With the Last Goodbye (Thirty-Eight Book 6) Read online

  Table of Contents

  Title Page

  Books by Len Webster

  With the Last Goodbye

  Quote

  Dedicaiton

  PROLOGUE

  CHAPTER ONE

  CHAPTER TWO

  CHAPTER THREE

  CHAPTER FOUR

  CHAPTER FIVE

  CHAPTER SIX

  CHAPTER SEVEN

  CHAPTER EIGHT

  CHAPTER NINE

  CHAPTER TEN

  CHAPTER ELEVEN

  CHAPTER TWELVE

  CHAPTER THIRTEEN

  CHAPTER FOURTEEN

  CHAPTER FIFTEEN

  CHAPTER SIXTEEN

  CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

  CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

  CHAPTER NINETEEN

  CHAPTER TWENTY

  CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE

  CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO

  EPILOGUE

  The Theory of Unrequited

  Acknowledgments

  About the Author

  Connect with Len Webster

  Copyright Notice

  The First Touch of Sunlight

  The Wait For You

  The Sometimes Moments Collection

  Sometimes Moments (Sometimes Moments #1)

  Sometimes, Forever (Sometimes Moments #2)

  Sometimes. Honestly? Always. (Sometimes Moments #3) Coming Soon

  Thirty-Eight Series

  Thirty-Eight Days (Thirty Eight #1)

  Thirty-Eight Reasons (Thirty Eight #2)

  What We’ll Leave Behind (Thirty-Eight #2.5)

  What You Left Behind (Thirty-Eight #3)

  All We Have (Thirty-Eight #4)

  With The First Goodbye (Thirty-Eight #5)

  With The Last Goodbye (Thirty-Eight #6)

  The Science of Unrequited: The Story of AJ & Evan

  The Theory of Unrequited (The Science of Unrequited #1) Coming Soon

  It was always bros before hoes—except when Josephine Faulkner got involved.

  The saying had been obliterated for Maxwell Sheridan the moment he met her. His Josephine. She had become his everything without even trying. It’s too damn bad that Max broke her heart. Left her behind to seek redemption for his past mistakes. Life with Josie was perfect. He had found his La Vie En Rose … Or so he thought.

  One moment outside her apartment building changed it all.

  Josephine Faulkner’s world erupted with a single phone call. She became numb with a revelation, and her beliefs held no meaning the moment Maxwell Sheridan left her. Gone was the perfection she thought they had found together. All the good taken away by his decision.

  But his goodbye wouldn’t destroy her.

  Josie has more important things to worry about than the shattered pieces of her heart. Because not even Max can stop her from saying the one goodbye that means the very most.

  The very last goodbye that will hurt her in ways Maxwell Sheridan couldn’t.

  And when I stepped away from it all, there she was.

  -Maxwell Sheridan, With the Last Goodbye

  For my readers.

  The end of one series together does not mean goodbye.

  Thank you for your love, your support, and your faith.

  With you all, I am a better person.

  The day Maxwell Sheridan broke Josephine Faulkner’s heart was a sunny Sunday morning.

  It was early.

  The skies were as blue as her eyes.

  The wind was cool and refreshing.

  But as Max sat outside on her apartment building’s steps, he knew the beautiful day was a façade.

  He felt the pain of his decision weigh heavily on him.

  It made it hard for him to breathe.

  His heart begged him for a change.

  It pleaded with him that redemption wasn’t worth the destruction he’d ensure.

  Max spent all night replaying his verbal promise to Andrea Wallace.

  He was going to Boston, Massachusetts.

  Not for her.

  Not for her love or affection.

  He was going to put away the demons.

  His demons.

  Finally put them to rest.

  Seek redemption and forgiveness for the things he had done in the past.

  Reveal the truth to his two best friends and hope to God that they would someday forgive him for the awful things he had done to them.

  Though he wasn’t going to claim Andrea’s love, he was going to seek her forgiveness, too.

  He had pursued her when her heart wasn’t his to chase.

  To want.

  To desire.

  To believe he could have.

  Andrea Wallace was never meant to be his.

  He finally understood that after all this time.

  Because his heart didn’t whisper her name.

  To have.

  To want forever.

  Max stared at his hands as he waited.

  He felt the end creep toward him.

  He knew it was close.

  The wait broke his heart even more.

  He wished she was home.

  He had knocked on her apartment door and waited. When he got no answer, he returned downstairs and sat on the step, waiting for her.

  Then he heard it.

  Faint, slow footsteps that eventually came to a stop.

  Max lifted his chin to find her standing before him.

  Her eyes had glazed over with tears.

  She knew.

  She knew what he had decided.

  She put him first, and Max had deemed her last.

  His lip trembled at the wounded expression on her face.

  It was horrible to see the one person he loved the most look at him with such pain.

  He inhaled a sharp breath and whispered, “Josephine,” as he slowly got to his feet.

  Max watched as she winced.

