prologue
DYLAN'S POV
When I was four years old my dad walked out on us. I've wondered why for a long time and the only answer my mom would give me was a simple, "Because he's a bastard."
At the time, I didn't know what that word meant so I asked my brothers and answered back, "Aren't I a bastard too?"
When my dad left, my mom took it better than anyone. She shed not one tear. She was the strongest women I knew.
About ten years later, she decided to get a boyfriend. He was kind and sweet, but it didn't last long. One day, he was just gone. He stopped coming around and my mom stopped talking about him. Once I got the courage, I asked her what happened to him.
Her answer was simple. "He wasn't what I wanted anymore."
She always seemed to made it quite clear that all men were terrible.
Before I could really process it, we had found out she had cancer. I didn't know how to handle it. All I wanted was to cry but I knew that she wouldn't want me to.
In her final moments, she gave me a piece of advice that is burned into my brain. "You have to be strong. And no matter what... not one tear can fall from that pretty little face of yours."
Everyone showed up to the funeral. The policemen and women from her job, relatives, my brothers, even some kids from school went and everyone cried, but me, I didn't cry.
