I lift a hand to stop her. “Stop. Please. I can’t ...”
My eyes start to well, which effectively quiets her. I should tell her about the article, but I can’t. I just can’t handle all the questions and the conversations right now.
“I don’t want to know any more about him, Eves.” My voice breaks. “It’s already too much ... I just ... not right now.”
Her hand covers mine as our eyes connect. “It’s okay, Golds ... I got you. It’s on a need to know. I swear.”
I nod before taking a longer swig of my drink. I wish time would pause so I could get my feet under me because I don’t know how I’m supposed to keep standing against all the waves trying to pull me under.
“Listen,” she says, tapping the counter with her nail twice before her lips part. “Mom’s gonna try and convince you to come home with them tomorrow. She told me not to tell you.”
My head draws back as I scowl. “No. Absolutely not. I do not want to go and be treated like some broken child who needs more soup. I’m a grown woman ...” I stand, making the chair scrape the floor, before I down the rest of the Grey Goose. “Dude, no. Why can’t I stay here with you?”
Her brows raise as her smile gets tight. “So, there’s a tiny problem with that ... I have that work thing. I leave today—”
“Oh god.” My eyes spring open wider. “The scary sleepaway camp thing, right?”
“Yeah.” She nods, and my stomach turns.
No. I love my mother, but I can’t go through all of this in my old bedroom with posters of the Backstreet Boys on the wall. I can’t do it.
“Wait ...” I blurt out. “Who cares? I’ll just stay and watch your place. What am I thinking? I can rot and cry alone while you’re gone.”
She shakes her head. “Dad made me promise not to leave you alone ...”
“Lie. You do it all the time.”
She downs her drink before she looks at me. “Goldie, Noah’s—”
“Davis,” I say, cutting her off with caustic exaction.
She frowns, keeping her voice steady and gentle. “He knows where I live. I’m not leaving you alone here, vulnerable.”
I swallow hard because I get it. What she’s saying is true. I don’t know what he’s capable of. I didn’t ask, I ran. And now I’m left with every possibility. Then again, I’d be left with those anyway because everyone knows once a liar, always a liar.
“You have to choose, Golds. It’s either a blast to the past back at the parentals’ place or come with me to your worst nightmare.”
I groan as I sit back down, then drop my head down against my arms on the counter.
“I hate my life.”
Evie pets my head. “Look at it this way, there’s nothing really scarier than your real life, so my shit should be a walk in the park.”
“Okay,” I mumble, looking up before sliding my glass toward her so she can pour me another. “You realize I was going to be engaged by now, and instead I’m plotting how not to shit my pants for the next week.”
“Well.” She smirks, but it’s kind. “Then it’s already working, because you’re not thinking about him.”
God, I wish that were true.
Chapter Twenty-Four
Goldie
“Remind me why this was a good idea?” I say, staring out the window from the passenger seat.
We’ve been driving for about an hour, and I’ve watched burnt orange and red leaves streak by, with the occasional burst of yellow peeking out among the tableau.
Evie’s eyes stay on the windy road as she drives, the sound of her tires whipping over the wet asphalt. I slowly shift my head to look at my sister, immediately hating the solemness in her expression.
