Page 78 of Best Kept Secret

A million thoughts flew through Kelsey’s mind at once. Somehow Sonia must be related to Hudson and Emily. In fact, with her blonde hair and blue eyes, Annie resembled her. Or maybe Sonia was a friend of the family who sometimes babysat Annie. Kelsey didn’t even want to consider a third explanation.

“You must be Jared’s sister, Kelsey,” Sonia said, extending her hand.

How does she know Jared? What in the hell is going on here? “Yes,” Kelsey managed to say as she shook Sonia’s hand.

In the meantime, Hudson hadn’t said a word. He looked almost as shocked as she felt.

“It’s so nice to finally meet you. Hudson’s told me a lot of good things.”

He has? When? Who the hell are you?

“What are you doing here?” he asked. Everything about him was tense, from the set of his shoulders to his clenched jaw.

“You said you wanted to see Annie this weekend. I tried calling and texting, but you never responded.”

“I don’t have my phone on me.”

He’d dropped Kelsey’s hand upon seeing Sonia, and he hadn’t looked at her since. She had a bad feeling in her gut, but she tamped it down, praying her fears were unfounded.

“Well, our plans got canceled, so I thought you might want to see Annie today.”

Our? Who’s she talking about?

Sonia turned toward her. “By the way, thank you so much for the cute baby clothes and teddy bear. That was really thoughtful of you.”

Kelsey blinked rapidly like it might snap her out of this crazy nightmare. “Uh…you’re welcome.”

Sonia looked from Kelsey to Hudson, and suddenly her whole demeanor changed. “Ohmigod. I thought you told her.”

Kelsey and Sonia turned to Hudson, who looked like he wanted the ground to open up and swallow him. There was a long, awkward pause before he finally met Kelsey’s eyes.

“This is Sonia, Annie’s mom. I was going to tell you today, but—”

“Maybe Annie and I should leave,” Sonia inserted. “You two obviously have a lot to discuss.”

“NO!” Kelsey hissed. “You can stay because I’m leaving.” A surge of adrenaline propelled her forward, and she hugged herself as she hurriedly walked away.

“Kelsey, wait. Don’t go,” he said, coming up behind her.

He touched her arm, but she jerked it away. “DON’T TOUCH ME.”

He immediately pulled back, but he kept pace with her. “Kelsey, please. Listen to me.”

Thankfully, her purse and car keys were in the beach bag, and instead of turning toward his apartment, she crossed the parking lot to her car.

“Why should I?” she said, struggling to keep her voice down. She didn’t want to cause a scene; however, the only person around was Sonia, who’d hung back and given them a wide berth.

When she reached her car, she turned and glared at him. “Give me my beach bag.”

“Kelsey, please don’t do this. We need to talk.”

“No, we don’t.”

“I swear I was going to tell you today. I was just waiting for the right time.”

She gaped at him, fury blurring her vision. “Oh. So the right time was today instead of weeks ago when I first met Annie?”

“There’s a reason for that.”