sorry. I want us to be together, too, in the right time. I’ve just got too much other stuff on my mind. I guess I just selfishly want to know that you are still here for me. That you still love and want me, too, so when the time comes I don’t make a fool of myself. I trust you to wait on me knowing all the time that you don’t have to.”

  “It’s never crossed my mind not to wait.” I closed my eyes. “It’s not like I’m gonna date anyone else.” I took a deep breath. “Is that what this is about? You want to see other people?”

  Talon’s jaw dropped open, and he seemed unsure about his next words. “No. I don’t want anyone else. I just need time.” He shook his head and seemed to pale at the thought. I didn’t understand. If neither of us wanted anyone else, then why couldn’t we have each other?

  Mom called from behind him. “Talon, your mom is here.” He stepped out into the hall and grabbed his bag and his skateboard, which he could never use on Bragg Road. I followed him down the hall and we found his mom, Sydney, waiting in the living room.

  “Talon, baby,” she said, as he walked into her embrace and kissed her cheek. The same height, she looked more like an older sister than his mom. Too bad she acted like it as well. “I’ve missed you!” She kissed him back, leaving a big red lip print on his face.

  “Cate, you look adorable!” She reached for Mom’s tummy causing her to flinch. “Tom must make big babies.” She stared wide-eyed at Mom’s beach ball. “You know, Talon was ten pounds and three ounces at birth. I thought I’d never get my figure back. Lucky for me, I did.” She smoothed out her long brown hair, raking her long red nails through it. “Of course it’s easier when you’re young.” She nodded at Mom for agreement she didn’t get.

  Talon sighed and adjusted his bag on his shoulder. “Well, we better get going.” He regarded us apologetically.

  “Oh, you are so right. I’ve got loads to do, and I’m sure Cate needs her rest. You look beat, honey.” Her eyes scanned Mom with pity.

  Mom stood up as straight as she could and squared her shoulders. “Oh, I feel great. Tom called just as you drove up and I really should go call him back. Excuse me.”

  She wiped the tacky lipstick stick stain off Talon’s face and kissed his other cheek. “I’ll miss you sweetie. You have fun and hurry back home.” She strutted —not waddled —but strutted off to her room. I couldn’t help but smile. Go mom!

  The snarl on Sydney’s face dropped as she turned to me. “How have you been, Lily? Taking good care of my baby, I hope?” She reached up and smoothed his hair until he flinched away, frowning.

  “He’s been taking good care of me and Mom.” Talon put his head down, as if guilty of how distant he’d been lately, our latest argument no doubt fresh in his mind.

  “I’ll meet you outside, Mom.” He opened the door and I waved. Once she left for the car he kissed his special spot on my forehead. “I’ll call you later, okay?”

  “Okay, but, you don’t have to check in, you know.”

  “Lily, I want to call you. Is that okay?” He took my hand, and stroked my knuckles.

  “Sure. Why wouldn’t it be?” I felt a tear sneaking to the corner of my eye as he walked away. I stood at the door and watched them go.

  Mom came out of her room when she heard the car drive away. This would be my perfect chance to talk to her and hopefully get the answers I deserved.

  “Can you believe the nerve of that woman?” She rubbed her tummy while she sat down on the sectional and threw back the recliner. “Tom must make big babies.” She mocked. “It’s so easy to get your figure back when you’re young.” She rolled her eyes. “Why not just tell me that I’m old, huge and have no chance to ever see my waistline again!”

  “You do realize that she could very well be my mother-in-law someday?” I laughed, taking the opposite end of the sofa as I wiped my teary eyes.

  “Yeah, well at least we’ll know your father-in-law’s a k
eeper.” Mom raised her head and winked.

  “That is, if I can manage to get Talon back.” I studied her face trying to understand why she’d hidden things from me all this time.

  “Of course you will, Jo-Jo. It’s just a little break. You two rushed into things, and it’s natural for you to slow it down a bit. With the wedding, it’s normal for things to get a little awkward.”

  “Yeah, it’s not just the wedding that made things awkward, Mom.” I raised an eyebrow at her. I couldn’t tell her about Kevin Hilliard and the fact that Talon had accidentally killed him too. I wanted to explain to her that the marriage had nothing to do with it.

