AllFreeNovel
Share Us
She said my name like it was another language. “Yes, ma’am. You too.”
And then she disappeared into the car, the door thumping closed behind her.
Jessa and I walked back to the house in a daze.
“I’m sorry,” she said quietly as I followed her into her room.
“Sorry for what?”
“I . . . I don’t know.”
I put her suitcase on the recovered bed and unzipped it. “I don’t want you to go,” I said to my hands as I readied it for her.
“I don’t want to go.” She sounded like she might cry, and something in my chest broke.
I gathered her into my arms. “Hey, it’s all right. We’ll just have to sneak around a little.”
She nodded against my chest. “This is so stupid. I should just tell her I want to stay.”
That cold fear licked my spine again. “I dunno. I really don’t want to piss off your mom—she doesn’t seem to think much of me as it is. Maybe just...play along for a minute. We’ll figure it out.”
After a heavy sigh, she left the circle of my arms, but that niggling cold did not. Not while we packed her up, not as she drove off with her mother.
Certainly not after she was gone.
25
literally anywhere
JESSA
My insides were a roiling, boiling mess as the driver pulled away from Remy’s house.
Lady Hastings’s presence did not help.
“Really, I don’t know how you’ve survived with that beastly man and that beastly dog,” she said to the window.
“It was no trouble.”
Her head swiveled to look at me. “I do hope he was a gentleman.”
My eyes swept the ceiling, but I had to stifle a laugh. “You act as if Cass found him on the streets. He’s her cousin, not a stranger.”
“Did you know him prior to this?”
“No, but?—”
“Then he is, in fact, a stranger. I find it hard to believe there was nowhere else for you to stay. Soon enough you’ll sort out how to take care of yourself, but in the meantime, you have me.”
“Yes, well, it all worked out, didn’t it? How was your flight?” I asked, suddenly exhausted and desperate to change the subject.
“Well enough. Our usual jet and its crew had been chartered out so I had to deal with new staff, but I’ve had a rest and am fed, thankfully. I wasn’t sure what we might find to eat here in the country. Tell me, how are things with Henry?” She turned in my direction, her smile bright and genuine.
I’d never noticed how awful it was before.
“Things are fine, same as they always were. He’s brought a date to the wedding.”
Her smile fell. “A . . . date?”
