Page 66 of Starcrossed Colorado

“You want to tell me why? Or do I have to guess?”

I took a long pull of my beer.

Maisie was staying at Piper’s tonight. Teller had bought Ollie a telescope, and the kids were going to stay up to see stars. Maisie had begged and pleaded until I agreed. Which had left me to my own devices.

It had been two miserable days since that incident in the kitchen. The pink envelope covered in stickers and addressed to my daughter.

The fucking nerve, sending that to my home.

What if Maisie had gotten to it first, instead of me? But in a way, it wasn’t surprising. Those phone calls from Los Angeles had been getting more frequent. I had known she would escalate eventually. Not that I had a clue what to do about it.

The real issue was me. How I had reacted in front of Emma. I hadn’t known what to say to make her understand. How could I, when this was a secret that even Grace and Callum didn’t know?

So instead of coming up with something that would make me look like a reasonable human being, I had impulsively told her that kissing her was a mistake. My actual mistake was hoping I could somehow wish my problems away. That if I ignored them hard enough, they would disappear.

But nothing about Emma couldeverbe a mistake.

Those words had been haunting me in the two days since. Yet I couldn’t take them back, either. Because then I would have to explain.

Hence the reason I was brooding.

“I think Emma’s going to move out,” I said.

Grace got a strange look on her face. Then she pulled out the chair opposite me and sat down.

“That wasn’t an invitation for you to make yourself comfortable.”

“Since when do I need an invitation?” She reached across the table, snagged my glass, and took a sip. “Why do you think Emma’s going to move out?”

“Because I overheard her saying something to Dixie.”

“But she hasn’t said anything to you?”

“Not really.” Probably because Emma and I had gone back to not speaking much. She was amazing at being the ideal babysitter and all-around fairy godmother to my daughter, while having as few interactions with me as possible.

Grace rolled her eyes. “Why don’t you just ask her about her plans? She’s here tonight.”

“Where?” I sat up straighter, glancing around at the other tables and at the bar.

There she was, sitting at a table by herself and writing in her journal. The oneI’dbought her. I took some satisfaction in that. At least she didn’t despise me so much that she’d gotten rid of it.

“All right, enough sad broody faces,” my sister said. “Out with it. What happened, exactly?”

I couldn’t tell her that. So I went with, “We had a fight.”

“That’s exactly why fucking your roommate is a bad idea.”

I sat back so hard my chair bumped the wall behind me. “Geez, Grace.”

“Did you think your little sister didn’t know that word? You and Grayden taught me the f-word by the time I was ten.”

“Still don’t want to hear you saying it in that context. Especially aboutme.”

She smirked. “What about when I’m discussingmyconquests? Not that I have a lot of those.”

I cringed. “Please stop. I’m not sleeping with Emma. Just so you know.”

“But you want to.”

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