Book Title: The Possibility
of Us
Author: Lisa Burstein
Release Date: 7/1/14
Genre: Embrace
(Contemporary)
Book Synopsis:
One weekend together could
change everything…
When
her friend called to tell her about the funeral, Cassie wanted to say no. She
had enough to handle with her own hollow existence. But she knew she should pay
her respects to her old camp counselor…as long as her ex, Ben, wouldn’t be
there.
Except
Ben is there. Still gorgeous, still
angry, and still able to penetrate her defenses with one intense stare. All the
reasons they left each other in a flurry of heartache start to fall away over
one long, snowy weekend.
But
tough Cassie can’t truly open up to Ben when she knows confessing her secrets
will leave her raw, defenseless. And the possibility of forever might not be
enough to gamble on all the impossibilities of now.
Goodreads Book Link: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/18499688-the-possibility-of-us?ac=1
Amazon Buy Link: http://amzn.to/1nb8tbY
Barnes & Noble Buy Link: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/the-possibility-of-us-lisa-burstein/1119702444?ean=9781622667215
Excerpt:
Chapter One
Cassie
“Ben better not be there,”
I said, wiping away the condensation that had built up on the window of Laura’s
black Range Rover. The snowbanks whizzing past us on the side of the road were
so white and flawless from the storm the night before, it made me shiver. I
also could have been shivering because it was the first time I had been out of
my brother’s apartment in months, other than working in the kitchen at the
Veteran’s Association Medical Center downtown.
“What am I, your
ex-boyfriend’s keeper?” Laura asked. She seemed more confident than she had
been when we met at Turning Pines Wilderness Camp for Troubled Teens this past
summer—calmer, less afraid—but that could have been because she was driving a
car bigger than a damn elephant rumbling down the highway like a tank.
“No,” I said, preparing for
one of my patented snarky comebacks, “you’re a fucking—” But I stopped. What
happened with Ben hadn’t been Laura’s fault.
“You’re ‘a fucking
ex-boyfriend keeper,’” she pressed.
I felt my skin turn as
white as the snow. It hadn’t been her fault, but that didn’t mean she needed to
be a dick about it.
She turned to look at me,
her mouth tight. It was obvious she wished she were mute again as soon as she
saw my face.
Voluntary silence had been
her issue at Turning Pines, but it was clear she had gotten over it. At least
when she wasn’t saying something that made it look like her tongue wanted to
fly out of her mouth so she could slap her words back in there.
But I knew being mute was
what she used to cover up her real issue—diagnosed as kleptomania. Of course,
her psychologist parents had attributed her silence to that, as well. They had
told her she was “stealing her words.”
I’d been sent to Turning
Pines as part of my probation for a drug arrest, for drugs that weren’t even
mine. Of course, I did steal them. Maybe I was more like Laura than I even
knew.
My real issue had been
something only she and my brother knew about. A word I couldn’t even utter
until after I’d spent thirty days at Turning Pines. I guess I’d covered it up
with swearing and anger. My new issue had started once I met
Ben.
Clearly, I was covering
that up in much the same way.
“Sorry,” Laura said,
staring straight ahead. Her sun-lightened blond hair was up in a bun. The
severe bangs she’d had at camp had grown out, and her hair was slicked back as
tight as a ballerina’s, her green fleece zipped up like a turtleneck.
Before, when Laura had been
mute, when she communicated only with looks and a notepad, she had reminded me
of a turtle.
Now she reminded me of a
bitchy turtle.
I never should have let her
convince me to come.
Two days ago, Laura had
inserted herself back into the life I’d managed to carve out after Turning
Pines, after Ben: subletting my brother’s apartment, working at the VA for the
people who were lucky enough—or unlucky enough, depending on your
perspective—not to be deployed again like he was.
As usual, I’d woken up and
clicked into Facebook on my phone, ready to do my daily Internet-stalking of
the people I’d spent thirty days with at good old TP—seriously, TP. It
wasn’t until I’d left Turning Pines that I realized what the first two letters
had been an abbreviation for. Hindsight really was fucking twenty-twenty.
It was the end of January.
