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For the first time in days, he can’t be bothered to meet my stare.
“Is this decided?” I ask, hot tears prickling behind my eyes, ready to make an escape at any second.
“We’re in escrow on the condo now, and putting the houses on the market next week.”
“You knew about this?” I ask, spitting out the words. Only this time, they’re directed at Henry. I don’t care about subtlety anymore.
“He’s been a huge help,” Mom says. “He put us in touch with one of your old classmates to list them.”
My head starts spinning, the impact of all this news more to blame than the bourbon cocktail.
Henry places his utensils down slowly. “Norah, I didn’t think—”
The pity in his eyes is almost too much for me to bear.
“I can’t be here right now,” I say, taking my napkin out of my lap and placing it on the table. I scoot my chair out and stand, but I’m flooded with voices.
“Norah, you’re an adult. Sit your butt back down right now,” Mom says sternly.
“I can’t believe you would do this to Mom,” Hannah says in a harsh whisper.
“I’m sorry. I can’t. I have to go.”
I grab my coat off the back of my chair and quickly make my way through the restaurant.
“Wait.”
I hear his low voice cut through all the chatter from the tables as I pass, but I don’t turn back around.
“Can you just wait? I really need to talk to you.” He catches up to me as I reach the doors of the restaurant. “Norah.”
“You said no more secrets,” I bite out. “You knew about this, and you didn’t tell me.”
“I’m just as surprised as you are that they chose tonight to share,” Henry starts, but then I’m hit with a wave of understanding from our time in Laketon.
“Oh my God. This is what the boxes at your house were for. I’m such an idiot.”
Henry runs a hand through his hair. We must look ridiculous, arguing in this fancy restaurant at the top of a picturesque mountain in these stupid matching pajamas. “For what it’s worth, I am shipping some of my stuff back to New York.”
I scoff. “That’s what you want to say to me? You want to try to ride this out on a technicality? God, we can’t even go two days without something going wrong.” I pause, but Henry looks like he’s at a complete loss. “You know what? This is too much. You keep asking me to trust you, and every time, I’m the one who gets hurt.”
I turn away from him so he can’t see how wrecked I feel.
“Norah, please don’t leave. I know it’s hard to understand right now, but this isn’t my fault. Let’s just talk.”
“If you ever cared about me at all,” I tell him, “you won’t follow me out of here.”
And then I head out into the cold.
* * *
I have to wait several minutes for the chairlift down the slope, but Henry stays put. I see him at the door, his eyes never leaving me, until I board the lift. It’s colder now, either because I’m alone or because the temperature has dropped even further in the time we had our appetizers. I don’t have much of a plan, but I know I can’t spend another night at the cabin now that I know everyone has been keeping secrets from me.
My hands shake as I pull out my phone, trying to clutch it as tightly as possible so I don’t lose it forever to the mountain. I start to pull up Frankie’s number, then remember her stupid family cruise. What an inconvenient time for my best friend to be completely out of cell service. I pause, then scroll through my contacts, landing on Trevor Hayes. I’m not sure if this is still his number. I probably haven’t used it since our freshman year of college. But he did tell me to do this. I take a deep breath and press Call.
Trevor answers after the second ring. “Hey there, Miss Big Apple,” he says, and I feel immediate relief.
“Thank God this is still your number,” I mumble.