Read Into the Deep 02 Out of the Shallows for Free Online Page B

chance.”
    “Charley—”
    “If I don’t have your support, we have nothing left to talk about.” I snapped the laptop shut, trembling.
    There had never been discord between my parents and me. The ugly burden of it rested on my shoulders and I hoped that it wasn’t preparing for a long stay there.
     
    I tightened my grip around my cell as Andie waited on my reply. “Yeah, it didn’t go great, but I’ll tell you what I told them. If you don’t support me, don’t bother calling me.”
    “You’re putting him before your family?” Andie’s voice was so quiet with anger, I barely heard her question. My skin prickled with unease. “After everything he did? After all the support Mom and Dad have given you. You’re just spitting in their faces with this… and, although I get that you want to be a cop, you could take their feelings into consideration. At least you shouldn’t have just dropped those two bombs on them at the same time.” She was silent a moment. “When did you get this selfish?”
    “Selfish?” I whispered in disbelief that my sister, one of my best friends, was talking to me this way. “Is that what you think?”
    “I think yesterday I respected my little sister. I think today I feel disillusioned.”
    “Disillusioned?” I guffawed, feeling my blood heat. “I haven’t committed a crime here, Andie. I’m just asking you to trust me.”
    “I don’t with this.”
    My fingers clenched around the phone. “When did I get so selfish? When did you get so self-righteous? Mom and Dad weren’t thrilled with the idea of Rick at first, remember? The guy is ten years your senior. Did I say anything? No. I supported you.”
    “That’s completely different. Rick never broke my heart and left my family to pick up the pieces.”
    “You know, you’re the one person I thought I could count on to be there for me through this. It isn’t easy. I’m trying to work things through with Jake, and I’m finally taking the reins of my future despite Mom and Dad’s concerns about it, and I need my big sister.”
    “No, you want me to tell you that it’s all right to steamroll your way through life without taking other people’s feelings into consideration.”
    “Andie, it’s my life. M y heart. My career.”
    “And I’m telling you, if you don’t dump that loser, he’s going to break your heart and ruin your future.”
    “Fuck you,” I bit out before I could stop myself.
    There was silence on the other end of the line. All I could hear was the sound of my blood rushing in my ears.
    Finally… “No, Charley, fuck you,” she whispered back, the hurt evident in her voice. “And don’t bother calling me until he’s out of your life and you’re you again.”
    She hung up.
    I stared at the wall in front of me, trembling.
    I’d just burned my Andie bridge… for Jake.
    But she was wrong. Right? My family was wrong.
    They just were.
    Right?
    I jerked in fright as two strong arms wrapped around my waist, but I relaxed as Jake held me against his chest. His lips burned on my cheek. “You okay?”
    No, I wasn’t okay. My sister was no longer talking to me. We’d had the biggest fight of our lives and I wished I had some guarantee that Jake was worth it. Was any guy worth losing Andie over? I was afraid if I dug deep enough, the answer would put Jake and I in an even more precarious position. Yet, Andie’s attitude… she’d never made me feel like a bad person before and I didn’t think that was fair. I hadn’t done anything wrong. Exhausted, I said, “I don’t know.”
    “They’ll come around,” he promised, his voice soothing. “They’re Redfords. They don’t know how to be anything but cool.”
    I slid my arms over his. “I hope that’s true.” I turned around, dipping my head back to look into Jake’s soulful eyes. “I’m fighting between being hurt that they can’t trust me about this and really grateful they care enough to be mad at me.”
    Without me having to say so,