Sky’s face twisted. “Change my mind aboutyou?You’re not making any sense. I think you’re scared and choosing what you believe is the most comfortable path. I’m just a fuck-up, right? I can’t take care of you as well as he can and being the future mayor’s wife is bound to have a lot of perks.”
“Oh, fuck off! Do you really think I care about that?” she shot back in an angry hiss.
Sky shrugged. “Why else would you settle for a closeted liar who camethis closeto getting off with your brother?” he asked, mashing his thumb and finger together.
“It’s none of your business.”
“Fine. I’ll stay out of it. Best of luck with whatever the fuck this is.” He flailed a hand, then turned and headed inside and straight upstairs to pack. He said quick goodbyes to Nana and Nadine then swept past his mother on his way out, before she could manipulate him into staying. “I have to go but I’ll call you in a week,” Sky told her before he kissed her cheek and escaped in a waiting cab.
Chapter Three
Two-and-a-half years later…
Life and all its complications snowballed in the months after Mason and Sarina announced their engagement. They tumbled swiftly through baby and bridal showers, a successful mayoral campaign, and had a simple, yet elegant family wedding at the Sutton House. Sarina’s only demand as the bride was that Nana gave her away and they exchanged vows on the beach where they had swam and played as kids.
Despite everyone else’s joy and Mason and Sarina’s relief, the day still felt hollow without Sky. Neither had heard a peep out of him, he’d blocked their phone numbers and all their social media accounts when he left Roseview after their father’s funeral. They had to settle for meager updates from Nana, Nadine, or Adele to find out how he was doing. Sky remained vague with them and apologized for his absence, but made it clear that he had no plans to return to Roseview as long as his sister and Mason were there.
For the rest of their family and friends it was a baffling mystery, why Sky had stormed out the day after his father’s funeral and refused to even discuss his sister and Mason. The mystery only intensified when Aunt Cora passed and Sky returned just long enough to lean into the casket to kiss her cheek, then promptly left Roseview. He did hug and kiss Adele, Nana, and Nadine in the brief time he was there but didn’t say a single word to anyone else.
That had stung.
By then, Mason had realized how much he’d taken Sky’s friendship for granted and was hoping for a chance to work things out. He’d always loved Sky like a little brother and thought of him as one of his closest friends, and Mason had assumed that Sky would always be there. He hadn’t appreciated how much he missed Sky’s weird and wonderful heart and how much he would miss having someone else he could be his true self with.
He still had Sarina, obviously, but the two of them were alone, isolated on their island of lies as her pregnancy progressed and she gave birth to Samuel Skylar Cartwright. They named their son after Mason’s father and Sarina’s brother, fearing it was the only way they’d ever have a piece of Sky to hold again.
For Sarina, losing Sky had been a devastating blow. Mason often found her hugging one of his old flannels and crying. She couldn’t forgive herself for the way their last conversation had ended and tried everything she could think of to contact him before her due date. Sarina begged the universe to bring him back because she didn’t want to go through childbirth or bring her baby into the world without Sky, but even Nadine couldn’t get him to budge.
Sam Jr.’s arrival should have been a joyful occasion. Instead, it had been a subdued event with Sarina doing her bestnot to cry. Both Sarina and Mason were extremely grateful to have a beautiful, healthy baby boy but their family was incomplete without Sky. There was no one else Mason wanted to celebrate with, aside from his parents, but they only had eyes for “Little Sam.”
Which was understandable and made Mason feelbetter about the many, many lies he’d told them over the years.
Sam wasincredible.Mason fell in love so quickly and loved Sam so completely, he forgot who his real father was. And Mason’s parents were over the moon. Mason had never felt like a better son. He had checked off some of the biggest boxes on the list of things “real” adults did and he’d made himself and Sarina safe for the foreseeable future. With the help of his dad and a very adult mortgage, Mason built his and Sarina’s dream house. It was close enough to Adele’s so they could run over—literally—if she had a crisis and just two miles up the road from his parents’ place.
It was finished and the nursery was completed a week before Sam was born. The months after were an exhausting blur for the new parents but the whirlwind came to a grinding halt when Uncle Lance died. Unlike Cora, his passing was sudden and happened in a somewhat undignified and rather salacious manner, requiring a great deal of tiptoeing and tap dancing from all who knew and loved Lance.
While everyone was aware of Uncle Lance’s wandering eye, they had assumed that he’d slowed down in the bedroom. Maybe he had, but he’d been up to no good in thebathroomat the aptly named Easy Mart in Southampton withtwoof the store’s young cashiers. They were nineteen and twenty-one-years-old and a piece of produce had been discovered inside Lance so his death was being described as an “unfortunate accident” by most.
With Aunt Cora gone, Adele and Sarina were the closestthing Lance had left to a family in Roseview so it fell to them to handle the arrangements and host the reception after the funeral. That was awkward on so many levels but someone had to do it and Lance had left most of hislargeestate to Sarina and Sky. It would have seemed heartless and raised eyebrows if the Suttons didn’t provide him with a dignified burial. For Mason, it was the end of a difficult chapter and he hoped Uncle Lance’s passing would be an opportunity to repair some damage.
Specifically with Sky. Both Mason and Sarina were eager for any news about whether he’d return for the funeral and if he’d stay for more than a few hours. The funeral was in two days and he had yet to make contact with anyone. They were beginning to give up hope that they’d have a chance to face him again when Sarina received a text from Adele.
“Mom just got off the phone with Sky! She says he’s definitely coming!” Sarina slapped Mason’s arm excitedly as she read. They were taking a rare break on the sofa while Sam napped. “Oh.” Her excitement faded. “A cab is picking him up from the station because he’s getting here just before the service. He’s spending the night with Nana and leaving the next morning.” She bit back a pained gasp and put the phone down. “Sky wants to meet Sam and Mom’s asking if she can ‘borrow’ him for a few hours that evening. Sky doesn’t want us there.”
“Fuck!” Mason jumped to his feet and paced to the window. “Why is he still being so stubborn about this?”
“Probably because I told him to mind his own business and stay out of ours,” Sarina said with an apologetic grimace. “Iknewbetter, but I was such a sick, stressed mess. You can’t say something like that to Sky unless you mean it. He will take it as literally as possible and make you regret it forever.”
Mason groaned as he nodded. “And he knows we lied and that we’re still lying.”
“Sky’s never been able to smile and hide his feelings. It makes him too anxious and he gets a yucky tummy. Lying’s always pissed him off because he can’t do it.”
“No, he’s always been too honest for his own good. What do you want to do? We can tell your mother that we’re a package deal and if Sky wants to see Sam, he has to see us too,” he suggested but she shook her head.
“Then he’d never see Sam. I want Sky to meet his nephew and see how amazing he is. Maybe he’ll forgive us if he realizes that something good came out of all this and that no one was hurt.”
“Except for Sky,” Mason countered gently. “We can’t forget how awful your dad’s passing was for him and how confusing that night had to be. We’re all to blame.”
“But mostly me.” She picked up her phone. “I’m telling her they can ‘borrow’ Sam for as long as they want. I have to take Uncle Lance’s suit to the funeral home and see Alice about the flowers. I want to make sure there aren’t any carnations. Sky’s always hated them because they remind him of funerals,” she said with a watery laugh and Mason nodded.
