Read Sail (Wake #2) for Free Online Page A

been caught.
    It was the first time I’d treated our situation like reality. He was my reality. My truth. When I thought about it like that, I began looking forward to our reality being out there for all to see. Weight seemed to lift off me as I ran my hands under the warm water. When I looked at my reflection, I saw a smile in my eyes. It felt so good knowing I was about to let it all out. Then, it spread to my mouth.
    Everything was going to be all right. This was happening. I was doing the right thing and I could feel it throughout my whole body.
    My cell chirped at me.
     
    Casey: I’m here, honeybee. You’re not alone. You can do this. They love you. Just like me.
     
    That was all I needed. We were in this together. He was with me and knowing that together we’d get through this, I felt stronger than I ever had.
     
    Me: Call you in a little while?
    Casey: Call me all the time.
     
    I helped my mom cook and she didn’t dig for information, like a good mom. When we finally sat down to eat, I began. “I’ve been keeping a secret for a long time and I’ve hurt some people. I’m not proud of some of the things I’ve done over the past couple of years, but I’m in love with a man named Casey. I’m leaving Grant.”
    They asked questions, but where I’d expected disappointment and disapproval, I’d received understanding and sympathy.
    “Sweetie, why did you marry Grant if you didn’t love him?” my mother asked as she fought back tears after we discussed my wedding day and how Casey had come there to change my mind.
    “I was afraid of what I didn’t know. I didn’t know if Casey would break my heart or if what I felt for him was even real. It just seemed so overwhelming and crazy to not know what my future would look like. He seemed so wild and unpredictable.” My dad sat quietly nodding, his head propped up on his fist as he listened. “I was confused and I thought that you and Dad wanted me to marry Grant.” I fought the urge to bite my nails and pictured Casey’s smiling face to keep me from breaking down. He was there. “I thought that it would pass. That my feelings for him were just a result of the fun we had together. I didn’t know he felt the same way. I do now.”
    I wasn’t ashamed of loving Casey, because I didn’t have any control over it. It wasn’t a decision to make. It just was. Plain and simple.
    We talked for hours. They didn’t judge me. Again I was reminded that had I been stronger, had I just a little more faith, there wouldn’t be a mess to clean up. I wouldn’t be getting a divorce. And I wouldn’t be sitting explaining a love that was so hard to put into words. I wouldn’t be explaining a love that had been hidden, concealed. Casey would be there with me.
    If I had been stronger, then there wouldn’t be a need to tell them I’ll never love anybody the way I loved Casey, because they would have met him and seen it for themselves.
    I’d wasted so much time being scared of being wrong. I couldn’t see that there is no right and wrong with love. It’s not debatable. It’s not chosen.
    Love is true.
    I held my composure until I got to the end of my story, until I explained how everything happened at the wedding reception with Grant and Casey.
    “I wasn’t upset that it was out, Mom, I was relieved. It’s so hard acting like you love one man when you’re pretending you don’t love another. And I’m so in love with Casey.”
    Hot tears poured over my cheeks.
    “Hurting Grant is bad. But knowing I’ve hurt Casey is the worst pain I’ll ever know. That’s how I know I love him, because I cannot tolerate the thought of him in pain anymore. I’ve tortured us for too long trying to do what I thought was right.” I swiped my face with my dinner napkin and noticed my mom was silently crying.
    I smiled through my tears feeling relief, knowing I didn’t have to carry the weight of my secrets around anymore.
    Shane, who sat beside my mom, rubbed her back as she bit