A painful lump forms in my throat, as my regret overwhelms me. “I wish I had told you everything.”
“And you didn’t feel like you could? After everything we’ve been through?”
“I guess not.”
What must be going on inside Brett’s head right now? That he’s gotten himself into a mess, likely. This isn’t going to be as simple as it was when he broke up with Courtney for lying to him. Now there’s this massive house to deal with, along with a dog and a kid who won’t understand. On top of that, Simone just released a statement that basically said the fairy tale has come true.
A puppy’s howl carries through the house. My heart aches, thinking of Brenna, of what this will do to her. “I’ll see if my parents can take Stella, just until I can find a place that will let us have a dog.” If my mother’s even talking to me. I couldn’t bring myself to look at anyone as I bolted from the ground floor, near hyperventilating.
“You can stay here. This is your house.”
“I don’t want to stay here. It wouldn’t be the same without you.” Brett is now firmly tied to every thought I have of the Gingerbread House. Even this attic . . . My gaze wanders to the wall he had me pressed up against.
“Why? Where am I going?”
I turn to find Brett frowning.
“I just thought . . .” I’ve been lying to him, to my entire family—to everyone. Lying is what ended things for him and Courtney, he said so himself.
The light from the full moon casts a glow over his face, highlighting those stunning blue eyes as they rove over my face. “I knew.”
“What?”
“Well . . . I guessed, anyway.” He shifts onto his back. “That day at the grocery store, when we ran into him.”
“You think she looks like him?” Panic stirs inside me. I’d always banked on the fact that, despite the olive skin tone, her curls, and the ring of hazel around her pupils, she really does take after me.
“No. But I saw something familiar in his eyes. A look, I think. I can’t pinpoint it, exactly, but it was uncanny. That’s when I started to wonder if you were telling the truth about that other guy. It would make sense, why you would avoid talking about Brenna’s father, even with me.”
“Why didn’t you ask me?”
“Because I figured you had a good reason for lying.”
“You said there was never a good reason for lying.” Not to someone you love.
“And yet here you were, lying to everyone. So I figured that you really believed you had no choice.”
What is Brett saying? “So you bought this house and got the dog and asked us to stay with you . . . even though you knew?”
A soft smile touches his lips. “Yeah.”
“So . . . you’re not ending this?” I hold my breath.
He slides his arm beneath my neck and pulls my body against him. “No. I don’t think I could, even if I wanted to. I’m in too deep, with you and your little hellion. But I don’t want to.”
The crushing weight suddenly lifts from my chest, as tears of relief begin streaming. I feel his arms tighten around me as I sob softly against him.
“You’ve been carrying that for a long time,” he says soothingly, stroking my hair.
I never realized how much guilt had settled on my shoulders until now. Will everyone forgive me as quickly and easily as Brett seemingly has, though? “How angry are they?”
“I don’t think anyone’s angry. Not at you, anyway. And Lou already knew.”
I shouldn’t be shocked, but I am. “How?”
“She said she always wondered, and then when she saw that real estate ad in the newspaper, she was sure.”
Of course. “Did anyone else figure it out?”
“No. Your mom tried coming up here to talk to you about it, but Keith and your dad blocked the stairs.”
“Has she mentioned a lawsuit yet?”
“I believe I might have heard that word, yeah.” My body shakes with his chuckle. “Your dad said not to worry, though. She’s just angry, but she won’t risk losing you again. No one’s saying a word to anyone about this. They’ve all agreed to keep it quiet.”
“But if Misty said something to DJ—”
“She didn’t.”
“Are you sure? Because he’s the kind of slimeball who would sell this story to a tabloid.” And right now, the tabloids would be all over this juicy bit of gossip.
“You’d have to ask her that.” He pauses. “But if I figured it out and Lou figured it out, and now that jackass is here . . . You have to be ready for it if it comes out. And because we’re together, that will make it a bigger deal.”
“I know. I’m just not sure what I’ll do if it happens.”
He brushes my tears away. “Don’t worry about that. I can promise you that we have better lawyers and more money than those assholes. If he or his parents even try to come after Brenna, I’ll make them regret it.” He smiles. “I’m sure his mother already hates me, anyway.”
“Why?” I ask curiously.
“The Chases tried to use her for the sale and we told them that the deal was off if the Philips name was anywhere on the paperwork. She would have figured out by now why.”
“Was that what you were talking about, that night you said you didn’t want someone to get a dime?”
He pauses. “Were you eavesdropping on my private phone conversation?”
“No.” I avert my gaze. It all makes sense now.
A commotion sounds beneath us—of footsteps running through the rooms on the second floor, Keith and Jack taking turns calling hyper Stella’s name as they chase her.
“Did Keith really not know?” The night he grilled me outside my house, he asked me why I couldn’t just move on, if I was still hung up on Scott. I was so sure that he would take that next step and figure out exactly what’s always been hanging over my head.
The fact that we share a daughter.
“He was as shocked as the rest of them. Jack told him he was a shitty cop for missing that.”
Tears still stream from eyes, even as I giggle. “And you?” I skate the tip of my nose across the hard line of his jaw, relishing the feel of his body pressed against mine. I don’t ever want to let go of him again. “You’re really not angry with me?”
“Me?” A slow grin stretches across Brett’s face. “I’m furious.”
October 2017
“For the road.”
My hands drop with the weight of the Styrofoam container. “Seriously, Leroy!” I flip open the lid to find it stuffed with blueberry pancakes and strips of bacon. “He can’t eat like this all the time!”
Leroy’s face splits into a wide grin. “The boy needs his calories.”
“If his trainer complains, I’m sending him to you.”
“You do that. I’ll put some meat on his trainer’s bones, too.” Leroy tosses two plates up on the counter and slams a hand on the bell.
“Can you send some cute hockey players this way, too?” Misty chirps, collecting the plates. “I could really use one right about now.” She broke up with DJ the day after Brenna’s birthday, afraid that having him in her life could case turmoil in Brenna’s and mine. She finally understood why I was so apprehensive about having DJ around, aside from just not liking him as a person. And, if Misty is good at one thing, it’s not holding a grudge against me.