The rest of the holidays passed, and Exhale didn’t think she had ever had a better time than that year. She spent New Years Eve at the Hanson’s annual party, and had the time of her life, dancing and goofing off with Taylor, Raine, and Cade. It was much more fun than she had ever had at the block party on her street for New Years Eve. With as much fun as her and Taylor were having together in those weeks, both of them had nearly forgotten about Reese’s existence altogether. But Exhale was harshly reminded a couple of days later when she returned, and Taylor hadn’t been as available to spend time with her anymore.

Taylor, on the other hand, still had not decided what he was going to do. He couldn’t bring himself to break Reese’s heart without knowing for sure that he was going to say something to Exhale. And he couldn’t bring himself to say something to Exhale without being plagued by fear that she would find out about the letter and never speak to him or her brother ever again.

Weeks went by, and Exhale continued to do her best to follow Ava’s advice. Refusing to give up, though her brain continued to tell her that’s what she should do, she flirted with Taylor every chance she got, and felt ridiculous doing so. What gave her hope, and what made her prolong it, though, was that Taylor seemed to be responding more and more. Her hopes were definitely pushing sky high for those weeks, so much so that she barely noticed when they turned into months.

However, none of those things were on her mind as she hurried down the stairs and into the laundry room to find her mother. “Mom, I have a serious crisis!” she yelled, bursting through the door.

“Jesus!” Magdalen gasped, grabbing at her chest at Exhale’s sudden and loud entrance. “What’s the matter?”

“Raine can’t come with us to the beach next week!”

Slightly annoyed, Magdalen turned back to Echo’s white shirt which she was rubbing stain remover into. “Exhale, how many times have I told you not to run around the house screaming like a wild banshee unless it’s a real emergency?” she chided.

“I’m sorry, but, Mom, this is a big deal!” Exhale continued, a whine taking over her voice. “

“Why can’t she come?” Magdalen asked.

“Her great-aunt Lucinda is having some kind of family reunion on Easter Sunday and her mom’s making her go!” Exhale answered, rolling her eyes.

“Well, that’s nice.” Magdalen pulled the clean clothes from the dryer and stuffed them in a basket, walking past Exhale who was staring wide-eyed and open-mouthed at her mother, as if she couldn’t believe her mother was being so calm about the situation.

“Mom, she didn’t even know she had a great-aunt Lucinda!” Exhale argued, following after her mother up the stairs to her parents’ bedroom.

“Oh, Exhale-”

“I was thinking,” Exhale interrupted, knowing her mother was going to go on about the importance of family, no matter what else was going on in life, and Exhale wasn’t ready for a lecture. “What if I invited Taylor ins-”

“Absolutely not.” Dumping the clothes on the bed, Magdalen cut her off with a wave of her hand.

“But, you didn’t even let me finish!” Though she was nearly seventeen years old, Exhale had to suppress the urge to stamp her feet in protest.

“Exhale, you are not bringing a boy to the beach house with us, especially not Taylor. May I remind you what your father and I were doing at your age? We were only eighteen when Ethan was-”

“EW, Mom, can we not go there please?” Exhale exclaimed, wrinkling her nose in disgust.

Magdalen laughed and began folding the clothes, knowing she had made the impression she’d intended to make. “I don’t want there to be any sneaking around going on in that house under my watch. You’re lucky I let him go up to your room all the time and don’t make y’all stay in the den like my parents used to do. I’m not going to have you popping up pregnant at seventeen and-”

“Okay, first off, I’m not having sex with anyone,” Exhale interrupted quickly. “And secondly, if I was, why would you even think it’d be with Taylor when he has a girlfriend?”

Pausing mid-fold, Magdalen looked into her daughter’s eyes. “Because I’ve seen the way you two look at each other, and that’s enough. Besides, I don’t think his parents would let him, even if I were to say yes.”

“But if they did, would you at least consider it?” she pleaded, not responding to her mother’s answer about the way they looked at each other. “Please, Mom? Ethan and Echo will both have someone there to hang out with, and I’ll be the only one by myself. Please?”

Heaving a sigh, Magdalen said slowly, “Well, if his parents agree, I might consider it…”

“Yes!” Exhale exclaimed, hugging her mother tightly. “Can I call and ask him?”

“I guess you’d better since it’s getting closer. But let me talk to Diana after, so I can make sure you two aren’t playing us.”

Exhale sat on the edge of her parents’ bed, using the phone on the nightstand to make the call. “See? I’ll even call right in front of you to show you how innocent it is.”

When Taylor answered his ringing cell phone, he was breathless from dashing up the stairs upon hearing it in his room while he himself had been down in the den. “Hello?”

“Hey! I have a proposition for you,” she said excitedly.

“And what would that be?” Taylor asked with a smile.

“You know how your brother always comes to the beach house in Florida with us for Spring Break? Well, usually Raine goes with me, but this year she has some reunion thing to go to, so I thought maybe you’d like to come instead.”

“Um…I’d love to, Haley, but I need to go ask my mom about it first. Can I call you back in a few minutes?”

“Yeah, sure! My mom wants to talk to yours anyway,” she replied.

