Page 138 of Snowed In
“Look,” he starts, dropping his voice so only I can hear him. He doesn’t dare step any closer to me, though. Not with Christian and Aidan watching his every move. “I’m sorry about the job. About everything. But that was a long time ago. I’m not that person anymore.”
“Then you won’t have any issue telling people what you did. Goodbye, Isaac. I’d like you to go now.”
He stares at me for a long, weighted moment before he huffs out a breath and stalks past me to his car. No one says a word. It only takes a few seconds for him to leave, driving around the bend and out of my sight, but it feels like a lifetime.
Telling the truth won’t magically solve everything. I know that. And I know it means I’ll be forced to have the same conversations over and over again, to confront everything I’ve tried to pretend no longer eats at me. And I know it’s going to be shit.
But maybe this time, when I’m ready, I’ll come out the other side.
“Megan?”
Sophie lingers next to the house, and I glance at Christian, who nods in understanding.
“Let’s go get you cleaned up,” he says, clapping my brother on the shoulder, and to my surprise, Aidan doesn’t shrug him off. He even goes with him, pressing his hand to his lip to stem the bleeding.
Sophie waits for them to head inside before turning to me. “I—”
“Are you dating my brother?”
“What?” she asks, startled. “No!”
“Are you sure?”
“He’s one of Cormac’s best friends,” she says as if that explains everything. “I didn’t come here to see him. I wanted to see if you were okay. Cormac did too, but we didn’t want to…”
“Overwhelm me?” I guess, and she shrugs, looking uncomfortable.
“I wanted to apologize,” she says. “For what I said in the pub. And for everything that came before it. I wanted to—”
“You don’t need to apologize for Isaac.”
“No, I know. I’m not. I’m just…I’m sorry you couldn’t tell me what was going on,” she says. “I couldn’t sleep the other night thinking about it. That you felt you had to do it all by yourself. But you have to understand that when you left, it felt like our group was suddenly torn apart, and no one knew why. And it was sounlikeyou.” She gives a shaky laugh. “Or maybe it was. Maybe it was the real you. But you weren’t there and Isaac was, and he was so shattered and confused and it never occurred to me that you might be too. And that’s on me. I’m so sorry, Megan.”
Her words ring with sincerity, enough of it that some of my defenses start to crack. “I shouldn’t have run off like I did,” I tell her. “I shouldn’t have assumed you’d just dismiss me.”
“You felt that you didn’t have a choice. I get that now. Especially if he…” Her expression darkens. “God, you should have seen it. When we overheard you the other day? I’ve never seen Cormac so angry. He just lost it. And Aidan…” She rolls her eyes slightly. “I’m surprised they didn’t get into a fight sooner.”
“I thought he might have convinced you I was lying,” I admit, and she shakes her head, miserable.
“You must have felt so alone. And then to come back here and for me to freak out at you.” She grimaces. “I was such a bitch at the pub. I just didn’t expect to see you, and I was going through my own shit, and I took it out on you. That’s not okay. That is the opposite of being a girl’s girl. That’s—”
“I’m sorry too,” I interrupt before she can get herself worked up. “The truth should have come out years ago.”
“Well, it’s coming out now,” she says, crossing her arms. “I can’t believe you’re dating Christian Fitzpatrick.” Her eyes widen. “Shit. Sorry. I didn’t mean to say that out loud. Sometimes things just pop out.”
“I remember,” I say with a small smile. “Don’t worry. I can’t believe I’m dating him either.”
“I used to have such a crush on him,” she continues before her face falls again. “Shit.”
This time I just laugh. She grins when I do, her face lighting up just like it used to. Back when we were younger. Back when we were friends.
“It’s completely fine to tell me no,” she says. “But do you want to get a drink sometime? On me, obviously. We could…I don’t know, catch up.”
“I’d love to. Mam says you moved into the cottage by the church.”
She nods. “It has asbestos and I’m pretty sure it’s haunted.”
“Wonderful.”
