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“Because Martha blames you for what happened to her daughter.”
Moving to stand by King, I whispered, “Eugene, King had nothing to do with that. Maggie was drunk. She caused the accident.”
“I know. The whole town knows that, but Martha blames the both of you.”
“Why?” King asked. “Margaret was going to marry John Stanley before she died.”
Eugene shook his head. “No. Devlyn and Banks told me Margaret called off the wedding when she saw you at the lake. She was there, watching you. I saw her. She left upset.”
“What?”
“Eugene, how do you know this?” I asked, stepping forward.
My heart raced when I looked at my best friend, praying I was wrong. When he refused to look at me, I paled, shaking my head.
He knew.
He knew all this time and said nothing.
“You were there too,” I whispered.
Eugene’s head snapped toward mine as he sneered, “That’s right, Sugar. I was there. I watched everything. But you want to know something. I didn’t care. I still wanted you, but I was never good enough, was I? I could love you until I was blue in the face, but it wouldn’t matter. No matter what I said or did, I was always going to be in the friend zone. Well, don’t worry, Shug. We can still be friends. Always will be, but I can’t be near you right now.”
“Eugene,” I barely said, reaching for him.
He shook his head, stepping back as if my touch scalded him.
“No. You let this fucking town and that damn bitch control you. You had me. The girls. The whole fucking club protecting you. All you had to do was believe in us. Believe in me, but you couldn’t do that because you can’t let go of the past. Well, I’m done. King, I’m taking off for a few days. If you need me, I’ll have my cell.”
With that, Eugene stormed out of my house, slamming the front door behind him.
“Eugene!” I screamed, racing after him, only to have King grab my arm.
“Let him go, Sugar. He’s hurt.”
“I can’t let him leave angry. Please, King. Let me go after him.”
“Only if you can honestly tell me you will accept his claim.”
And just like that, I stopped resisting.
Nothing I did could erase Eugene’s face from my mind.
I hurt my best friend.
The one person I vowed never to hurt.
I tossed and turned all night after King left. In the end, I got up and headed for my shop, hoping that baking something would take my mind off him. As I beat the hell out of the third batch of cookies I was making, I jumped when I heard, “You beat that dough any harder, it’s gonna slap you back.”
Taking a calming breath, I sighed. “What are you doing here, Bailey?”
“Haven’t decided yet. Kind of torn between talking civilly or kicking your fucking ass.”
I smirked at that.
“Never heard you talk civilly.”
The ornery woman sighed, walking over to my cold fridge, eyeing all the tubs of ice cream I kept in there. Everyone knew, since Bailey learned she was pregnant she had an unnatural craving for ice cream.
