So what did I do? I stirred everything anyway by bringing Jake here. By showing the others that he’s alive.
The dam has already burst, so I’ll tell Emily. I’ll tell her that I return her love.
I reach the house and enter through the front.
“Oh!” Emily gasps.
She and Sienna are in the large living room right off the foyer.
“River, where’s Brett?” Sienna asks.
“He’s still on the beach.” I look to Emily. “Can we talk?”
“What about?” she asks dryly.
“Of course you can,” Sienna says with a smile that looks forced. “I think I’ll see if there’s anything left over from lunch.”
“Sienna…” Emily says.
“We’ll talk later,” Sienna says over her shoulder.
Emily turns back to me.
My God, she’s beautiful, her blond hair falling around her shoulders, her sparkling blue eyes full of life.
And full of anger.
Angry Emily is still beautiful. Perhaps even more so.
But she’s also dangerous. Not in the way that hurts. In the way that makes you want to drop to your knees and beg for a second chance—even if you know you don’t deserve it.
“Emily,” I start, but she lifts a hand.
“No,” she says. “You don’t get to call me that in that tone. Not after ignoring me.”
“I wasn’t?—”
“And then just showing up with Jake like he’s a casual plus-one for vacation? Do you have any idea what kind of emotional chaos you’ve unleashed?”
“I do,” I say, and I mean it. God, I mean it. “Which is why I’m here. To tell you everything. To tell you why I didn’t say I love you back when you said it.”
Her eyes narrow. “Because you didn’t mean it.”
“No,” I say quickly, moving toward her.
She takes half a step back, and it kills me.
“Because I meant it too much.”
She lets out a sarcastic laugh. “You’re going to have to do better than that.”
“I was scared,” I admit. “Not of how I feel. Of what happens if I let myself feel it fully.”
“Try again.”
I nod. “Okay. Here’s the truth. There was a break-in at my parents’ house.”
That gets her attention. Her posture straightens. “When?”
