“Can’t imagine where you get that from.” His throat tightened on the words. “Let someone with that sort of emotional intelligence guide you through, then? Let someone else have more knowledge in an area and be okay with that,” he suggested.
“God, I don’t like any of this.”
He chuckled. “Yeah, welcome to the club. Club human. It is a wild freaking ride.”
I made a loud, pained sound. “I guess I’ll just go talk to Levi and tell him how I’m feeling, then.”
“Good luck, kiddo.”
After I hung up the call, I went to the living room. Levi stood there, shoulders hunched, faced away from me. Shaking and still filled with adrenaline from crying, I took a deep breath to go tell Levi that, despite all the facts, we were two fools in love.
“Hey. I was just going to come to apologize and tell you, I’ve been thinking?—”
He turned around; his face was ashen, and there was a tension in his brows I’d never seen before. “What is this?” he asked.
I looked at where he held my story in his hands and realized I was too late.
Chapter 30
Levi
“What is this?”I asked roughly, refusing to accept the words I’d seen.
Claire set down her phone; she’d been talking to her father in the kitchen. When I first came in, I debated indicating that I was here so I wouldn’t surprise her, but then I found the neat stack of papers on her desk. On top was a Post-it that saidto Levi.
After that, their conversation was blocked out due to the sound of blood rushing in my ears. I stood staring at the papers for too long. I finally picked up what appeared to be her newest article when she walked into the room.
“It’s what I’ve been working on. I was going to give it to you before I left,” she said.
Like I hadn’t seen her loading up her car all day. Like I hadn’tcome back to her just running away as she had when she arrived in Cozy Creek all those weeks ago. Maybe in time some hapless soul passing by will have to hear the story about how I ruined her life. My jaw was tense. My heartbeat was still so loud in my head that I struggled to focus on anything she said.
I tried to find what I wanted to say. Pace had been right. “You’ve been working on a story behind my back?” I tossed the papers on the ground between us. She flinched back. “‘The True Legacy of Lily Carmichael.’ I told you to leave it.”
“I couldn’t. Her story spoke to me, and now I know I was right.” She lifted her chin.
Even now, even after everything, she looked at me like I was the one who didn’t understand.
“Right about what? Jesus, Claire.” I ran a hand down my face. “Did you get your job back with this, huh? An exposé on a celebrity photographer who wronged the woman he loved would surely be enough?”
At that, her color drained. “How could you even think that?” She reached her hands out and took a bracing breath. “You should read things before you jump to conclusions. Actually, I’ve been thinking about what we talked about. About your offer.”
She had to be kidding. “And you just decided to go against everything I said?”
She shook her head, looking at me like I was the one out of line.
“That’s what I want to talk to you about. I realized after I finished it why I couldn’t stop researching her story and why it wasso important to me. It just took me a little longer to understand what I’m feeling.”
“I know why. Justice. Retribution at all costs, right? It’s all that’s important to you. Or whatever you think this sense of justice is, no matter who it hurts,” I said.
She looked at me for a long moment. “That’s what you think? You won’t read it, then?”
I shook my head. “There’s nothing in there that I don’t already know,” I spat. “You forget that this is my life. It’s not some key to the next step in my career. Do you even care who gets hurt?”
Her mouth hung open. “This conversation feels so familiar.” She mumbled it to herself.
“Oh, yeah. Now you paint me with the same brush as your ex. This is why you didn’t want to stay here with me? Because you couldn’t just leave it, couldn’t do what I said were her dying wishes. Because everybody else is wrong. But not Claire. All facts, no fucks given.”
Her hand went to her mouth. Her eyes closed for the briefest moment, and the soft skin trembled. “I came here to tell you I was sorry for reacting to your offer the way that I did. And to tell you I l-love you too.” Her throat caught. “But I don’t think you can love me. Not really, not if you are accusing me of all this. Not if you even think me capable. I thought you knew me better than anybody else. Recognized truths in myself before they revealed themselves to me.”
