Page 95 of No Way Home
I wanted to hug her but I was pretty sure she’d bite off my fingers. My hands flexed uselessly at my sides, wanting to fix something I’d already broken. “I know. I did that. I’msosorry. It was beyondstupid. But it wasn’t because I didn’t care about you. I did.” My shoulders fell. “Ido.”
“Then why’d you do it?” she asked. “Were you embarrassed that I kissed you? Angry? Or did you blame me for ruining your relationship with Griff?”
“No, none of that. I did it…because I’d hurt Griff and I couldn’t stand it. And because he kept talking about leaving. I was trying to get him to stay. Trying to prove to him that you and I weren’t going to get together.”
It was the wrong response. Her face hardened, the tears coming faster. “So you traded his pain for mine?” She stared at me like she couldn’t comprehend it. “That’s what you always do. What is this hold Griffin has over you?” It was a simple question, but the answer was…complicated. When I didn’t respond in the next second, she huffed. “That’s what I thought. Nothing has changed. You never tell the truth. You or Griff. You clamp those lips shut and leave me in the dark, just like always.”
Tell her.
Tell her everything.
But even in my desperation, I was wise enough to know that right now was not the time for whole-soul confessions.
I stepped closer and put a hand on her arm. “Wah-hoo-wah, Magnolia,” I said softly, hoping it would be enough to remind her of the friendship we’d once shared.
She knocked my hand off. “Don’t you dare say that to me. We’re not friends. You only care about me today because you think there’s something going on with me and Liam.”
“That’s not true?—”
“It is,” her voice quivered, like it hurt her to think I was only acting out of jealousy. “But you can quit worrying. I only flirted with him so you’d know how it felt.” She shrugged again. “And you’re wrong. I definitely don’t want my last name to be Du-pree.” She hiccupped. “Any name but that.” Then she bounce-walked past me, toward the exit.
“Magnolia,” I whispered. “Can we please talk about this?”
“No. There’s nothing to talk about. All you ever do is hurt me.” She shook her head. “I’m going home now,” she said in a tone that made it clear I wasnotto try to stop her. “Don’t worry about helping me with Topher anymore. I’ve got it.” But there was no confidence behind it.
I stood there, respecting her wishes. As the up and down of her movement faded and the bouncy castle went still, the weight of my choices set in. I’d made my bed and now I got to lie in it.
Alone.
Arms wrapped around my head, I waited for the sound of her engine. Then I walked out of the room, flopped onto the ramp, and slid to the ground.
My uncles and Blue were waiting for me on the grass, doing their stupid golf clap again.
Ford offered me a hand. Once I was standing, he shook my shoulders. “Congrats! You made two women cry in under twenty minutes.”
I blew out apfftand exhaled, more deflated than this castle would be by the morning. “Well, that was a train wreck.”
Holden folded his arms across his chest. “Eh. It went pretty much like we expected it to.”
Ford snorted. “Did you think she was going to forgive you just like that?”
“You have years of damage to undo.” Blue cuffed me on the back. “Been there, done that.”
“Don’t give up,” Ash said next. “It’s not the end.”
Holden nodded. “It’s just the beginning. Now, it’s time to get to work.”
Chapter Thirty-Three
MAGNOLIA
Monday morning,my stomach churned as I walked across the Seddledowne Family Medicine parking lot. I was on my own with Topher now. No way would Bowen still pose as my fake boyfriend after the way I’d blessed him out. But as I came up the sidewalk, the only thing that greeted me was a construction worker headed for his truck.
He nodded. “Morning, Magnolia.”
“Morning,” I said, confused. If he was calling me Magnolia, it was because Bowen had told him that was my name. No one else had ever called me that except my mother. Or my dad when I was in trouble.
The man handed me a greeting card-sized envelope with my first name scrawled across the front—in Bowen’s handwriting—and kept walking.
