Page 114 of Love Me Not

When she reappeared, her eyes were on the floor and her shoulders sagged.The fight and anger had disappeared.

She didn't move, just stood there, staring at the floor, so I walked up to her and knelt.My hands came to her arms, and I rubbed them up and down in an attempt to be comforting.

“It's because of Grandma, isn't it?”

I couldn't lie to her, so I said, “That's right.”

“What's drunk driving?”she asked.I was a bit surprised that she hadn’t asked before, but I was also kicking myself for letting her hear any of our conversations.

“When people drink alcohol, they can get drunk.It makes your head woozy, like you can't think clearly.It's not easy to stand or do much, let alone drive.So drunk driving is very dangerous.”

“But couldn't she just stay?”she asked.“Does she hate drunk driving so much that she's willing to leave us for something Grandma did?She didn’t even say goodbye.”

I pursed my lips.

“Did Juliette ever tell you she lost her parents too?”She nodded, her eyes shifting to mine.“It was an accident with a drunk driver,” I explained.“So it brings up a lot of not-great feelings.”

“What if we tell her that Grandma's not coming back?”she asked.“Do you think she'd come back?”

The truth was that we needed to end this.Even with the blackmail, we needed to gather evidence on her and take her to trial.There was no telling how Juliette would feel afterwards, and I was not about to tell my eight-year-old niece that her grandma had killed Juliette’s parents.

“Sometimes people just need time,” I said.

“Did you ask her to stay?”

I swallowed the knot in my throat.

“I did.”

Finally, the tears started welling in her eyes.She threw her arms around my neck and held onto me for dear life as she sobbed into my shoulder.

“I know,” I whispered, finally letting the tears that had been lingering since last night fill my eyes.“I’ll miss her too.”

Chapter31

Juliette

Ilied to her.I wasn't going to live with my brother.He was actually still living with my aunt.

I was going back to the place where I’d felt most comfortable.

Well, not the sameplace, but the samepeople.

“Jules is back!"Harmony screamed as I entered, holding champagne in both hands.

I'd actually been here for a few days already, but this was the first time everyone was back together again.Moving back in with them wasn’t ideal since they had only rented a three-bedroom house, so I was stuck on the couch.But honestly, as long as I was with them, I felt a little better.

I didn’t know if I could handle being alone at the moment.

Erin and April were already sitting at the small circular table they had stolen from the landlady’s house.They had a glass of champagne and small pastries sitting in front of them.

I couldn’t help but smile as I took the champagne from Harmony.

“So you got fired from the nanny job,” Erin said as she picked apart a croissant.

“I quit.”I raised my glass in a small toast before taking a sip of my champagne.

“Wasn't it like some rich family though?”Harmony asked and motioned for me to sit down at the empty seat at the table.She stood with her back against the small kitchen counter.

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