Page 90 of The Au Pair Affair

“I’ll go,” Tallulah said, trying to pull away from him. “I’ll sleep at Chloe’s or something.”

“Absolutely not,” Burgess gritted, cradling her face in his hands, brushing away her tears with the pads of his thumbs. “This is where you live. Stay. You did nothing wrong.”

“No, I really think I should go. I’ll defuse the situation by leaving. It’s for the best.”

“Tallulah, please.”

But she was already ordering an Uber on her phone, her fingers shaking as she tapped the right buttons, her face stricken the entire time in a way that made him want to lie down and die. Because he couldn’t stop her from leaving, and on some level, he knew it was the only way to proceed at that moment. But as she climbed into the back of a black sedan moments later, misery clogged his throat while he watched her drive away, wondering if their relationship was too new, too fragile to survive the blow it had just been dealt.

Chapter Twenty-Two

The following evening, Tallulah sat on Chloe’s couch, staring through gritty eyes at her friend over the mug of her hot chocolate, her chest churned up and raw. Last night, she’d arrived on Chloe’s doorstep with nothing but her purse, but she’d been too overwrought to explain what happened. Sweet as ever, Chloe had simply led Tallulah to the still unoccupied guest bedroom and urged her into bed, saying they would talk in the morning. Only, Tallulah must have blacked out from pure abject misery, because she didn’t wake up until the afternoon, when Chloe was already at harp practice.

This was her first chance to speak to anyone about what happened. She hadn’t even spoken to Burgess, although he’d called several times. Tallulah desperately wanted to know if Lissa was all right. She was also very afraid to find out she wasn’t. The numerous calls were yet to be returned, but she would get to that. Maybe. Probably.

As soon as she fully absorbed what happened.

And whatwashappening. Continuously.

“I think I might be in love with Burgess,” she stage-whispered into the quiet.

Chloe nearly spat out her hot chocolate. As soon as the shock wore off, a giant smile bloomed across her face. “Oh, my goodness. Really?”

“Don’t look so happy about it.”

“I can’t help it. I’m a terrible romantic.” Her grin dimmed in degrees. “Are you telling me this is a bad thing?”

“Let me start at the beginning.” Briefly, she explained to Chloe how Lissa had been hopeful for a reconciliation between her parents and brought it up several times since the beginning of her employment. “Last night, we were in the car coming home from...” She expelled a breath. “Honestly, it was the best night of my life. He rented out the aquarium, Chloe. Thewhole thing. There was some, um... interesting foreplay in the works. We were kissing on the sidewalk, likereallygoing for it, and... there they were. Lissa and her mother. There’d been an emergency and they’d been waiting for us to come back, so Lissa could stay while Ashleigh and her fiancé dealt with it. Lissa just freaked out. Worse than I was expecting she might. I couldn’t stay in the apartment with them.”

Chloe’s mouth dropped wider as the story went on. “Holy shit biscuits.”

“You can say that again.”

“Holy shit biscuits.”

Tallulah’s snort turned into a groan, her head falling backward onto the arm of the couch. “The worst part is, I had told Lissa there was nothing going on between me and Burgess. When she asked me, I was still trying to convince myself there wasn’t. Now she feels like I lied to her, which I kind of did... but only because I was lying to myself.”

“You know what? It’s all going to work out.” Chloe squeezed her knee beneath the fleece blanket that was currently draped over them both. “Everything is life or death to kids that age. I was the queen of drama queens. Still am, sometimes,” she said, taking a thoughtful sip of her cocoa. “I remember when my mother divorced my father and we had to move—again—andleave all my friends behind—again—I ran away the first day in our new house. I lived in a tree for six hours. My mother had to call the police and everything.”

Tallulah’s mug paused halfway to her mouth. “Wow. Did they find you or did you just eventually go home?”

“I went home.” She shrugged. “I’m scared of the dark.”

“Really. Do you sleep with a nightlight?”

“No. I leave the TV on the Home Shopping Network.”

“A criminally underrated channel,” Tallulah said, briefly raising her mug.

“Itis.” Chloe glanced toward the coffee table where their phones sat, side by side, each of them lighting up periodically. “I think we should call Sig. He’ll know how to fix this.”

Tallulah jolted upright. “What? How?”

“Sig fixes everything,” Chloe said simply.

“What does he know about a twelve-year-old’s psyche?”

“Probably not a lot, but I’ve gone running to him with far weirder problems.”

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