As Exhale hung up the phone, Magdalen sat down beside her daughter, looking thoughtful. “I’m still not too crazy about this idea, but…it’s not like we wouldn’t have room, I guess.” Exhale let her mother continue to think out loud, knowing that she would only convince herself more that it was okay for Taylor to come. “Me and your dad would still have our normal room, and Ethan and Isaac can still have rooms to themselves. Echo and Karis can share the bunk room, so that Taylor can have the sofa bed. That is, if you don’t mind sleeping up in the loft?”

Exhale grinned, knowing that granted Taylor’s parents agreed, her mother was sure to cave. “I don’t mind sleeping in the loft,” she assured Magdalen. Under normal circumstances, she would, because the loft, with it’s slanted ceiling, had a tendency to make Exhale feel claustrophobic, but if sleeping there meant Taylor could come, she’d deal with it. Seconds later, the phone rang, and Exhale was surprised at how quickly Taylor had managed to convince his parents to let him go. But then she reminded herself that, just as quickly, they could have said “no way.”

Reaching over Exhale, Magdalen snatched up the phone before Exhale could. “Hello?…Hi, Diana. I’m just fine, and you?…That’s good. I suppose Taylor’s told you what’s going on?…Yeah, I was a little reluctant at first too, but we usually do almost everything as a family on our little trips anyway, so they won’t be left in the house by themselves or anything.” Exhale smacked her forehead, more embarrassed than ever that Magdalen was spreading her fears of her and Taylor having sex to Taylor’s mother. “Oh, no, only Ethan and Exhale will be driving Ethan’s car, Taylor and Isaac will just ride with them…All right, Diana, talk to you soon. Bye.”

“What did she say?” Exhale eagerly asked as soon as her mother had replaced the phone in the cradle.

“Well, she sounded a little leery at first, but I think it’ll be fine-”

“YES!!” Exhale exclaimed.

“But, she needs to discuss it with Walker first, just like I’ll have to talk to your dad before anything’s definite.”

Exhale hugged her mother happily and hurried from the room, more excited than she had ever been. An entire week with Taylor on the beach sounded like pure perfection.

__________________

Taylor wiped his sweaty palms on his pants as he stood nervously in front of Reese’s apartment, waiting for someone to answer his knock. He was greeted warmly by Andrew, who gestured for him to come inside. “Hello, Taylor,” Andrew said in his smooth voice. “Catelin! Taylor’s here!” he called to his daughter, shutting the door behind Taylor.

“Come in here, Taylor,” Reese called from her room. “I’m in the middle of something.”

Taylor smiled at Andrew before making his way slowly down the hall, wondering if Reese could hear his heart pounding loudly in his own ears as he walked. “Hey,” he said, stepping inside the room and closing the door most of the way behind him. “What are you doing?”

“Looking for a nice restaurant that we haven’t been to yet for our anniversary. Can you believe it’s been nearly a year already?” she asked from the floor where she was flipping through the phone book.

Taylor sat on the edge of her bed, looking down at her. Her long hair was hanging over her shoulders, visible under her blue Hawaiian print sundress, in braided pigtails. “Um…before you do that…can we talk?”

Reese looked up at him, puzzled by his somber tone. “Sure. About what?”

“About…us.”

Slowly, almost cautiously, she got up from the floor and sat beside him on the bed. “What about us? Is something wrong?”

Taylor pushed his hair back nervously, reaching out with his other hand to grasp hers. “Before I leave for this trip, I…I needed to tell you that I…that we can’t be together anymore.”

Reese felt all of the air leave her lungs as if they had just been punctured. She waited for him to laugh, to tell her it was a joke, but that didn’t happen. “You…you’re serious?”

Taylor nodded. “It’s Exhale…I think…well, I know…I’m in love with her, Reese. I don’t want you to think that I never cared about you, because I honestly did-” Taylor’s voice broke, his words thick with emotion. “And that’s why this is so hard for me, but…I couldn’t let it go on any longer. I don’t know what’s going to happen between her and I, but what I do know is that you deserve someone so much better than me. You deserve someone who will focus only on you and what an amazing and beautiful person you are…”

Surprisingly, Reese nodded. “I’ve seen this coming for quite awhile now,” she admitted. “I guess I just didn’t want to believe it.”

“Reese, I am so truly and completely sorry…” Taylor said, his heart aching at causing such a wonderful person pain when all she had ever done was want him to love her.

Forcing a smile though she felt like crying, Reese squeezed his hand tightly. “I just want you to be happy, Taylor. That’s all I’ve ever wanted for you. And if Exhale makes you happy, than go to her. I want you to promise me something, though…”

“Okay…” Taylor said slowly, surprised at how well she was taking this.

“Promise me that…before you come home from vacation, you’ll tell her how you feel about her? She deserves that much from you, Taylor.”

Nodding slowly, Taylor said, “I promise.” That had been his intention from the beginning regardless, but promising Reese made it even more imperative to him that he go through with it. He knew he owed Reese at least that much after stringing her along for so long.

“You’d better head home,” Reese said, rising to her feet. “You’re going to have a long day tomorrow with all that driving.”

Taylor couldn’t bring himself to say anything until they reached the front door and he hugged her one last time. “Thank you for understanding, Reese.”

“Thank you for everything,” she whispered, squeezing him tightly. “I don’t regret a thing.” She placed a soft kiss on his cheek and said, “Good luck,” before closing the door and letting the tears that had been prickling her eyes flow freely down her cheeks.

INDEX | CHAPTER THIRTY EIGHT