  “What’s the matter?” she asked. “You two haven’t gotten too serious?” She raised two insinuating brows at me.

  “Mom.” I made a face. “Not that. I seriously don’t know why you can’t just trust me? We haven’t gone there, I swear it.” I watched the relief wash over her, but by the look in her eyes she didn’t know if she should believe me or not.

  “Well, I’d understand if you have, living so close and all, but I hope you’ll wait. It’s not that I approve; understanding isn’t the same things as giving you permission, you know.” She rubbed her round tummy as if to show me what could happen.

  “Mom.” I hated when she assumed such things.

  “I just want you to feel like you can tell me anything.” She smiled.

  “So why don’t you take your own advice?” I said. “Isn’t there something you want to tell me?”

  “Tell you what?” Something like confusion lifted her brow.

  I took a deep breath and found the courage to proceed. “Like … how you met Tom?” I exhaled and felt my shoulders slump in relief. I somehow thought it would be harder to start the conversation.

  “Oh, that ... I ...” She stopped. “Lily, you like Tom, don’t you? I mean, it’s a little late to complain now.” As she changed the subject, I was aware she wanted to steer me away from what she didn’t want to explain.

  “Tom’s great, but how did you meet him? Where and how, Mom? Why won’t you just tell me?” I asked. Then frustration got the best of me as she tried to gather the words for her next line. “I know about Henry Oliver!”

  Mom’s jaw dropped. It seemed to take her a second to realize what I meant. “So you know about Talon’s accident as well?”

  I nodded.

  “I guess you figured out how I met Tom, then?” She looked at the floor. “Tom said Talon didn’t know the connection.”

  “He only needed to know the man’s name. I recognized that much since it’s about all you’ve ever told me. Mom, why haven’t you ever told me more about it? About Dad? It was bound to come out.”

  “I didn’t want to bring up painful memories, Lily. I never want you to know the pain that I went through. I thought if you knew that we were connected that way, you’d start asking questions about him. Questions I don’t want to answer.”

  “But that’s just it ... I don’t know anything to ask; nothing about him that I can’t tell from his picture and my silly nickname. I want to know him.”

  “Lily, it nearly killed me when your dad died. It happened so suddenly, and being pregnant with you, I had a lot to deal with. On top of it I had to fight for his memory and try to have that man put away for what he did.” She started to get teary-eyed, but managed to keep it under control. “But back then, he still had friends, including one in law enforcement and one on the bench that helped him get away with nothing but probation and a slap on the wrist. It was his first offense. I could only hope, one day that somehow, justice would be served, one way or another.” Mom felt bad about that part; I saw the pain plaguing her expressions.

  She wiped her eyes and brushed the hair away from her face, taking a moment to stave off fresh tears. “When I got the call that he’d been killed, and in the same manner as your dad, it gave me the justice I’d been seeking all those years. But I also knew that I had to do everything I could to help get Talon the same light sentence for it to really be fair. Why should this boy suffer a fate that Mr. Oliver didn’t?” She pulled her lips in tight and looked up to the ceiling, as if hesitant to continue.

  “So I met with the DA, who I just happened to know from high school, and he introduced me to Tom. We had a few private meetings and finally convinced the DA not to pursue manslaughter charges. Talon got probation for a misdemeanor instead. Luckily, Mr. Oliver had made many enemies throughout the years. Any connections he had before had either died or dropped out of office, not to mention he’d caused several accidents other than your father’s.”

  “So why couldn’t you tell me that?” My voice broke and I’d officially hit the whining scale.

  She released a long breath. “Because it’s not all you really want to know, is it?”

  “Well, I’d like to know more about Dad. You never tell me anything, other than how nice he was.”

  “He was a nice guy.” My mom got the same nostalgic grin on her face that she reserved for the thought of my dad. “So handsome ...” She started singing the same old song.

  “See, that’s just it! I can look at his picture and see that.” I continued as Mom’s face fell. “I know there’s something you don’t want to tell me. Just get it over with.”

  Her brows snapped together. “He was handsome, a great man and a hard worker, but he lived a troubled life, Lily! We had some problems and they were starting to get worse. He claimed to have these visions; premonitions. He even claimed to see some sort of ghosts and orbs.” She rolled her eyes and her face turned pink.

