Page 92 of Keeping Score

I’d done nothing but sit down lately, and it had done nothing for me. My mind had been a constant buzz since everything imploded on itself.

Or rather, since I set off the bomb.

Still, I listened to her, feeling too numb to do anything else. When she finished tidying up the space, she sat down next to me on the couch, not saying anything at all.

“I really missed you, Cass,” I told her, after a few minutes had passed.

“You didn’t have to,” she said, laughing softly. “I’ve been right here waiting for you the whole time.”

“I know,” I said.

“Liam misses you, too.”

I snorted. “I doubt that.”

“It’s true,” she said. “You’re his baby sister.”

“Did he tell you this?” I shot her a look of doubt.

“No,” she admitted, “but that’s just because he can be as stubborn as you sometimes.”

“Must be a Brynn thing,” I laughed, using the sleeve of my sweatshirt to wipe my nose.

“Oh, for sure,” she agreed with a grin.

Another pause.

“Have you seen Brody?” she asked carefully.

“Not since that night.” I tugged at his hoodie. “I think I saw him outside of work yesterday, but I got scared and bolted.”

“Why?”

“I don’t know.” I shrugged. “I mean, what could he have to say? The damage has already been done.”

And I couldn’t stand to face him after what I’d done. I couldn’t stand to talk to him and know he wasn’t mine anymore.

“Okay…” Cassie said, moving onto the next topic. “How’s work been?”

“Fine,” I said through a barely contained grimace.

“Maggie.” She stared me down, strangely intimidating as her blue eyes locked on mine.

I squirmed. I knew she could smell my bullshit from a mile away, so I sighed and gave in. She would figure it out anyway with that emotional radar of hers.

“I let down a client. Someone I had wanted to help more than anything,” I admitted guiltily. “It sort of did a number on me.”

Cassie looked at me thoughtfully, carefully processing what I was saying.

“When was that?”

“I don’t know.” I shrugged. “A few days ago.”

“When?”

“Friday.”

“Friday,” she said. “As in, the night Brody proposed to you?”