Page 89 of A Little Bit Uncertain

She stood there with her mouth agape, and I looked around to realize that we had an audience. Hell, we had had an audience for at least the last thirty minutes. I hated that kind of attention.

By the time I got downstairs again, Juliette was gone. For fuck’s sake. How did two women get away from me in that short of a time? And I was kicking myself for not having Juliette’s number. I could call Maeve, but that would be entering a rabbit hole I wasn’t willing to go down quite yet. Getting back in the car, I had Miles head back to my apartment. As I stared out the window, I hoped to see her, but when I didn’t, I called my sister.

“Any luck?” I crossed my fingers.

“No, I haven’t seen her. And I would never forget the dress she had on.”

“I know. She was stunning. I can’t believe I am fucking this up so spectacularly.”

McKenna’s voice got quiet. “It’s my fault. I’m so sorry, Donovan. I put the pressure on you to come initially and then pushed again, even when I knew that Evelyn would be there. I guess I kind of forgot how terrible things were for you. They’re horrible to both of us, but they’re even worse to you. It was selfish of me.”

My bristle lessened. “It’s not your fault, Kenna. I should have bailed after ten minutes of sitting down. It was clear which way that was going.”

God, our parents sucked. There was a pause, and I heard a sniffle, like the kind of one you’d try to contain while crying.

“McKenna, are you crying right now? It’s okay, this is on me. Are you at least with Colton right now?” Colton was McKenna’s driver and Miles’ brother. The four of us had a special relationship.

“It’s not okay,” she whispered. “If I messed this up for you, I won’t forgive myself. Van, I haven’t seen you smile like that since we were kids. Audra is,” she paused, deciding on her next words, “exactly who I pictured you with.”

Just then, my phone vibrated. “Hold on … I have a text,” I put the phone on speaker. “It’s Juliette. She said, I located Audra, she’s okay. I got your number from Maeve. Audra doesn’t know I’m texting you, but I wanted to let you know she’s with me and safe. She’ll text you when she’s ready.”

The first weight was lifted off my shoulders. Not that I didn’t think Audra couldn’t handle herself. She was more than capable, obviously. I was just relieved she was with someone.

I wanted to say ‘please let me talk to her and explain myself,’ but refrained.

She replied with a thumbs up, and I took the first deep breath I had since we walked over to my parents’ fucking table. I poured myself a scotch from the car bar and sipped it as I watched the city go by. When would I be back here? How could I be between my parents and the paparazzi? As we pulled up to my apartment, I took my last sip.

Maybe I should just sell the damn thing.