Brooks - Beyond Now: The Hutton Family Book 3

Caleb

Im going to marry you, Maisie Brown.

The first time I said those words, Maisie and I were halfway through Kindergarten. The last time I said those words, I was ten years old, but that didnt mean I stopped believing them. I just got tired of being laughed at for being so sure.

Maisie never laughed at me. Not for swearing I was going to marry her, and not for anything else, either. It was one of the reasons I loved her so much. She and I understood each other. Me with my skinny bodytoo tall and too thin from the startand her with her out of style clothes and hand-me-down shoes. Her family never had money, which meant Maisie never fit in and the cruelty of children guaranteed she spent her life watching from the outside, wishing for a place to belong.

(She always had a place she belonged

with me. When I was finally old enough to tell her that, she leaned her head on my shoulder and quietly agreed.)

I didnt know she was poor when I was six. All I saw was the shy smile. Those blonde pigtails streaming behind her on the playground. The way her eyes lit up when I made her laugh. I liked making her laugh. It would bubble up from inside and the look on her face was always surprised, as if she wasnt used to being so free.

When I realized she didnt always eat lunch, I started sneaking extra food from home. Mom discovered what I was doing, and after I explained, she started making me two lunches so Maisie never had to go hungry again. That was how I learned what true gratitude looked like. A softening of features. The gleam of unshed tears. A bit of shock and a dash joy.

When the other kids laughed at my stick-figure arms, Maisie took my hand and told me I was perfect just the way I was. And when one of our fathers said or did something awful in an alcohol induced rage, we whispered our stories to each other, heads close, hands held, hearts open.

When I was ten, I told my mother I was going to marry Maisie. Mom gave me a funny look and ruffled my hair. I never said it again after that. Though after we invited her to have dinner with us one evening, I think she saw what I did.

Maisie and I were made for each other.

Our hair was the same pale blonde. Our eyes were the same deep shade of blue. We were both tall and thin, though my issues were genetic and hers had to do with never having enough to eat. We laughed at the same jokes. We loved the same food. And we both swore we wanted to be pirates when we grew up.

The connection went deeper than that, though. It was something my still forming mind couldnt wrap itself around at the time. Looking back, the signs were everywhere. But at ten, all I knew was that I didnt feel like myself until Maisie and I were together. Mom let me invite her over after school, and made sure she knew to help herself to snacks. Dad gave me hell for having a girl as a best friend.

Thats the last thing Caleb needs, he often said, while swirling whisky in his glass. Hanging out with girls is only going to make him weaker than he already is.

Seventh grade was hard. Maisies worn clothing stood out even more as the other girls started to pay attention to what they wore. The teasing grew worse, especially when Aiden Stuart was around. My oldest brother Lucas said Aiden had a crush on Maisie, but I didnt believe him. No one could be that mean to someone they liked.

I was tall, but Aiden was BIG. Just an inch shorter than me and already sporting the beginnings of a mustache, the kid outweighed me by a good ten pounds of solid spite. I walked into the lunchroom one day and found him towering over Maisie. He made fun of her hair and called her names and I didnt stop to think.

Dropping my lunch to the ground, I raced across the linoleum, parting a sea of jeering kids as this brick wall of a boy sneered at my best friend. Roses are red, violets are black he chanted.

Maisie tried to shove her way out of the corner, but the asshole had her trapped, with his pack of cackling cronies at his side. Stop it, Aiden.

Maisies chest is as flat as her back! Aiden shouted the last of the poem, throwing his head back and belting cruel laughter while his sidekicks crowed.

I grabbed his shoulder and spun him around, not even thinking about the world of hurt I was stepping into. All I knew was that Maisie was in trouble.

Aiden glared, fire in his eyes. String Bean here thinks he can touch me. He turned to his friends, the picture of pure evil. Did you see that?

I drew myself up to my full height and squared my shoulders, hoping to look bigger than I really was. Leave Maisie alone.

Aiden curled his lip. Nah. He turned his back, as if to dismiss me, but I wasnt in the mood to be dismissed.

I grabbed his shoulder again. I still didnt have a plan. Distract him long enough for a teacher to show up? Punch him in the gut? Grab Maisies hand and drag her to safety? Anything and everything was on the table.

Aiden whirled and used the momentum to throw a wild punch my way. It landed squarely on my face, knocking my head back and sending fireworks of pain rocketing through my mouth. Growing up in a household of boys, Id been pummeled more than once or twice, but Id never taken a hit like thisone where love didnt pull the punch at the last second.

Stars shot through my vision.

The metallic tang of blood hit my tongue.

And I surprised myself by throwing a punch of my own. My fist connected with Aidens temple. Hard. He dropped down on the cafeteria floor, a dazed look glazing his eyes.

The laughter stopped. Someone murmured oh, shit while someone else screamed Caleb punched Aiden! The cry went off across the lunchroom, spreading like wildfire and sounding like victory, but the next thing I knew, a firm hand grabbed my arm and marched me straight down to the office.

The rest of the day happened in a blur of conversations with the principal, my mothers shocked arrival after my subsequent suspension, and my fathers clear and evident disdain as they argued over what to do. Mom fought for private school. Or homeschool. And panic rose up inside me at the thought of what would happen to Maisie if either of those things came to pass.

As my lip swelled and I sat with my three brothers at our family table, Dad scoffed. For Gods sake, Rebecca. Stop coddling the kid. The boy has to learn how to grow thicker skin.

I watched his whisky slosh against the glass and nodded my agreementmaybe the last time I ever agreed with my father. I dont want to go to a different school. My words were slurred around my thick lip and Mom busied herself refreshing my ice pack.