All At Once (Completed) - Finding You Book 1

Camden

Thirteen Years Ago

My fists are balled as I walk up the front steps of Andrew and Jenna's house. I don't come here a lot, and usually not by my own choice, but I'm about to play my biggest baseball game yet; scouts from the Majors are out. Regardless of the issues I've had with Andrew of the years, I'd really like him to come.

I refuse to give up on the promise we made as kids - that we'll always be best friends and that no one will come between us. It hasn't been true for a long time, but it's worth one more shot. One of these days he'll have to pick me over Jenna. Just once. I can't allow myself to believe that the greatest friend I've ever had would choose an on-again off-again drug addict over his own brother.

I turn the door knob of the creaky wooden screen door and step inside. It's dark and smoky, like a seedy bar in the middle of nowhere. The low hum of a children's TV program buzzes in my ears as my young nephew comes into view. He's sitting on the old, mossy green carpet in just a pair of blue cotton shorts. His bright blonde hair is sweat-soaked and stands up in an imperfect crown.

Chase. I don't know how to feel about the boy most of the time. He's not the one who put the space between my brother and me; it was already there. The woman Andrew sees as the solution is really our only true problem. She's the reason my brother broke his promises. She, a woman so weak, has somehow managed to break the biggest tie under the sun. I've quickly learned to put up a front when it came my relationship with my brother. I don't make it obvious to anyone how much I miss what we used to have - not even to Andrew. But it's times like these, when I'm months away from my biggest dreams, that I wish my brother was by my side. Andrew always supported my baseball; even when it feels like we have nothing left in common, we'll always have that.

Chase is too small to understand the kind of life his parents lead, but one day he'll grow up and realize he's being cheated, too. We may be 16 years apart, but we're kinda like kindred spirits, I guess.

I still think Andrew chose me as Godfather only out of desperation. I'm not really the type to set an example for a little kid. But now my not quite two-year-old nephew is fiddling with something as he sits on the dirty carpet in the glow of the bright TV. I move closer to Chase and my already queasy stomach plummets.

"Chase, no! You can't play with those!" I yell, diving on the ground and pulling the scissors out of his small hands. I pick up the pieces of construction paper around him on the ground. He doesn't know any better, and no one is around to tell him 'no.' I'm not the most sensitive guy in the world, but there's something obviously wrong here. I set the scissors up onto of a bookcase in a hurry, grateful I came over in when I did.

Is my brother really this irresponsible? Do neither of them pay attention to their kid or care what he does?

"Uncky Cam," the small boy says, smiling.

"Where's your Daddy?" I ask crouching down next to him. His big, green eyes stare into mine. He pulls the baseball cap off my head and sets it on his own head. It's way too big and it covers his eyes. I can't help but laugh. The kid is adorable.

"Out," Chase says, tipping the bill of the hat up so he can see me. "Mommy" he says pointing down the hall. My anger rises. I have no reservations about marching in there and telling my sister-in-law what I really think about her. "Play?" Camden says with a smile.

"I...um...I can't," Camden asks. "Sorry, kid. I only have a few minutes. Just looking for your Dad," I say, pressing my palms into the carpet and pushing myself up to stand.

My eyes catch on the ragged couch and I let out a long breath. I'm no good at this. I don't know what to do or say to keep the kid safe while I yell at his mother. Jenna is 22, but her drugs knock her down a few years. I'm probably more mature than she is. I'm sick of everyone seeing around the bad in her; I see right through her and she knows it. Maybe that's why she gets that terrified look in her eyes every time she sees me.