  “Orbs?” I realized Dad did have the gift. But did he understand it? Obviously Mom didn’t.

  “Yeah, like fireballs and stuff.” She waved her hand to dismiss it. “I knew he saw them because of the headaches. He used to get these bad migraines. We fought over them, eventually. I thought that the headaches caused these wild dreams, but he claimed just the opposite, that ‘visions’ caused the headaches. He refused to go to a doctor and said that doctors would not know how to help him.”

  “Did you ever see the orbs?” I asked.

  “Lily, it was all in his head. He was going crazy! He took one tiny episode, one little incident of ball lightning and turned it into a huge delusion.”

  “Ball lightning?” I leaned in closer.

  “Yeah, this one time, we stayed with his parents until our first house became available, and this awful storm came. This ball of lightning came in through the window, just for a second, and then disappeared.”

  “You saw it?” I gasped. Mom had seen the Light?

  “Yeah, I saw it, that’s how I knew he was blowing things out of proportion. I’d read about ball lightning in a magazine years earlier.”

  Mom pulled her lips in tight, shook her head, and then took a deep breath. “He became obsessed with these visions and the “Light” as he called it. It worried me. The night he died he had told me he had to go find the Light. We fought. I told him he was crazy.” She paused, with tears filling up her eyes. I saw the pain in them and a part of me regretted bringing it up. She took a deep breath and continued.

  “Unfortunately, Mr. Oliver went the wrong way on the freeway, drunk out of his mind.” She wiped the tears from her cheeks. “Lily, I never told you any of this, because I didn’t want you to know. I was scared that you might buy into it and get wrapped up the same way he did.”

  “Why was it so hard for you to believe him?” I glared at her accusingly. If she loved him so much, why didn’t she give him the benefit of the doubt, like Talon had given me? “What if I told you that I had some sort of ability? Would you think I’m crazy, too?”

  Her eyes widened. “Lily, see this is why I didn’t want you to know. You’ve always been so wrapped up in the paranormal, claiming to see your dad that time, that I was afraid that …”

  “I saw Gram, too!” I interrupted, getting a look from her. “I really did! Why is it so hard to believe in me?” I shrugged. “Maybe Gram had abilities.” I knew she did, but I
wanted to see if Mom knew about it.

  “Why would you say that?” She grew angry. “See, I knew she filled your head with this garbage!” She bit her lip. “Lily, I loved your dad and your Gram very much, but they were both sick, honey! Sick! And you are a normal, beautiful girl. Don’t forget that!” She glared, glassy-eyed as the sadness crept into my expression. “See, this is why I didn’t want to tell you anything.”

  I couldn’t see the point arguing with her; she’d made up her mind years ago. Sure I could have called the Light to prove my point, but with Mom pregnant, I decided she didn’t need that kind of scare. I’d keep being the normal girl she believed and wanted me to be.

  Chapter Four

  Missing Talon already, I went back to his room and stared around at his things. There always seemed to be such a void when I knew he’d be gone awhile. Against my better judgement, I couldn’t help but sulk. I didn’t want to be miserable. I wanted to be the happy Lily, who didn’t let anything, not boys or even hurricanes, make her cry.

  Thanksgiving dinner always made me sleepy, turkey-induced or not, so I snuggled down into his blue plaid comforter and held his pillow tight. Just as I settled in, my cell phone started to make turkey sounds. Dang Hunter! He must have put Holly up to changing my ring tone, since I’d been careful not to leave it alone in his presence. I couldn’t answer it fast enough to stop the ridiculous gobbles.

  “Hello?” I said, forgetting to check the ID.

  “Hey, come over.” Owen exhaled, and I could hear the clink of his metal weights in the background.

  “What for?” I groaned.

  “Because I want you so badly,” he said, with a ridiculously sultry tone. Before I could react, he laughed. “To hang out, silly girl, what do you think?” If only he knew how awkward that whole exchange had been. “Please! Holly stole Hunter away, Granny’s watching TV, and I need company. Besides, you shouldn’t sit moping around, it’s unhealthy.”

  “I’m not moping,” I argued.

  “Yeah right.” I heard the metal dumbbell clink as he chuckled. “I bet you’re in his room right now. Probably curled up in his bed and sniffing his pillow.” He made a gagging sound.