Before I can put anything into words, someone knocks on the bedroom door.
“Is it okay for someone to come in?” Darby asks.
I nod.
“Come in,” Darby says.
The door opens.
I expect it to be Alex or Sebastian.
Maybe June. She’s the only one of the women I knew from before this event.
Or Evangeline.
But it’s not any of them.
EPISODE 211
ALWAYS
River
I deserve everything that Brett has thrown at me. Totally I do. I feel for him. He’s in love with two people. As much as I’d like to relieve him of that burden, I can’t. It’s his to bear.
And I’m in love too.
I’m in love with Emily, and I need to tell her.
I should have returned the words when she said them to me.
I didn’t. Not because I didn’t feel them, but because I was too overwhelmed with everything else going on. With the memories of twenty years ago, with Larson’s old leather watch fob in my safe. With the break-in at my parents’ place.
Someone knows.
Someone knows everything.
But who? A blond woman is our only clue.
The longer I let the question hover, the more I realize that it’s not just about what someone knows. It’s why they’re surfacing now.
Why stir up ghosts after all this time?
I close my eyes and see Emily’s face. The way she looked at me when she said it—I love you. Like it hurt to admit it, like she was handing me something breakable and hoping I wouldn’t drop it.
And what did I do?
I stood there. Silent. Like a coward.
I love her. But love comes with a cost. With risk. And if whoever broke into my parents’ house is trying to get to me, Emily could be next.
I can’t let that happen.
Which is part of the reason why I didn’t say the words.
I can’t make her my Achilles’ heel.
The other reason is that my mind was too fucked up with everything else going on.