  A painful wince even he felt.

  Because he heard it in his voice.

  The pleading for her forgiveness and understanding.

  The pleading for her.

  Just her.

  Josie covered her face with her palms and sobbed.

  He felt her slowly fall out of love with him.

  Unable to stop himself, he closed the distance and wrapped his arms around her.

  She shook.

  Her pain he felt and knew.

  Her pain was what he had caused.

  Because he felt her heartbreak.

  He felt her love for him and the devastation.

  Because I chose Andrea and not her.

  Josephine Faulkner was the name his heart whispered.

  She was his solace.

  His entire heart and being.

  But he gave her up for his morality.

  He chose her.

  He chose someone else.

  I gave him the chance at closure only for it to backfire on me.

  Josephine Faulkner inhaled a deep breath and prayed that it extinguished the fire in her chest. Instead, it gave it life. It was the oxygen that fire needed to turn into an inferno.

  The disappointment she felt in herself barrelled through her veins, determined for her never to forget the fact she trusted him with her once guarded heart. Only for Maxwell Sheridan to ruin it.

  She loved him.

  Completely and utterly loved him.

  He was her La Vie En Rose.

  Her everything.

  When life handed her the very worst, he made it the very best …

  Until he didn’t.

  Until he told her that he had to leave with Andrea.

  The pain in his eyes couldn’t match the pain she felt.

  He had no idea how betra
yed and hurt she felt.

  He had no idea what horrible timing he had.

  Josie could have told him the truth.

  It might have made him stay.

  Made him pick her.

  But she refused.

  All her life, she was the second choice.

  She wouldn’t be this time.

  She wouldn’t let Max stay.

  She wouldn’t let Max have her heart or love.

  He had been her La Vie En Rose.

  But not anymore.

  And never again.

  La Vie En Rose.

  He had said that to her.

  That she was his La Vie En Rose.

  Pain infiltrated her heart when he had, and she had pushed away from his once loving embrace and slapped him across the face.

  He had no idea.

  He had no idea how much he insulted her with one sentence.

  Maxwell Sheridan had no idea how much he had broken her heart and belief in him with a lie.

  One damn lie that she would never—even with the last breath she was capable of making—believe to be the truth.

  Max had been the one person in her life who she believed could never disappoint her.

  But he was just another notch.

  Her love for him had become the biggest disappointment of her life.

  She had expected disappointment from her father.

  But with Max, she never thought he could hurt her so deeply.

  He left her standing outside her building to collect her heart’s broken pieces off the ground as he walked away.

  He left.

  Just like her father had done many times before.

  And just like her mother had.

  Her mother.

  Her warm, loving mother had left her.

  Beep.

  Beep.

  Beep.

  Beep.

  Her once beaming mother was now on life support after her cancer had claimed her lungs and other vital organs. Her cancer had been terminal for two weeks. Josie assumed she was going to tell her today when they went to lunch together. Emily Faulkner’s neighbour had discovered her door left open on his way to work and found her collapsed in the hallway. He had called 000, and she was rushed to the ER. That was when Josie had been notified.

  Dr Frederickson had pulled her aside and told her the news.

  Terminal.

  Her mother’s cancer was terminal.

  Her organs were shutting down.

  She was on life support.

  He had said more, but the moment she heard ‘terminal,’ everything in her lost its strength, and she fell to her knees, sobbing.

  Life support.

  Her mother was hooked up to machines to keep her breathing.

  To keep her alive.

  She had little time left.

  Josie wiped her tears away as she stroked her mother’s cold hand.

  After Dr Frederickson had told her the news, he sent her home to get some rest. Little did she know that when she arrived back at her apartment, Maxwell Sheridan would obliterate any other remaining functioning part of her.

  Josephine Faulkner had everything before it was all taken away from her.

  Her mother was dying.

  The love of her life had left her.

  Now, she was empty inside.

  Suddenly, a knock on the intensive care room door had Josie glancing over her shoulder to find her mother’s doctor with a tight smile on his face.

  “Good afternoon, Josie,” he greeted in a careful tone that she appreciated.

  Josie didn’t bother to get out of the visitor’s seat as she grasped her mother’s hand a little tighter, hoping she felt it. “Hello, Doc.”

  The doctor made his way to her side and set his clipboard on her mother’s bed. Settling his hand on Josie’s shoulder, he asked, “Did you sleep?”

  She shook her head. “I showered and then drove back here. I sat in my car for a while.”

  I also got my heart broken by Maxwell Sheridan.

  But Dr Frederickson didn’t need to know that. And he didn’t have to know how close she was to screaming that it wasn’t fair.

  It wasn’t fair that she gave Max her love, only for him to throw it in her face.

  It wasn’t fair that her mother was on life support when Josie was the one who had all but given up on life.

  She’d trade places with her mother.

  Any day of the week, she would.

  Because Josie was so tired.

  So tired of life and its unfairness.

  Tired of disappointment.

