Page 107 of It's Always Been You
“I take it Evie didn’t want to be alone last night,” he says quietly, taking a sip of his coffee.
“No.” I search my best friend’s face for any hint of disapproval, but he’s acting totally blasé—as if he didn’t just catch me cuddling Evie in my sleep.
“Well, I’d be careful if I were you,” he says after a moment, eyeing me.
My heart rate picks up. “Careful with what?”
“With Evie,” he says, like it’s obvious. “You two seem to have gotten pretty cozy ever since you made her your assistant.” I freeze. Little does he know. “And you know she’s crazy about you. Always has been.”
Now’s your chance, Brandon. Say something. Tell him you’re crazy about her, too.
My mouth opens, then closes.
“Poor girl.” He shakes his head. “Can’t have been easy to have found Grandma like that. She’s been through a lot in the last few years, hasn’t she?”
My brows fold. No one could argue that Evie has been through a lot in her short life. But the last few years, specifically? What is he referring to, exactly? Jamie doesn’t know about what happened between us. Apprehension gnaws at my gut. I’m getting the sudden sense that Evie’s been hiding something from me—especially as her words from last night echo in my mind.You weren’t there when I needed you!I didn’t know what she meant by that, and I didn’t get the chance to ask her.
I know she’s an emotional person, but her reaction to my confession yesterday . . . it was all over the place. One minute, she wanted to slap me. The next, she was trying to sleep with me. Then, after our heart-to-heart, she told me she loved me.
I’ve got whiplash from the experience.
And because she iced me out for so long, what she’s truly been up to for the last few years—aside from taking care of Maggie and working herself to a pulp—has been a total mystery to me.
Now I need Jamie to fill in the blanks.
“What do you mean?”
Jamie’s head tilts. He gives me a look like I should know. “Well, you know . . .”
I wait, heart pounding, sensing something is terribly amiss.
Frowning, he leans forward. I have to incline my ear to hear him. “I thought she would have told you.”
“I’m sure she has.” Is he referring to her back pain?
Jamie leans back against the booth seat, gazing at me like he’s disappointed in me for not remembering. I feel like the world’s most insensitive idiot right now. “Really, bro?” He takes a torturously slow sip of his drink. Setting the mug down, he sighs and roughs a hand over his beard. “I’m talking about the miscarriage.”
Everything inside of me pauses. Lungs, heart, blood flow. It all comes to a screeching halt.
“The . . . miscarriage?”
Jamie’s forehead wrinkles. “You seriously didn’t know?”
I’ve lost my voice. I can’t do anything but shake my head.
He purses his lips. “I shouldn’t have said anything, I guess. But I thought she would have told you. You’re one of the very few people she opens up to about things.” He shrugs once. “If it makes you feel any better, she probably wouldn’t have told me, either. Not if you’d been the one who picked up the phone that night.”
“What?”
His brows crease. “She said she called you. To take her to the hospital.” My hands go cold. Numb. He gives me a perplexed look. “She really didn’t tell you?” He whistles under his breath when I shake my head. “Wow. She must have really taken it hard. She tells you everything.”
“Where was I?” I gasp, reeling. “That night?”
He shrugs. “No idea. Evie just said you weren’t picking up.”
A mixture of coffee and bile coats the back of my throat.
Evie had a miscarriage.
