AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“She called me but I was in a meeting. My father called. My mother called. All three of my brothers called. It’s a nightmare, Jo.” I blow out a heavy breath.
“On this end, too. I’m on my way home now because I can’t continue working in an office where I’m just being bombarded with questions. I did talk to Marcus, though, and he said he’d take care of Rivera. So at least there’s that. But he also told me you and I needed to figure out how we want to tackle this.”
“Yeah. Where are you at on all that?” I ask simply because I don’t have the answers here.
She lets out a strangled little sound but doesn’t have the answers, either.
And that’s the whole problem. We were living in this dream state, pawning off this moment thinking it was far down the road in the future. But it’s not. It’s here upon us, and we can’t keep figuring it out because now we need to come to a decision.
“Let’s start by calling Ellie back to see how she wants to handle it,” she suggests. “I just pulled into the driveway at home if you’re able to swing by.”
“I’m not. It’s so crazy here that I slept in my office last night,” I admit. “But I’ll talk to Ellie and have her get in touch.”
“Okay.”
I’m about to tell her I love her because those feel like the right words to end this conversation, but I can’t bring myself to do it.
Saying it now will only make it that much harder on my heart when the inevitable end confronts us, and that end feels like it’s creeping slowly toward us, ready to swallow us whole and spit us out in completely different directions.
My chest feels heavy with pressure at the mere thought of losing her. I just got her back in my life even if it was in secret.
But that’s the problem with secrets, isn’t it? They always come out—a cliché for a good reason. And that’s what’s going to happen with Asher’s secret, too.
I end up muttering a bye before cutting the call, and then I dial Ellie.
“I’ve been trying you all damn morning!” she answers.
“I’ve been busy.” My tone is slightly more belligerent than I mean for it to be, but she’s not my boss and I will not take orders from her. Still, she’s here to help me, so I soften my tone. “Sorry, it’s just been a day.”
“I get it. How do you want to face all this?”
“I guess I need to break up with Sam,” I say. Something I should’ve done weeks ago but didn’t, and now I’m paying the price.
“That’s a start, yes. Do we want to admit this to the public and get past it or do we want to keep it a secret?”
“I feel like you have an opinion, so let’s hear it.”
“My opinion if you want to get around the cheating accusations is to be honest. It will hurt up front but will pay off in the long run,” she says.
“And by honest, you mean…”
“Fess up to the fake relationship with Sam to protect what you have with Jolene.”
“Have? Had. I’m not sure anymore,” I mutter.
She’s quiet a beat, and then she says, “You think this is the end?”
“It feels like it’s inevitable.” What she told me her mother said weighs heavily on my shoulders.
It’s not just Jolene and me. There’s a kid involved, and it’s impossible to think we’ll all walk away from this madness unscathed.
“What if it isn’t?”
“Huh?” I ask.
“What if the end isn’t inevitable? What if you find a way to, I don’t know…get your family to make amends?”
“You saw our fathers going at it at the charity ball, Ellie. That’s never going to happen.”
