Page 27 of Ever's Last
“Did you stick up for her the night she tried to bare her soul to you? No, you didn’t. You let your girlfriend push and smack her around. You let the others call her names all throughout school. But that night? That night was her breaking point. And not even coming to the hospital? That was low. And I also know about the car.”
“Does she know?” I ask quietly. Oh fuck. How does he know?
“No, and I won’t tell her. Maybe you should. It makes me wonder how genuine you are. If she did come on the show, she would find out because your ex is vindictive. This would kill her.”
He’s right. I wasn’t driving, but I know who was. I was in the car that hit my best friend, the woman I know I need to love, that I do love. I’m part of the reason she was in the hospital.
I told you I was a dick. We made a pact that night not to say anything. I couldn’t show my face at the hospital. The guilt was eating me alive. But I should tell her, and quick, before Skye does.
Right now, I need to talk with Sal and find out about the date today. And then Skye and I need to talk, like adults.
I walk through the kitchen, grabbing a cup of coffee, knowing that Shane is staring at me. He must have heard Linc’s outburst.
“What?” I lean against the counter, knowing the talk is coming.
“I’ve got nothing to say. If I did, it would sound like a broken record. I mean, you’ve heard it from several people what you’ve done to my little girl. You’re the one that needs to live with that. I’m just going to say it’s going to take more than her having fifteen minutes of fame to fix it. And my advice to you is that it can’t be fixed on TV. You’re smart, Memphis, you always have been, and even you know that you can’t fix five years of hurt in just a few weeks. I want her to get out of Hickory. She stayed because of me, but now I want her to do something that takes her away from here, even if it’s only temporary. She’s never been to college or traveled anywhere. I know she wishes she had gone off to school. Ever has one of the kindest hearts in the world and she would do anything to make others happy, but you should know this.”
And with that, he’s gone. He is correct, it’s starting to sound like a broken record. My whole life I held her at arm’s length because I thought I loved Skye. I had her do things for me that were meant for someone else. And I let my friends talk shit to her and did nothing to stop them. And throughout it all, Ever was nothing but kind. She’s grown up now and I missed out on time. I can’t take anything back— I can only move forward.
“Ready?” Sal breaks through my thoughts.
“Sal, what if I know who I want?”
“You are contracted to do the whole show.” He knows what I’m thinking.
“Is she?” I don’t have to say her name for him to know who I’m asking about.
“No, she turned it down.” I don’t know what to think about that.
“Let me put it to you this way. The studio wants fireworks. To do that, you have to keep Skye until the end. But you can get rid of women however you want.”
“Fuck, I don’t want Skye here at all. What is your endgame in all of this?”
“I want you to be happy and also grow some balls.”
“What the fuck?” I’ll show him some balls.
“But for now, to make you happy, we are going to do an impromptu elimination.”
That does make me smile a little bit. After this, I need to find Brick. I need his voice of reason. Or maybe I need a lobotomy to get through this.
Chapter Nineteen
Ever
My mind is swirling with my feelings, my dad’s thoughts on everything, whether I say yes to Uncle Sal. I don’t know what I will do. I do know I’m not doingChicken Fried Love. As I told Brick, I want to win the guy, his heart, and I don’t think that would happen with Memphis. This show is a joke. Oldest story in the dating show competition— guy picks girl, they seem really happy on-air, they break up before the after-show. But to Memphis, Skye, Brick, hell, even Linc, I’m just the little brat that tagged along. Uncle Sal makes a good point. If I do a show, my type of show, maybe I can see the world, at least see another state. I love Georgia, but I need to breathe.
“Ever,” my dad calls me from below. I don’t know how long I’ve been sitting in the loft. I came out here to clear my head.
“Coming.”
“Sal says if you want to go dancing, you need to get it in gear.” Oh yeah, it’s a day in Atlanta, followed by dancing. Ivy and I wanted to go just to get away for a bit.
Ivy meets us at the door to the barn. “You missed an elimination.”
“Did Skye get cut?” I can only hope that she’s gone and order is restored.
“No, Zoe.” I don’t know much about her. She was quiet, would only make comments about the cooking or about others when she was hanging around Skye. I have no idea why people can’t see that Skye is toxic. At one time, she was a nice person, or at least she put on a show for people to make them believe that. She even backed off of me once, left me alone for a whole year. I don’t know what changed. I had asked Linc because he’s friends with Beau, Skye’s brother, but Linc shut me down real quick. I think something happened between him and Skye, which could be why, when it comes to her, he changes subjects faster than a NASCAR driver changes gears.
