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“Flick!” Rowen storms out, calling after me.

“I can’t even look at you.” I shake my head, a wave of nausea flying over me.

All these years of us working together, always looking up to him, and his…caring, stubborn nature. Was it all just some joke? Hey, wouldn’t it be funny if I just never told her I was in a serious, dedicated relationship with her mom? Wouldn’t that be hilarious?

Rowen’s a lot of things—he’s grumpy and short-tempered and only really cares about animals, but I never in my life thought he could be cruel.

“It’s weird, I get it—it’s weird for me too.” Rowen shivers in the cold. “Especially now that you saw us but—”

“I don’t care about you and Riley!” I shout just as Knox steps out onto the porch like he walked into the wrong scene. “I care about that.” I jab a finger at his jersey.

Rowen looks down, confused. “My…jersey?”

“You’re Jersey Guy.”

“Jersey what?”

“He’s what?” Riley demands behind Knox. “Oh God—did I just make out with a serial killer?”

“No,” Rowen groans, pinching the bridge of his nose. “What are you talking about?”

“How old is that jersey?” I ask, heat crawling under my skin.

“I don’t know. I’ve had it forever. High school, I think? It’s my lucky one—whenever I wear it, Alabama wins.”

Riley’s whole body goes lax, slumping as mine tenses up. She whispers, “Oh shit,” and I know she’s put it together—she knows that I know.

Knox is already trying to steer me toward his truck. “Come on, Felicity, let’s…breathe. Let’s go somewhere else, just us.”

I shake him off. “Did you… Were you really with her?”

Rowen blinks. “Who? Riley? I really wasn’t planning on—”

“My mom.” My voice cracks. “Were you the one who left her? The one who ruined her after she had me?”

I watch the pieces click together one by one in Rowen’s mind. Watch the whole picture come together. Watch his face fall. He shakes his head, and for a tiny moment I hold out hope that he’ll say no. That he’ll say it’s a huge misunderstanding and this is a friend of a friend’s jersey he randomly found.

I guess I’m not that lucky, though.

“I… Flick, I’m so sorry.”

“It was you?” My voice goes sharp. “You knew that entire time, for what? I’ve been working for you for over four years, and you never once thought to mention it.” I glance back at Riley. “And you?” My chin wobbles with my voice. “You knew too. That’s why you hated him? Because he broke Mom’s heart?”

“It’s not like that,” Rowen interjects. “I didn’t—”

I keep my eyes on Riley. At one of the only people I thought I could be safe with. Looking back now, has this all just been…what? Fluff? Pity?

Sorry your mom is an alcoholic who is determined to leave you and an entire city behind, but here, I’ll take you in and we’ll pretend nothing ever happened?

Rowen’s talking behind me, but I don’t hear a word. I watch Riley’s single tear fall down her cheek. “How could you not tell me? I showed that picture to you and you stared at it, knowing exactly who I was looking for, and you just brushed me off.”

Riley wipes at her cheek. You’d think I would have more sympathy for her, but I’m so empty that I almost feel guilty for the lack of it.

“She’s coming to Thanksgiving,” I say firmly. “Mom’s coming and she’s going to have to see the love of her life and her closest friend together.”

She sighs. “Flick…I don’t think she’s—”

“She is. We have tickets and a place to stay and she’s coming. And if you think I’ll choose to be with either of you over her that day, then you’re dead wrong.”