Page 38 of The Sweet Life

“You said it’s because of something that happened a long time ago. What happened?”

“Ugh, I don’t want to tell you. I’ve never told anyone this.”

“Not even your mom or Willow?”

She shook her head.

“I’m surprised. You guys seem really close.”

“We are, and that’s the problem, I guess. I didn’t tell them when the Big Bad happened, and it would just upset them if they knew.”

“The Big Bad?”

“This has to stay between us, Jake. You can’t…” She sighed. “I think I know how my mom feels now. Anyway, you’ll hear about it all when Cami’s book comes out.” She gave him the shorthand version of her family’s history and then said, “Cami took Willow when she was four. I was five at the time, and we’d shared a room since we were babies. Cami ran away with her and kept her for three weeks. It was awful, and it was hard, and I missed her so much, especially at night. No one talked about it with me. I’d overhear things but I really didn’t know why my sister had suddenly disappeared or if she’d died or why everyone was so angry and so sad.”

“No one told you what happened?”

“No. I’m sure they were trying to protect me. And I didn’t ask because I didn’t want to upset them any more than they already were.”

“What about when Willow came back? They didn’t talk about it with you then?”

She saw the look in his eyes, and she shook her head. “It wasn’t their fault, Jake. They had no idea that I was struggling.”

“Yeah, but I imagine they talked about it with Willow. Couldn’t they have included you in the conversations?”

“My mom took Willow to a family therapist, but other than that, the subject was closed in our family. And when I say closed, I mean closed. Willow and I had no idea Cami was her mother until last summer. They kept the secret for a quarter of a century. Which tells you how deeply I repressed the memory, because I hadn’t made the connection between Willow going missing and my insomnia until last year. I’d completely blocked it.”

“That is seriously messed up,” he said, then drew her into his arms. “Thank you for telling me. It explains a few things.”

She leaned back. “What do you mean by that?”

“Nothing.” His lips twitched and he kissed her forehead. “Now let’s try to get some sleep. We have a busy day tomorrow. Or I should say later today.”

“Uh, Jake, you’re supposed to be sleeping on the couch with Max.”

“You think I’m going to let you sleep alone after you told me your story? Not a chance,” he said, resting his chin on the top of her head.

“That’s really sweet of you. But I don’t think it’s a good idea that we sleep together again. Remember what happened last time?”

“It’s not the same. We’d just lost Alice, and we were emotional and drunk.” He snuggled her closer. “Now go to sleep.”

Chapter Thirteen

Sage carried a large plastic container to Jake, who was loading boxes into the rental van to move the last of Alice’s things out of her home on Ocean View Drive.

He had a serious case of bedhead and looked all sweaty and hot—hot as in all muscly and gorgeous in a gray Linkin Park T-shirt and faded blue jeans—and she was doing her best not to look at him or catch his eye. Which meant she was looking at a bed of blue hydrangeas bordering Alice’s walkway as she handed him the plastic container. “This can go in the women’s shelter pile. It’s filled with Alice’s collection of rubber boots.”

He was standing right in front of her, she knew he was, but he made absolutely no move to take the container from her.

She sighed and went to walk around him. He stepped in front of her. “Are you kidding me right now? We have an hour before the cleaners get here, Jake.”

It was ridiculous that he’d booked cleaners when they could easily clean the house themselves, but unless she’d agreed to go back to the farm and rest, he wouldn’t give in.

“So stop acting as if what happened last night was a big deal. It wasn’t. We’re consenting—”

A woman walking her dog across the road glanced back at them.

“Seriously? My aunt and uncle live up the street and you’re going to announce to all and sundry that we slept together?” She went up on her toes, shoving the container at him. “I told you it was a bad idea.”

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