She laughs, and I shake my head at her.
“Poppy…”
“Sorry. You should’ve thought harder about what to ask.” She stops and waits for me to catch up.
“Don’t be a brat.”
She sticks out her tongue.
“Careful there. Someone might take that as an invitation,” Nash says, walking up the drive.
“If only.” Poppy laughs and waits for him. “Where’s your big belt buckle?”
He chuckles and falls into step with her. “It was Levi’s night to win, unfortunately.”
“Next time.” She punches him in the stomach, and he slings his arm around her shoulders.
They walk toward the string lights and the sound of music, and all I want to do is turn around and go back into those woods to find Delaney.
I begin to follow Poppy and Nash, but Emmett steps out in front of me. I search the dance floor until I spot Wren spinning around with Briar as she holds Colter.
“How you holding up?” he asks.
I push my hand through my hair. “You heard?”
“Everyone heard. All of Willowbrook is practically here. So, she’s back, huh?”
I love my cousin like a brother. I’m closer to Emmett than anyone—but I haven’t been completely truthful with him. There’s one secret I’ve kept locked away for seven-plus years. A secret only Delaney and I share.
“It’s crazy. I mean, she was married to a drug trafficker.” Emmett shakes his head.
The top button of his shirt is undone, jacket already abandoned.
“Did you know she was back? I saw her mom not that long ago in town.”
He shakes his head. “I think it’s only been a week or so. If I’d known, I would’ve told you.”
I nod because I know he would’ve. Emmett always has my back.
“You seem really affected. Someone said you were rude to her.” He arches an eyebrow, appearing confused.
This is where it would be easier if Emmett knew the truth, but I can’t do that to Kristie’s memory. “Just surprised to see her, I guess.”
“It’s been what… fourteen years? You had Kristie. And she clearly fell in love with someone else.”
My stomach twists when I think of that asshole she married. I couldn’t even bring myself to finish reading the story about his arrest. I’d Googled it once—after Brooks told me—but I closed the page pretty quickly. I didn’t want to see pictures of the man who replaced me. The man she chose to marry and live happily ever after with shortly after we were through for good. It was selfish and petty, maybe, but it made me sick. So anytime someone brought up Delaney and her husband, I tuned out or walked away.
“You know it’s bad if she had to come home. She’s living with her parents.”
My head snaps in his direction. “She is?”
“God, Danson, did you not read anything about her husband?”
“Not really, no.”
“Her daughter is Wren’s friend, I think. I’m not sure, but that new girl in school she keeps talking about? Pretty sure that’s her.”
I rack my brain and remember Wren talking about a new girl she and Kayla adopted into their group, but the last name didn’t sound familiar, so I never made the connection. There’s no way I would’ve guessed that girl was Delaney’s daughter. Especially one in Wren’s grade. Obviously, Delaney and her husband wasted no time in starting a family.
