“Okay, call it a bachelorette party, then. We can get some of the staffers to entertain. That sous-chef, Marc, is hotter than twenty hells.”
“I’m in, for sure,” Darby says.
June nods slowly, her gaze locked on mine. “That’s a great idea, Heather.”
There it is again—that look. That knowing. Like she’s analyzing every word I say, digging beneath the surface with some kind of unsettling nuance.
I swirl the ice in my glass, keep my expression neutral.
June doesn’t know me—not on the inside. But she sees too much.
I feel her watching me the way I watch everyone else—like she’s trying to decide what I’m hiding, and whether it matters.
It does matter.
And I’ll do whatever I must to make sure she stays in the dark.
EPISODE 203
THE WAY WE WERE
Brett
The resemblance between Jake and Misty is uncanny.
That’s the thought that went through my head as I lunged toward her and caught her before she fell to the sand.
She was panting, gasping, sweat streaking down her forehead and cheeks, her blond hair stringy and sticking to her skin.
Did Jake hear what Misty said? That he’s her brother?
Fuck. I still can’t even wrap my head around the fact that Jake is here. That Jake is alive.
Emotions coil through me. It’s too much. Too many feelings crashing into each other, none of them making sense.
I should be happy.
I am happy.
Somewhere beneath the chaos in my chest is relief so raw it aches.
He’s alive.
He’salive.
After twenty damned years of believing he was gone—ofcarrying the weight of my secret love for him—he’s here. Breathing. Real.
I love him for it.
And I hate him for it.
I hate that he let us believe he was dead. That he disappeared without a trace and let us mourn him. That he letmemourn him. I hate that he’s just standing there, looking older but somehow the same, like two decades haven’t passed, like time didn’t break us all in his absence.
He was the heart of our group. The voice of justice. The one we leaned on to lead us the right way. The one who made everything feel like it was going to be okay, even when it wasn’t.
Then he was gone.
Now he’s back.