A whole new cold year had started. It had been six fucking months since then,
and I wasn’t legally a minor anymore, but I guess I still felt like one, still
frozen as the girl I was at seventeen.
As an adult now, I should
have known who I was, who I wanted to become. But since leaving Turning Pines,
I had lost Ben, turned eighteen, and was filling up my brother’s empty bed
while he was fighting in Afghanistan.
Even with my job, it wasn’t
much to Facebook-brag about.
I’d clicked into my news
feed and started scrolling. Not like I could count on anyone saying on Facebook
how they were really doing, but I wanted to make sure no one
was doing better than I was. Pretty messed up, considering everyone I went to
camp with was majorly fucked up and deserved to do better.
Well, except for Ben. He
wasn’t fucked up at all. He’d been sent to Turning Pines because he was taking
the fall for something his older brother had done, which might have made him
codependent, but Laura was the one with the psychologist parents, not me.
The thing was even I
deserved to do better. The life I’d carved out for myself was definitely not
everything I wanted my life to be. Not yet.
That was what Turning Pines
was supposed to have taught us: how to live without our vices, our demons, our
unhealthy ways of coping with the shit of life, whatever they were. Some were
easier to leave behind, like Laura’s. Some were harder to leave behind, like
mine.
A chat box had come up from
Troyer, Laura, once she noticed me online. I still thought of her by her last
name sometimes. Still thought of everyone from Turning Pines that way, because,
like the military-grade place it was supposed to be, it was how we had referred
to each other.
Except, of course, Ben and
me.
Go look at Rawe’s page, her
message read.
Rawe, Fanny had been my
counselor—the woman who’d made my life hell for thirty days, and then made me
understand my life didn’t have to be hell anymore. I didn’t check her page much
because she was always posting things about God. Not that I had anything
against God, but it definitely felt like he had something against me.
Don’t want to, I wrote
back.
Do it, Cassie, Laura wrote.
Surprisingly, I listened to
her. I actually cared what she thought about me, even though I could give two
shits about everyone else.
I clicked over to my
friends and searched for Fanny Rawe—her real name and, honestly, probably the
reason she worked at a place that used last names only.
But Rawe’s page wasn’t hers
anymore. It was a tribute page, because she had died.
She had been killed in a
car accident that week, noted in a post on her wall from a youngish-looking woman
with the last name Rawe, too. Probably her sister.
I couldn’t even imagine
having to post something like that on my brother’s Facebook wall—to turn his
account into a tribute page. It was something I worried about every minute
since he’d been deployed again, but I also knew if he were safe here with me,
he would have forced me out of his apartment by now.
I read on. The page also
included the date and time of her funeral and a place to send donations and
flowers. I started at the beginning and read the whole post again. Not because
I didn’t believe it, but because I couldn’t believe it. My
stomach was empty, hollow, as cold as the wind whipping through the snowbanks
outside the windows of my brother’s shitty apartment. Rawe and I had our
issues, but I never would have wished her dead.
I guess, unlike me, some
people had gone on living the lives they wanted after Turning Pines. Living
enough to die.
You going? Laura wrote.
Where? I replied like the
total smart-ass I was. At least with Laura I could act like a smart-ass, even
if I couldn’t usually get away with it.
Funny, she wrote. Actually,
not funny at all.
I hadn’t checked anyone
else’s pages yet, but my guess was no one from Turning Pines was doing worse
that day than Rawe.
Why would I go? I typed.
Why wouldn’t you?
There were a lot of
reasons. Even though I shuffled through that part of my life constantly while I
lay in my brother’s bed at night trying to sleep, it wasn’t like I wanted to be
around all those people again—especially one person.
I’ll pick you up. And don’t
even tell me you’re busy, she wrote. You can DVR Jerry Springer for two days.
I sighed. Fucking
Troyer.
I’d tried to deny how much
I missed Ben, missed everyone from Turning Pines, but Laura could tell. She was
no dummy. It was part of the reason I loved her so much.
“Ben wasn’t ever my
boyfriend,” I said now, turning to look at Laura in the driver’s seat. I stared
at the edges of her profile, her chin and nose as pointy as candy corn.
