Page 70 of Poetry of Flowers

If he felt the need to use our code word, then I wanted to know what was bothering him right away.

“You’re a pain in my ass, Tillie,” he whispered, but I knew he didn’t mean it.

“But I’myourpain in the ass, Kayden,” I answered sweetly. “Please tell me what’s on your mind.”

Kayden sighed. “I lied,” he suddenly said out loud so that he caught Autumn’s and Theo’s attention.

“Pardon?” my cousin said.

“My father took the money because he was angry that I didn’t tell him I was going away.”

“But you told me Patrick knew where we’re going and didn’t care.” I felt hurt that he lied to me about such a simple thing. Also, he could tell my father I left without telling him, so he should have told me.

“I’m sorry, I had a fight with him and didn’t want you to worry” he apologized as he scratched the back of his head.

“But Patrick could tell my father, and he will be angry at me for not telling him I left, even if my aunt feeds him the lie about the fucking school trip.” Kayden’s eyes formed to little lines while he looked at me.

“I didn’t think about that.”

“You know how I hate lies, and now I’ll probably be grounded for a whole month.” I kind of panicked a bit, my dad and I didn’t exactly part on good terms.

“Maybe you should tell-”

“Shut up, Theo,” Kayden cut him off before he could even finish his sentence.

“Jonas will understand, I mean he was pretty rude to you that night from what I heard. Just send him a text and apologize before it gets worse.” My cousin lay her hand on mine and squeezed gently. “He has no right to be angry at you in any way, Tillie. You know that.”

“But he's my dad. There are rules I have to stick to. This whole trip was a bad idea.”

“No, this was a good idea. You talk more.” Autumn smiled at me proudly.

“If someone should be mad, it’s you. And we both know why.”

Oh yes, I knew. But there was no point in being mad. It didn’t change anything.

Nodding, I turned back to Kayden to apologize that I got angry at him telling me lies that also affected me, but I kept my mouth shut. There was nothing I had to apologize for.

“What are we going to do now?” Theo asked. He leaned back on the bench, snapping the rubber band against his wrist as if bored by our conversation.

I turned my head around, looking at the little family laughing together.

“I think we already have our answer.”

No risk, no fun.

ChapterTwenty-Two

KAYDEN

Another speed bump almost threw me out of my seat. If this had not been our only opportunity to continue this dumb trip, I would have never agreed to travel with a stranger and his family. I had lost hope we could get there and I could meet my real father. So many things had already gone wrong, it was hard to believe this could still end how I had planned it so perfectly in my head.

Tillie’s reaction to me lying showed me that I had messed up for good this time.

So many lies had built up over the past few days, I was just not ready to tell her about yet. Everything would have been easier if I had never lied to her in the first place. But then I remembered her teary eyes and that she needed something to keep going. The whole trip seemed perfect for that, so I twisted the truth a bit.

How dumb was I?

I mean, she never had to know. We were still going to celebrate her birthday in three days, I have— no no no.

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