Where The Wild Things Are // Ryan Blaney

Chapter Four

Willow

Life seemed like a constant back and forth between what was real and what my mind dreamed up when I finally let the exhaustion win out. In the past forty-eight hours, everything I thought I knew was flipped upside down, shaken up, and placed in my lap by the weight of two little girls. 

When the news of how my brother passed came to light, everyone seemed mortified that they had no suspects. 

A hit and run. Robbie was picking up some food for the girls and Tamyrn when he was in the accident. My parents were tapped with the responsibility of Piper and Poppy after the news broke. I knew the moment I saw Mom sitting on Robbie's couch rocking back and forth that she wouldn't be stable enough to take on toddlers. 

I'm not saying I was any better, because I definitely wasn't, but one of the three of us had to be strong, and since they were now planning a funeral all of their own, it was ultimately put on me.

They found Robbie's Will in a file cabinet in his office. I was now the caregiver for Piper and Poppy, as he requested. Since their mom had long since given up rights, that meant no long legal battle. Tamyrn had offered to look after them, at least until I was stable enough to be on my feet alone.

I almost took up her offer, but my heart told me to say no. She didn't look too enthralled with my answer, either. Shortly after stopping for the night after gathering Robbie's information to see if he had any life insurance through his employer, Tamyrn's phone rang, abruptly causing her to leave.

None of us paid any mind, knowing we all were too mentally and physically exhausted to read too much into things. It could have been something important to her family that she needed to leave for. 

Besides, it was way past the girls' bedtime, and I was trying to keep them on track as much as I could. If anyone should have some normalcy during this it needed to be them. 

I woke up late in the morning to two girls snuggling into either side of me. Since they were so young, they didn't understand that their dad wasn't coming back and had asked about them multiple times when they were given a sippy cup and a blanket. 

Moving slightly so I didn't wake either of them up, I grabbed my phone off the bookshelf above the guest bed in my brother's house, to check what time it was.

It wasn't the time that mortified me, although it was still too early for my body to get up, it was the amount of messages and notifications from every social account I had. 

The first one came from my best friend Josie. I knew I couldn't look at it just yet, she'd have me bawling in no time. Moving on to the second one, I noticed it had no name attached, just a number I was unfamiliar with.

I'm so sorry to hear about your brother. If you need to talk or need an ear to listen, I'm just a phone call away.
It's Chase, by the way. Got your number from Ryan's phone, hope you don't mind.
(P.S., I've already kicked his ass for the shit he pulled after the race.)

Tears filled my eyes. I wasn't ready to go through all of these, nor did I want to but as I scrolled through the rest of them, one name did catch my eye.

Ryan

I know nothing I say will make the hurt and pain go away. But I can apologize for my actions. I don't expect a reply back, but I shouldn't have taken my anger out on you. You got the most horrific news and I made it a thousand times worse. I'm sorry. Deeply and regretfully.-