Page 123 of Only Fate

“It’s obvioussomethinghappened with you two,” I go on.

“All right,” she says with a groan. “I’m officially kicking you out of my home.”

I repeat the same motion of when she tried to stand earlier. “Just answer one question. That’s it.”

She falls down and gives me her best dirty look.

“Does Callie know?”

“There’s nothing to know.”

“That means the answer is no.”

“Again, because there’snothingto know.”

“I’m letting you get away with that answer for now because when this gets out—and it will if Trey moves back—I can say I knew nothing about it.”

A slight hint of a smile crosses her lips. “Good logic. New subject. What do you want for Christmas?”

“For Trey to move home so all of us get to find out your secrets.”

She picks up a pillow and whacks my shoulder. “If he moves here, I’m moving away.”

“If you ever try to move away from here again, I’m dragging you back myself,” I say, referencing when she moved to New York for a while. “What did we say when we were kids?We’re never leaving Blue Beech.”

“I think you’re forgetting the part where I objected to that every single time,” she fires back.

Before I can argue, my phone beeps with a text.

Adrian: Did you read the email?

“He’s asking if I’ve read the email,” I say, holding up my phone to show Mia the text.

Her face softens as she hands the MacBook back to me.

I lower my phone to the couch, take a deep breath, and read the PEP’s argument for why they believe Earl might be innocent.

39

Itake out my phone and text Essie a picture of Tucker. I made sure to choose the one with the saddest puppy face I could find.

Me: Tucker says he misses you and that all the stress of you being mad at his dad is stopping him from his recovery. He’s sad he didn’t get to see you at lunch, and he thinks he deserves time with you as well.

I haven’t spoken to Essie since yesterday, when I asked if she’d read my email.

She replied with a simple,Reading it now, and I haven’t heard back from her about it.

Since I don’t want to be buggy about the email, I’ve decided to use the advantage of being a dog dad to good use. No one can say no to Tucker.

My phone beeps with a reply.

Essie: Tell Tucker he can come over. His dad can drop him off at the door.

I laugh for a moment, seeing the irony of us acting likedivorced parents co-parenting, but then my smile drops when I remember the reason behind co-parenting—breakups.

Right now, I’m not sure if that’s where Essie and I are.

Hell, I don’t know if we were even in a relationship that could technically be broken up.

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