That was a lie. He had
been, but now Ben was the guy whose heart I broke and who had broken mine.
Who had broken me.
Unfortunately, I’d learned
the hard way that people who are broken can’t do anything but keep breaking
when it comes to their hearts.
I guess he had, too.
“Really?” she asked,
squinting from the reflection off the snow. “What was he, then?”
“A fucking illusion.”
She sighed and shook her
head. “You’re so dramatic.”
I knew it sounded that way,
but that was how everything seemed when it came to Ben and me. When we’d been
together in California for the two stolen months we spent after camp, we were
playing the roles of people who believed they could last. We even looked like
real Californians, Ben in his neon board shorts and me in my cutoffs and tank
top. But our perfect outfits were some of the only clothes we owned.
I can remember holding
hands as we walked along the boardwalk in Santa Cruz, our fingers laced up
tight like my hiking boots. The sun was just setting over the giant Ferris
wheel, making huge spiderweb shadows and spindles of light fall over
everything, including Ben’s brown eyes, which brightened like amber.
It was the beginning of
fall and getting colder each day that passed. The smell of popcorn and fried
carnival food was so strong it seemed to cling to our skin.
I sniffed the wrist of the
hand not holding tight to Ben; salt and butter and the unmistakable smell of
browned oil wafted up. My mouth watered uncontrollably. We hadn’t eaten since
the night before.
“Maybe if it gets really
bad, we can eat my arm,” I said.
He lifted our clasped hands
to his lips, kissed mine lightly, then bit each one of my fingers, the perfect
combination of gentle and rough.
My throat thickened
thinking of those lips grazing mine; my abdomen quivered, craving it.
“I call the thumb.” He
touched his lips to the soft underside of it. “I’ve heard it’s the most
nutritious part.”
“Really?” I laughed as his
tongue darted out and tickled my skin, gliding down the palm of my hand, toying
with me. Only Ben could get a giggle out of me with a move like that.
He nodded. “Think about it.
We couldn’t do anything without our thumbs. They’re valuable, like the lobster
of human body parts.”
“Then I want
my thumb,” I said.
He smirked and circled his
mouth around it, his wavy brown hair falling in his eyes. “Not giving it back,”
he said, sucking on it gently, sliding it in and out of his mouth.
Having his lips on me was
always calming, like they were glue and I was something damaged they put back
together. I let him linger there, squinting my eyes at the falling sun,
wondering how cold it would be on the beach that night; if our bonfire could
keep us warm enough.
“I think I want both
thumbs,” he said, grabbing for my other hand greedily.
“What the fuck am I going
to eat?” I asked, laughing again like a stupid girl in love, because, with Ben,
I was. I played my part perfectly, and I never had to tell him his lines.
We walked past a surf shop,
boards stacked against the window like the huge petals of a flower—he loves me,
he loves me not.
“Hey, they’re hiring,” he
said, pointing at it with both our hands.
“There’s no way I’m saying
fucking dude and gnarly all day.”
“Do you have a better idea
that doesn’t involve thumb cannibalism?” He was joking, but it was the start of
a much more serious and painful conversation.
I didn’t and neither did
he. Without a permanent address, we had no way to get jobs, anyway. We were
running out of money and out of time. The only thing we weren’t running out of
was a whole lot of fooling ourselves.
As it got colder, we had to
make a decision about what to do with the rest of our lives. But forever was a
very long time, and neither of us had been ready to follow the other. It was
one thing to be on neutral ground. It was another to decide to be in someone’s
life, in a city and a state different from yours. Ben couldn’t move to New York
with me, and I couldn’t move to Maine with him.
We’d fought about it. Both
said in our own ways I don’t understand why you can’t just come with
me.
Even though we knew exactly
why; we were ready to go home. I missed my brother, and I guess Ben missed his.
We probably also missed knowing exactly what we could expect from each day,
when we would wake up, when we would sleep, what we would eat and where. Life
at home might have been boring, but at least it was dependable.
I called Ben “shitty” and
he called me “stubborn” and then we never called each other again. It made me
wonder if this last shove, this last rejection, had pushed us both too far.