  Tired of never being someone’s first choice.

  Tired of knowing what pain felt like when it consumed you.

  Josephine Faulkner was tired.

  “You know it’s a decision you don’t have to make right now,” Dr Frederickson said.

  Tears filled her eyes and then dragged down her cheeks as quickly as she blinked. “I know,” she whispered.

  “I’m here for you, Josie,” he assured.

  And she believed him.

  After everything she had been through in the past year and a half, Dr Frederickson was one of only a few who never gave her false hope. And when he gave her bad news, he stayed to comfort her. He never left. He never gave her that sick feeling of being so vulnerable. He always ensured she was never alone.

  “Dr Frederickson,” Josie said as she took her eyes off her pale mother and faced the doctor. Her lip trembled, and she found it difficult to speak. Josie let go of her mother and covered the doctor’s hand on her shoulder. “I don’t know what to do.”

  The doctor bent his knees and removed his hand from her shoulder. Then he grasped her hand in his, and his lips pressed into that tight, reassuring smile that she appreciated. It wasn’t one of false hope. One that told her that her mother would suddenly be cancer-free and Josie could have a chance to tell her mother how sorry she was for all the selfish things she had done. Selfish things like hurting her when all Josie wanted to do was hurt her absent father.

  “It’s okay, Josie. It’s not a decision to be made lightly. It’s normal to feel the way you do.”

  She nodded as the tears continued to fall. Although she had the doctor’s support, she had never felt more alone. She wished Max was here now. But he wasn’t. Not after he told her he was leaving with Andrea. This was the time she needed him the most, and he had let her down.

  Disappointed her the way her father had many times before.

  But Max’s disappointment was far worse.

  Especially since he had promised never to disappoint her.

  And he had.

  A lie had been committed against her.

  “But …” She inhaled a shaky breath. “But I kill her if I make that decision.”

  The doctor shook his head. “You’re turning off your mother’s life support, Josie. It’s not an easy decision.”

  She let out a painful sob. “If I keep her on it, I’m causing her more pain, right? Prolonging the dy-dying process?”

  “Your mother’s cancer has spread to her lungs and other parts of her body.”

  “And it’s incurable? No chemo will get rid of it?”

  Dr Frederickson squeezed her hand. “Unfortunately not, Josie. Your mother’s cancer is terminal. She refused to undergo another round of chemo. Instead, she wished to live her life at home.”

  “How long was she given?”

  “A month, maybe two.”

  Josie pulled her hand free from the doctor’s and covered her face with her palms. She sobbed as guilt and grief consumed her. Her mother was given months to live. She had been sent home a few weeks ago. All this time Josie spent concentrating on useless things like assignments and work should have been spent living the best days with her mother.

  After several ugly sobs, she wiped her cheeks and took a deep breath. Then she asked, “And your professional medical advice?”

  He didn’t falter as he said, “It’s in your mother’s best interests that we
withdraw life support.”

  Withdraw.

  Cease.

  End.

  Death.

  The doctor’s advice was to stop the pain.

  To stop her mother’s suffering.

  Josie’s eyelids fell closed as tears ran down her cheeks.

  She knew in her heart the doctor was right.

  But she needed more time.

  More seconds with her mother.

  Even though she knew her mother had left her that morning.

  “Josie,” a soft, feminine voice whispered.

  But she ignored it.

  In the darkness, she was safe from feeling.

  Safe from all the hurt that terrorised her.

  “Josie,” the voice called again.

  It was familiar.

  A voice of comfort.

  Blinking her eyes open, Josie lifted her head from the mattress to find her best friend, Stella Weller, standing next to her with a bouquet of tulips in her hands and a sad smile on her face. “I’m sorry I couldn’t get here sooner.”

  Josie ran her palms over her face and let out a sigh. “It’s okay, Stella.”

  Her best friend walked to the bed and kissed Emily’s forehead. “Hey, Em.”

  Josie blinked the forming tears away. She couldn’t cry. Not in front of Stella. She had done all her crying with Dr Frederickson. After some time, he had stopped talking and allowed her to have someone be with her. Comfort her. She was sure that most people on life support had a room full of people by their side, but not Emily Faulkner. Josie’s mother was loved by so many, but when she revealed she had cancer to Josie, she announced that no one besides her daughter would know. She wasn’t happy when Stella had found out, but her mother understood Josie’s need to have someone know.

  Stella set the flowers on the table and gazed at Emily. She stared at the breathing apparatus in her mouth, then she lifted her eyes to find Josie. “How are you?”

  “Okay,” she replied in a small voice as she brushed her brunette hair behind her ear.

  “What did the doctor say?”

  Josie swallowed hard and then dug her teeth into her lip as if it would rid her of her pain. Then, after a long moment of silence, she said, “Her cancer’s terminal. Her organs are shutting down. Dr Frederickson said that I have a choice to make about …” She closed her mouth, not wanting to say it out loud.