“WE DID NOT HAVE SEX!” I scream. “AND YOU KNOW IT!”
“And here,” he seethes, “I thought it was phenomenal.”
I feel like I’m losing my mind. “I said that, you idiot, because it was what you were expecting to hear!”
“I hate to burst your bubble,”—he takes a few more steps forward—“but I never would want to hear that.”
“Maybe not, but you were expecting it. Well, I hate to disappoint, but we did absolutely nothing today but put our feet in the water and eat fish tacos and snow cones!”
“You mean shave ice.”
I shriek at the top of my lungs, “THAT’S WHAT YOU HAVE TO SAY?” and promptly burst into tears.
It’s enough to slay his anger. He’s mere inches in front of me in a split second, my name tripping off his lips, soaked with concern. But I won’t let him off the hook so easily. “You have,” I choke out, “eight houses all over the world, and you never thought to tell me about them. I mean, I know it’s just property and all, but you’d think it’d be a topic of conversation, right? But no—I hear about this from your brother, and I don’t know if you’ve figured this out or not, but in the last two years, I’ve learned more about you from him than you.”
Jonah’s bewildered. “What are you talking about?”
“Like your mother.” I’m on the verge of full-blown blubbering. “He told me about her, not you. Why not you? Not once in all the years have you ever shared with me the details of her death. I’ve told you,”—I jab my finger into his chest—“nearly everything. I told you about my grandpa’s death, I told you when I broke my arm, when I got into monster arguments with my parents, everything, everything, and you can’t even tell me you own properties across the plane, even when I tell you all the time how much I want to travel, how I’ve been nowhere, ever, and you sit and pretend to listen sympathetically, but you know what?” I continue jabbing, hysterical now. “Callie knows these things. She knows about these houses of yours. She’s even been to some, hasn’t she?” I don’t even give him a chance to respond. “Callie knows, and you say that you love me, that I’m the person who means everything to you, but I don’t, because I don’t even warrant this sort of information!”
“Chloe, she’s known me most of my life,” he says, voice even, like he’s trying to get mine to match his, “so of course she’d know.”
“I’ve known you longer!” I can barely breathe anymore. “Don’t you get it? I’ve.” I jab, one poke per word, “Known. You. Longer.”
He stares at me like I’m crazy at first, but then he must really get it, because his face melts from confusion into what I can only interpret as guilt. He grabs me gently by the shoulders and tries to tug me closer, but I struggle, because I stupidly want him to simultaneously leave me alone and hold me so tight I won’t be able to think anymore.
“I’m sorry, so sorry,” he murmurs, and I give into our pull. His arms go around me, and I feel his sadness as I press against his chest, feel just how remorseful he is for all the words we’ve just thrown at one another. “Of course I should have told you. I love you, Chloe. More than you could possibly ever imagine. Gods, I’m such an ass sometimes.”
And I cry, until there are no more tears to let go of.
I’m in the bathroom, taking some ibuprofen for a newly raging headache, but I can still hear what they’re saying in the living room.
“This,” Kellan is saying, “is why I told you that this isn’t going to work. But you had to be stupid and insist—”
“I’m sorry,” Jonah says. “And I wasn’t stupid, well, tonight, yes, I was unbelievably stupid—but about you two needing to reconnect, no.”
“How’s this going to work, J, if every single time you say, ‘Oh, you two, spend time together,’ and when we do, you freak out so badly that she has no other choice than to break down? Because, wow. That was so much fun and did a great deal of good for everyone involved.”
“Today was a really long day,” Jonah says, “and even I lose control occasionally. It doesn’t excuse anything, but . . .”
“She says you two don’t fight.”
Silence.
“And yet, here you are, fighting. Again, wow, J. This is a super plan of yours.”
“Admit it,” Jonah says; even from behind a closed door, I can tell he’s bitter. “You haven’t been this content in forever.”
It’s so odd to hear them so tense with each other, when they normally present themselves as calm and in control when I’m in the room with them. “Is she aware of just how much it kills you for us to be around each other?” Kellan asks.
“I’m working on it. If it’s what’s best for her, and you, then I will do it.” A long break, then, “No. My mind’s made up.”
Kellan sighs loudly. “Why didn’t you ever tell her about this house? Or any of them?”