Page 94 of Drown in You

Sienna

When my phone lights up on my bed beside me, I expect it to be Luke asking me to sneak over to his room. Not a chance. We’ve already made enough of a mess today.

But the text isn’t from Luke. It’s from Deb.

Deb

Hey, honey. Can you come downstairs?

My heart is in my throat the entire way. Is sweet Deb finally going to chew me out for getting her son embroiled in a revenge porn case? Accuse me of being the succubus who lured her son off the right path? He was a well-behaved hockey goalie until he met me.

As much as he loves me, I’m not sure I’ve actually made his life better since I showed up. All I’ve done is brought the dark shadows of my past to his doorstep. Now I’ve gotten him wrapped up in this nightmare with me. That sex tape could jeopardize his spot on the Diamond Devils team. It could ruin his chances at the NHL.

The dream he and his dad shared. Lost because of me.

Mom, Dad, and Deb are probably all waiting for me so they can come up with some secret plot to get me out of town overnight. Send me somewhere before Luke can find out and follow me. Or Marcus.

In the kitchen, Deb sits at the table with Bud snoring softly at her feet. I halt in my tracks. I didn’t expect to find her alone.

From the family room, the grandfather clock ticks. A bouquet of the flowers Luke got me wilts in its vase on the counter. Deb has traded her mug for a wine glass and dark red liquid that stains her lips when she smiles at me.

Relief floods through my veins. She can still bring herself to smile at me, even after all I’ve put them through. All I’m still putting them through.

“Have a seat, honey.” She pours wine into the glass waiting for me.

I do as she requests, swirling the wine in my glass before taking a sip just for something to do. “I’m really sorry, Deb. For everything.”

The gentle smile never leaves her face. “When did you know you were in love with my son?”

“Um.” My brain scrambles. Is this some reverse psychology? She can’t actually want to know about her son’s relationship with his stepsister.

She swirls the wine in her glass. Maybe she’s drunk and she’ll forget this entire conversation in the morning. “It’s okay. Your parents might not condone it, and though I might not be thrilled about the circumstances either, I know that true love is an unstoppable force. No amount of reason or logic will talk you out of it. I’ve noticed the way my son looks at you for a while. He’s never looked at anyone that way.”

I swallow around the lump in my throat. “When I felt like I could finally tell him about the incident with Marcus...that’s when I knew I was falling for him. But when he protected me when Marcus showed up on campus...that’s when I knew I’d already fallen.” I grip the wine glass tight, trying to hold back the tears. “Except when I look back, I’m pretty sure I’ve been falling for him since he gave me that disposable camera.”

When he knelt and kissed my bruises in my hotel room. When he told me, I knew this is how it would be with you. When he insisted it wasn’t my fault my parents split up. When he bought me ten dozen flowers, simply because I told him it would make me feel better.

I’ve been falling for him for a long time. As long as he’s been falling for me. It just took me longer to realize it. To admit it.

“Did Luke ever tell you how I met his father?” Deb’s voice is tender, full of nostalgia.

I shake my head, eager for a story I hadn’t even thought to ask for. “Luke doesn’t really talk about his dad much.”

She sighs, gaze drifting up to the ceiling like she can see the memories playing out on a screen. “We were at the grocery store, and we both reached for the same bag of chips. The last bag. We spent the next ten minutes insisting that the other could take it until he finally bought the chips and split them with me.” A soft laugh passes through her lips. “We sat in that parking lot for two hours after we finished those chips, just talking and laughing. That man could make me laugh like nobody else. It wasn’t love at first sight or anything; I didn’t believe in that. But I had a gut feeling that he was special, and I was right.”

I can’t help but smile with her, even as a small twinge settles in my chest that I’ll never meet the man she and Luke loved so much. “I saw a picture. They looked so much alike.”

She beams. “Oh, exact replicas. If they’d been the same age, you’d guess they were twins.”

Silence falls between us as I debate when I should ask about the giant elephant in the room. I clutch the wine glass in front of me. Deb might be opening up to me and she may have welcomed me into her home with open arms, but we also don’t know each other that well and I don’t want to step on any toes. Except I also didn’t ask Dad the questions I wanted to for years and that didn’t do either of us any good.

Luke would tell me to ask. To be his brave girl.

“Deb?”

“Yeah, honey?”

“Do you love my father?”

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