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“I don’t want to intrude.” I smile.

“If that were the case, you wouldn’t have come on our family trip,” she says humorously.

“Bailey,” Sean says sternly, glaring at her.

“Sorry, was that rude?” she asks him rhetorically. “I have a problem with bluntness sometimes.”

“Yeah, no shit,” Sean shoots back.

My heart jumps at his words. I thought it could be just some standard big sister protection, but this feels like so much more. I should have just stayed behind.

Bailey scowls at him and then at me. "I just meant you should be able to join our conversations,” she says. “That’s why Sean brought you here. So, how come you moved back to Lakewood?”

I push my frustrations down as deep as humanly possible.

“I wanted to be closer to my dad,” I say bleakly.

She gives me a warm but fake smile. “Makes sense,” she says.

Sean sends her a look, and she doesn’t say anything more.

Their parents are blatantly ignoring her.

“I’m happy you decided to join us, Billie,” Kathy remarks. “And to be back in Lakewood in general. I know Sean is too.”

Sean places his hand on my thigh, soothing my anxious jitters and stopping my leg from bouncing.

After a few more minutes, everyone's finished with their plates, and I excuse myself to use the bathroom. The tension in the room just keeps building, and my chest feels tight.

I stop and stare at the framed pictures on the wall, just outside the door. I didn’t get a good look at them when I was here last.

Kathy was saying earlier that she was thinking about giving Sean the cabin one day. This place belongs to him more than anyone, she kept repeating. “With the kids all grown, it’s nice to have reminders of what things used to be like when they were little,” she’d said.

My favorite is of Sean when he was probably ten, if I had to guess. He’s sitting on a trash can lid and sliding down a hill covered in snow. He looks exactly the same.

I feel someone come up beside me, but I keep my eyes on the picture.

“Sean used to always smile like that.”

I glance over to Bailey standing beside me, arms crossed.

“Yeah, I remember,” I reply stiffly.

She narrows her eyes, paying close attention to my face. “I don’t approve of any of this.”

“I’m sorry?” I ask, confused.

“Sean might be able to forgive you, but I don’t. I see how comfortable you’ve made yourself. Having him at your beck and call. Taking trips to New York.”

“I’m a little confused here,” I say, shaking my head. “Sean is his own person who can make his own decisions.”

Bailey laughs lightly, amused. “Just because he does something, doesn’t mean I can’t try to talk him out of it. You’ve weaseled your way back into my brother's life. You’re just going to break him, and I really don’t think he could handle that again.”

My heart falls into my stomach.

“It’s not like that,” I tell her, gulping hard.

“I guess we’ll see, won’t we.” She pauses, her stare as deadly as a razors edge. “You know he’s never been in a serious relationship? He was so heartbroken for years. So in love with you. He could never let you go. You got married not long after, didn’t you?”