And maybe I also knew if I
went to Maine, or if Ben came back with me, it would all fall apart eventually.
Forget seeing a glass half-empty when it came to relationships. I shattered the
fucking thing against the wall.
We’d also never said the L
word to each other. If fuck was my go-to, the L word was my run-from. Just like
everything it represented had been until I’d found Ben, until he’d found me.
It was again, now that I’d
lost him.
“Without Jerry Springer, I
need to get my drama somewhere,” I said, coming back to the car with Laura.
Anyone would have told you vegging-out at my brother’s apartment was my true
escape, but—nothing new—I wasn’t listening to anyone.
“I doubt he’ll be there
anyway,” Laura said, her hands tight on the steering wheel. “Rawe was ourcounselor,
not his.”
“You’d better hope you’re
right,” I said, playing with the lock on the door—clicking it over and over, my
hands needing to do something to get my mind to stop. Because as much as I said
I didn’t want to see him, I couldn’t help but hope he might be there.
I had no idea what the fuck
I would do if he were. It had been almost three months of radio-silence and I
wasn’t looking forward to figuring out how to keep it up in person if he did
decide to show.
I caught a glimpse of my
reflection in the window as I continued clicking the lock. My face looked thin,
my brown eyes numb. I’d seemingly aged years in the snow globe I’d made of my
brother’s apartment that winter. I’d trapped myself securely inside. It was
just like Laura to come along and shake the shit out of it.
It was just like me to let
her.
“Seriously, Cassie, keep
doing that and we’ll be going to a different funeral.”
“Whose?” I smirked.
“Yours?”
“Only if I don’t kill you
first.”
I sighed. “I’m not allowed
to smoke in here. What else am I supposed to do?”
“I can’t believe you still
smoke,” Laura scoffed.
“I can’t believe you still
give a shit.”
Laura didn’t have to be
friends with me anymore. She had survived Turning Pines and started college.
She had a whole new life she was living two hours away at the University of
Rochester, but I understood she felt responsible for me, like I felt
responsible for her.
“We can stop in
Springfield,” Laura acquiesced.
“Only three hours to go,” I
replied sarcastically. “I guess even your fancy school hasn’t taught you the
definition of chain-smoker.” I stopped clicking the lock, but I hugged myself
tight. It was what I did now instead of punching myself in the stomach. The
thing I’d done to punish myself for my real issue.
Even Rawe would have to
admit that was progress, even if what had happened with Ben, what was still
happening with Ben, was probably its own brand of self-harm.
Laura looked at me; her
white-blue eyes were the color of ice. “Are you seriously okay?”
“I’m on my way to a funeral
with my best friend,” I said, staring out the window. “Why wouldn’t I be
fucking okay?”
My Review: 4 1/2 stars
This was a good, quick read. I thought the idea was original, bringing two people back together at a funeral. It was interesting and I did like the way the characters bantered back and forth, all of them. I liked that Laura was willing to piss her friend off, in order for her to find happiness or closure, one way or the other. Ben and Cassie are very similar people, in that they don't let others in. They both need and want each other, but are afraid of letting the other in. That's why things ended the way they did six months ago. The subject matter was a bit depressing, although it did need to be addressed in order for Ben and Cassie to move one way or the other. I admire Cassie for opening herself up that way to give them a chance. It had to be painful to do, but I also admire Ben for not backing away. This was a solid story, but it was an emotional roller coaster. Lisa did a great job dealing with serious subject matter, and having strong characters that were vulnerable, but still willing to be there for the other.
Author Bio:
Lisa Burstein is a tea seller by day
and a writer by night. She received her MFA in Creative Writing from the Inland
Northwest Center for Writers at Eastern Washington University. She is the
author of Pretty Amy, The Next Forever, Dear Cassie and Sneaking Candy. She
lives in Portland, Oregon with her very patient husband, a neurotic dog and two
cats.
Author Website: http://www.lisaburstein.com/
Author Blog: http://lisabursteinauthor.wordpress.com/
Author Twitter: https://twitter.com/LisaBurstein
Author Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/LisaBursteinAuthor
Author Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/5430977.Lisa_Burstein
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