Page 77 of Living Hell

“Okay . . .” I said as I gave up.

“Have you never watched I.D.’s vlogs before. The ones from ten years ago.”

“Of course, I have. I was her very first subscriber.”

“Then you remember her Hello Kitty obsession. Every episode featured some Hello Kitty product.”

I smiled a little at the memory. There was a reason I kept that Hello Kitty key chain. She gave it to me the night we lost our virginity together. I remember lying in the grass after, looking up at the stars and she suddenly sat up in worry. She was afraid she’d lost her keys while we were fooling around and taking off our clothes. Iona rummaged in her purse, but it wasn’t there. Luckily, we found them, and she told me to hold on to them because I was good at keeping things safe.

When I tried to give back the key chain, she told me to keep it as she was moving soon. I was so hurt that she was still moving out West despite what we shared that I never spoke to her again.

“Yeah, I remember.”

“Then she stopped using Hello Kitty. I thought the company had reached out to her and told her that she couldn’t use the products in her videos, but that wasn’t the case.”

“Still not following what Hello Kitty has to do with anything.”

Babette leaned forward and took my hand in hers. “You were the reason. She mentioned it once when I asked her about the product placement. She mentioned she’d use anything but Hello Kitty. That it reminded her of someone and hurt too much to think about.”

“But that was her thing . . . wait.” I slapped my forehead when I realized what an idiot I was. “Her sixteenth birthday I gave her that Hello Kitty key chain for when she got to drive a car. Not that her mom owned a car, but I knew one day Iona would have one. I had forgotten I gave her the key chain.”

“That’s why I looked you up. I’ve been in Iona’s life for eight years and in that time, she’s grown but when her mother passed last year, it changed her. Did you know she was unconscious for a day after the accident?”

“No.”

The reports said she was in the hospital for a few days but there weren’t any details. I even thought about flying out West. Despite everything, I wanted to make sure she was okay.

“When she first woke up, I was there. She didn’t ask for her mom. Which in a way I was relieved because I was the one who had to tell her that her mom never made it.”

“I was so sorry to hear about the accident. Her mom was a good woman, and it hurt to hear she had died in such a brutal way,” Debbie said.

“Her mother wasn’t killed by the accident. She was dying of alcohol poisoning. Iona was racing her to the hospital when the tire blew, and she skidded off the road and into a pole.”

“What? But the papers said—” I said before Babette interrupted me.

“The gossip hounds and reporters will say anything to get money. I was there in the hospital when the doctor told Iona the cause of her mother’s death.”

“Everyone thinks she killed her mom in that car.” I felt sick to my stomach that she’s had to deal with those twisted tales all while grieving for the woman who raised her.

“She asked for you,” Babette said as she squeezed my hand.

“What?”

“When she woke, she didn’t ask for her mom. She asked for you. I think she was still a little out of it. So, when . . ."

My eyes widened at Babette’s confession. The last person I suspected would mention love was her.

“So, you arranged all this. The house. The engagement. All of that just so we would fall in love?”

“In a way, yes. She was alone and losing her mother almost broke her. I wanted her to have someone in her life who truly cared for her. Someone who knew the real her. The people in Hollywood would never really know Iona.”

I narrowed my eyes. “You thought that would work?”

“It did.”

I glanced up at Debbie, who nodded, daring me to question Babette’s methods.

“The woman doesn’t believe in love. Your theory was only partly true. I am in love with Iona and told her several weeks ago, but she doesn’t feel the same.” I sighed and glanced toward the window. It was hard to watch the people go by the diner with smiles on their faces. They knew love, but perhaps it was never to be for me.

Iona was the only one I wanted but if she hadn’t fallen for me by now, I didn’t think she ever would.

“Perhaps being unconscious from the accident did something to her. Permanently changed her,” I said and looked at Babette.

I hoped she’d disagree and tell me it was never too late to get Iona to love again, but what I saw in her eyes confirmed my beliefs—it was too late. When Iona crashed the car, it killed her heart.

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