As we drive down Fairview Boulevard, Savannah analyzes me with an inquisitive gaze. “What does my aunt think of the two of you?”
My smile fades and I turn my attention to the passing stores outside the window. “Oh – um – I’ve only met her a few times. I don’t think she’s picked up on it yet,” I lie, adopting a clear voice and utilizing those acting genes of mine again.
From what Blake has told me, Savannah and Myles have no idea that once upon a time Everett Harding was destined to be their uncle. After all, Dad’s engagement to LeAnne happened before any of us were ever born, and it’s not the kind of history you bring up out of nowhere. Plus, they don’t ever need to know. . . The fewer people who do, the better. That’s why I can’t talk about the fact that LeAnne does not like me. At all.
Fairview becomes more familiar to me with each week that passes, so I know Blake’s house isn’t far when I recognize the outskirts of his neighborhood. Butterflies build in my stomach the way they always do whenever I’m around him and my body tingles with nervous excitement, even though I know by now that I should be over these nerves.You know him, Mila. He’s nota stranger anymore.
But I can’t help thinking that maybe it’s a good thing that he still makes me nervous even now.
As we pull up outside his house, the butterflies in my stomach die. LeAnne’s Tesla is parked on the driveway alongside Blake’s truck. He said she wasn’t home, but that was ten minutes ago. Maybe she returned home from her office in Nashville early, maybe a meeting was cut short. . . All I know is that she’s here, but so am I now. I can’t just ask Jacob to keep on driving.
“Have fun!” Savannah says cheerfully.
“But not too much!” Tori adds with a saucy wink.
Swallowing, I step out and wave them goodbye as the car disappears down the street, and then I turn for the house. I know by now not to use the front door and to head around the back, but I’m only halfway up the driveway when I hear the gate swinging open.
Blake rushes toward me, but rather than flashing me his usual gorgeous smile, he is wide-eyed and shaking his head fast. When he reaches me, he grasps my wrists and pants, “Mila, hell, I’m so sorry.”
“What?”
“I don’t even know what to – wait.” Blake cuts himself off and the color instantly drains from his face, leaving him pale and unrecognizable. “What?”
My heart skips a few beats, sending my heartbeat out of sync. Palpitations throb painfully in my chest as I look down at his clenched hands around my wrists. “What are you talking about?”
Blake stares at me in absolute horror. “I just saw it. . . But you don’t. . . You don’t know.”
“Know what?” I whisper in fear. I don’t want to hear his answer, because I know already that whatever it is I don’t know, it is somethingbad. My stomach twists with agonizing dread. The sudden change from excitement to terror has sent me lightheaded and I feel utterly blank until my phone vibrates.
Blake lets go of my wrists, but still I don’t reach for my phone as he runs his hands through his hair, gripping the ends and pulling hard. “Hell, Mila. I shouldn’t be the one who tells you. I don’t know how to.”
“Oh, Blake. Put the poor girl out of her misery.”
Blake and I flinch at the sound of LeAnne’s voice. We turn to the porch where she has appeared, her hands on the porch railing as though she has been leaning out to listen. She tuts under her breath, then descends the porch steps and approaches us on the driveway.
“Mila, have you really not heard yet?” she asks, eyes flashing the same way they did that night after the bonfire. She stops a mere two feet away from me and looks me up and down with a pitying frown. “Do you really not know? I would have thought you’d be the first.”
“Mom. Don’t you – don’t you fuckingdare,” Blake hisses, taking a threatening step toward his mother. He blocks me off from her as though to shield me, and I notice his hands are balled into fists by his side.
LeAnne sighs as though this is all merely an inconvenience to her. She flips her hair over her shoulder and fixes Blake with a glare as equally threatening as his, the animosity intensifying. “What have I told you about using that language with me?”
“Mila, get in the truck,” Blake orders, reaching behind him in search of my hand. He doesn’t look away from his mom as he says, “We’re leaving.”
Blake pulls me away from her, his steps quick and desperate as he fumbles for his keys. His grip is tight around my hand, like he’s terrified of letting go. My head spins even faster, as if in time with my phone as it vibrates more persistently.
“Mila, don’t you think you deserve to know?” LeAnne calls out, the cruel edge to her voice unmistakable. “It seems only fair – apparently your father hasn’t changed much over the years.”
I dig my heels into the ground and root myself to the spot, pulling my hand free from Blake’s. I need to know what the hell is going on, and I need to knownow. My heart is slamming around inside my chest so hard that I worry I may go into cardiac arrest if I am kept in this state for a second longer.
I march back over to LeAnne, my chin tilted up to face her and my teeth clenched tight. I stare unflinchingly into her dark eyes that so resemble Blake’s. “Tell me,” I demand. “Right now.”
“Mom!” Blake pleads, and I hear him slam his hand against his truck. The ding of metal rings out around the street. “Don’t. She shouldn’t hear it from you. Let me be the one to tell her.”
“I don’t have to tell Mila anything,” LeAnne says coolly. “I can just show her.Shareit with her.” She steps back, breaking our intense eye contact, and pulls out her phone from her purse. Unlocking the device, she taps at her screen for the longest few seconds of my life, then turns it around and holds it up in front of my eyes. “There, Mila.”
I don’t know what I expected, but it wasn’t this.
Shock grips me like a vice and my blood runs cold so fast that my legs go weak and I nearly topple over from the sudden disorientation. But I catch the meaning of the words on the screen before it blurs and the headline distorts until it no longer makes sense.
