“Shh, Annie! It’s okay!” Maddie says with her face pressing into my neck so she can hug me tighter.
“We love you,” Emily adds, brushing my hair back away from my face like the affectionate mother hen she is. “Everything about you. I’m so sorry you felt like you couldn’t be honest with us or that we were making fun of how kind and sweet you are. I’m sorry we made you feel like that’s the only version you could be of yourself around us.”
Amelia is here too. “And I’m sorry that I’ve encouraged your constant sunniness. I—more than anyone—should have seen the signs that you were worn-out from always having to be perfect, but I didn’t see it.”
We are all four sobbing now. None of us really sound coherent, and yet we all understand one another perfectly.
“No, it’s okay,” I say to Amelia while reaching up and removing her penis necklace that’s poking me in the eye. “It’s no one’s fault.”
After a minute, Maddie stands up. “Because we’re all being honest here, I have a few things to say too.” She takes a breath. “I haven’t been totally honest with you guys either. I applied to The Culinary Institute of America, and…I got in. I enrolled for this upcoming fall semester, and I’m going.” She levels a firm look at Emily. “I’m going no matter what anyone has to say about it.”
There’s so much silence. I don’t think anyone is even breathing. We’re just absorbing.
And then…
“Finally!” we all say in unison before tackling Madison to the ground.
“Maddie! I’m so happy for you!” I say, kissing Maddie’s cheek until it smooshes up.
“I hate you for leaving us,” says Emily, “but I’m so happy that you are finally following your dreams.”
“Does this mean you’re not mad at me?” Maddie asks through her laughter.
I pull back and frown lightly. “Why would we be mad at you?”
She shrugs. “Why would I be mad at you for asking me not to call you Angel Annie anymore?”
“Touché.”
“But actually—I have one more secret too. I think you’re going to like this one, though.” Maddie disappears into her room and comes back out holding…a box. She sets it next to mine and then tells me to look inside.
I open the flap and then laugh so loudly when I see a pile of bodice-ripping romances.
She grins. “I’m more into dukes and earls than pirates, though.”
I press my hand to my heart. “You like men with Big Duke Energy too?”
“Oh yeah. I also have a Bookstagram account. It’s how I actually learned about the term stern brunch daddy.”
Emily then groans beside me and stands. “Fine. If we’re all doing this, I don’t want to be left out.”
Want to take a guess what she goes and gets? Her own box. And as we all dissolve with laughter pulling her little mass-market paperbacks from their hiding place, we learn that Emily has a major thing for Scottish romances.
Amelia pouts because she doesn’t live here and doesn’t have a box of books. We tell her she can still be a part of our group, though, because we’ll always have Audrey. She does, however, scoop up an armload of books from each of our boxes and sets them by the door to take home.
It’s a good night and I feel a thousand times lighter. Mabel was right, honesty is a gift, and one I wish I had shared with my sisters sooner. Then again, maybe everything is happening in its own perfectly messy timing.
After sitting together on the floor, penis necklaces around our necks and unpacking a lot of the things I admitted to them—we also talk about our parents and how I feel left out from their memories. Emily admitted that it’s hard for her to talk about them, but she would try to do better.
And then just when I thought I was going to get away from this night without anyone being mad at me, Maddie pinches me under the arm.
“Ow!” I say, ripping my arm away from her.
“That was for not telling us about John and all the shitty stuff he said to you!”
“It was all too embarrassing,” I say, shooting my gaze to the ground. “Now more than ever because I’m head over heels for Will, and he’s already moved on before he’s even left Rome. I haven’t heard from him in a few days.”
That’s when I notice all of the ladies sharing a look. A meaningful someone’s-gotta-tell-her look.
“What? What is it?” I ask, feeling slightly frantic now.
My sisters look to Amelia to explain. “Let me start by saying, he’s okay—”
She no sooner gets the words out than I shoot to my feet. “What happened to him?!”
“I didn’t tell you sooner because he made me promise not to say anything until most of the bruising has healed, so it wouldn’t scare you.”
“Oh my God, bruising?!” I’m about to cry again. Is Will almost dead? Images of him hooked up to a sad beeping machine in the hospital plays in my mind.
“There was a superfan who made it onto the premises the other day. He hopped the gate and then sprinted up toward the house because he really wanted me to have a pair of his blue underwear to carry with me down the aisle as my something borrowed and something blue.”
“Thoughtful of him,” Maddie interjects.
“Will had to take him down, and the guy turned out to be really aggressive for someone wearing a T-shirt with my face all over it.” I feel like I’m going to pass out. “Anyway, Will got hold of the situation pretty quickly, but the guy managed to get a few good hits in before that. But when Will tackled him onto the gravel driveway, his shoulder landed on a sharp rock and it made a big gash—” She cuts off as I whirl around and take off toward the door, grab my keys, and slam the door behind me on my way out.
CHAPTER THIRTY-FIVE
Will
I step out of the shower and look in the mirror. The swelling of my eye has gone way down, which is good, but my shoulder is still tender. I had to get five stitches—which in the grand scheme of things is nothing. The pain is manageable with Tylenol, and I’m just glad Amelia’s safe.
The guy was arrested and taken into custody. Beyond that, it’s out of my hands.
Suddenly I hear the sound of my door slamming, and I realize I forgot to lock it. Adrenaline kicks through my veins. I quickly throw a towel around my waist and fling open the bathroom door, ready to take an intruder by surprise rather than the opposite. And that’s when I see her, standing in the middle of my room.
“Annie?” My shoulders relax for only a second before I take in how she looks. “What’s wrong? Why the hell are you barefoot and wearing a penis necklace?”
She’s breathing heavily as her eyes scan my body. “How dare you!”
“Me?” I ask, feeling drunk with how disoriented I am.
“Yes, you! I’m so angry with you I could tear you apart limb by limb.”
She advances toward me and instinctively I take a step away. “What did I do?”
“Nothing, Will!” Annie’s blue eyes are blazing. “And that’s the problem. You were attacked and injured, and you didn’t tell me. Look at you! You have a black eye and a big bandage on your shoulder, and you didn’t immediately call me and let me come over and take care of you. You’re not just avoiding me, Will, you’re phasing me out.”
She wags her finger at me. “Don’t bother denying it because whether you like it or not, William Griffin, I know you.” She doesn’t even stop to breathe. The lung capacity on this woman is impressive. “But you can’t phase me out. I won’t let you! If you never want anything romantic, fine. But I can’t go through life without knowing you, and talking to you, and holding your hand when I go on an adventure because you promised. Because I’ve never felt with anyone what I feel with you.”
Her chest is heaving and her face is flushed and her eyes are teary.
“Say something…” she demands, some of her bluster failing now.
I laugh. “Oh, it’s my turn now?”
“Yes, obviously that was your cue,” she concedes, but then her eyes drop to my torso and the towel barely hanging on around my waist, and she frowns. “But you’re naked. And I think I’m going to have a very hard time paying attention to anything you say while you’re naked.”