Page 71 of I'll Keep Her Safe

My heart slumps at the thought.

“What’s going on with you?” Bailey asks, dropping onto a pool lounger beside me.

That same guilt from earlier washes through me. Once again, I’m thinking only about Wyatt. I’m not even enjoying what little time I have with my friend.

“Just… tired from last night,” I say. It’s not a complete lie.

Bailey studies me closely, as if needing more, and I mentally grope for something else to say.

“And… I miss Sugar,” I add.

“Sugar?” She rolls over on the lounger. “Who’s that?”

“He didn’t tell you?” I ask, glancing at Wyatt. His gaze meets mine for a fraction of a second, then slides away. “Your dad brought home a stray kitten. We named her Sugar.”

Bailey sits up on her lounger, looking at her father. “You got a pet?” Wyatt grunts in response, and she frowns, shielding her eyes against the sun. “Are you okay, Dad? You don’t seem like yourself.”

He sighs, pulling his mouth into a tight smile. “I’m fine, honey. Just… had a little too much to drink last night.”

There’s a long silence. Dean looks over from where he’s floating on an inflatable pizza slice in the pool.

“I’m not buying it,” Bailey says at last. She glances from me to her father, eyes narrowed, and my pulse scrambles. Wyatt’s eyes dart to mine, alarm flickering in their amber depths.

Did she hear us last night? Does she know what we did?

“What, uh, what do you mean?” I ask, plucking a stalk of lavender from the bush beside me and casually lifting it to my nose.

“I mean, something is off here. You’re both being weird.”

“We’re not being weird,” Wyatt says in a voice that’s much too high to be normal. I shoot him a look.

“You are,” Bailey insists. She’s quiet again for a moment, as if trying to put the puzzle pieces together, and I hold my breath. If she figures this out, it could seriously damage our friendship. And if anything happens to her relationship with Wyatt…

I’ll never forgive myself.

But she shakes her head, saying, “I think you’re both bummed about not winning that award last night.” I exhale in relief.

Wyatt shrugs. “I don’t care about that.”

Whyis he arguing? That would have been the perfect excuse.

“Then what is it?” Bailey demands, hands on her hips.

I swallow. I guess now is the perfect time to come clean.

“Fine,” I say at last. “There is something I need to tell you.” Wyatt’s gaze burns a hole in the side of my head, but I ignore him, straightening my spine. “I… I started the marketing business. Without you.”

Bailey blinks, processing this. “Oh. Right.”

“Sorry,” I mumble, surprised to find I feel relieved. I’m not sure if it’s because I finally told her, or because she’s dropped the interrogation. “I wanted to start it, and figured you were so busy with work, it wasn’t fair to ask you to take that on, too. I didn’t want to pressure you more.”

She gives a slow nod. “I understand. Of course. I’ve been swamped, so yeah, probably couldn’t fit that in too.” She twists on her lounger to look at me properly. “I’m sorry.”

“Why areyousorry?” I ask in surprise.

“Because we were supposed to do that together. I’m sorry I couldn’t be part of it with you.” Her mouth softens into a genuine smile. “But I’m glad you’ve done it, though. That’s great.”

Emotion clogs my throat. This entire time I was worried about telling Bailey, but she’s happy for me.Shefeels bad, and that only compounds my guilt. Launching the business without her is hardly the worst thing I’ve done—what would she do if she knew the rest?

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