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Emery was so naïve, bless her heart. “They wouldn’t randomly have something like that in their glove boxes or wallets and if they did, I’d be more concerned with why.”
After a minute she started to laugh. “Ignore everything I just said, except that I’m proud of you.”
“For having sex?”
“Shut up. No. For giving Rhett a chance.”
I didn’t think he would’ve let me say no, but that wasn’t anything she needed to know. “It’s just until they’re gone. It’s nothing serious.”
“It could be.”
“Did you miss the part where he’s leaving? Why would I do that to myself?”
“Who said you’d have an option not to?”
“Uh–.”
She cut me off swiftly. “Most people don’t plan on loving someone. It just happens.”
I side-eyed her. She knew how I felt about that ridiculous word and all that it represented. “Are you talking about you and Callum?”
She pursed her lips, a sign she was growing irritated. “Just know it can happen, sometime extremely fast. I know he’s leaving.”
“And I know Annika is going to lose her marbles over this whole thing, but I don’t care because we’re not doing anything wrong.”
I hadn’t thought of Nika since I’d replied to her text after I woke up. As with Evie, I was following Rhett’s advice. If someone didn’t like us messing around, that wasn’t our problem.
“You’re right.” I wasn’t going to elaborate on what I was agreeing with, but I knew she needed to hear some type of reassurance.
She also made me think. About everything going on right then, and about Rhett. I knew nothing we were doing was bad. The only person who could be hurt was potentially me. We weren’t getting married or running away together, we were enjoying one another’s company. That’s it.
That had to be good enough because my life was such a mess, I didn’t know how to fully involve myself in a relationship.
I still had to figure out how to save my families business and potentially keep myself alive. With Martin’s wife being caught in the crossfire, that meant Em wasn’t safe either. All things she had no idea were occurring.
I leaned my head against the window, watching the town slip by. It might have been better to distance myself from him. He’d came into my life at a terrible time and I didn’t want him to be hurt. On the flip side, I felt as if I needed him right now.
Rhett was like a rainbow, breaking through an endless sea of storm clouds, bringing an array of color back to my world. When he left everything would return to a dull grey, and all my butterflies would wither away.
He was the first thing that made me feel good besides an empty bottle. I was scared to get close to him and scared to let him slip away. The alternative wasn’t an option. He would be my biggest regret, and my deepest heart break.
CHAPTER TWELVE
NOVA
I could hear the whispers starting up already, precisely why I came in and had Em wait in the car.
Gossip about this would surely spread and I’d rather it be my name inserted in the ridiculous fables people would come up with than hers. I stood in the pharmacy checkout line, two purple and white boxes in one hand, a Hershey bar in the other.
The cashier was a girl I’d went to high school with. She eyed my items with a tight-lipped smile.
“It happens to the best of em,” she said, scanning the box. I wasn’t sure if that was an insult or a reassurance.
I paid and left the store without a word, swinging the bag in one hand. I spotted Mickey coming out of the coffee café a few doors down. Remembering what Rhett said about him made me see him in a different light. I’d always thought of him as perfect, but perfection was nothing more than an illusion.
“Hey!” he called out in greeting when he noticed me.
“You on your way to your mom’s office?” I nodded to the large box of muffins cradled in his hand.
“Yeah. I meant to text you back by the way.” He eyed the bag in my hand, probably trying to see what was in it. He’d know soon enough; I was sure of that.
“About Sullivan, I know you were with him yesterday…” He must have seen something in my expression, because he trailed off and re-routed. “I’m not judging. You’re a good girl, great actually. I don’t want to see you hurt. He’s not…”
I turned to look in the direction he was staring, wondering what caught his attention. It didn’t take long for me to spot the distraction. A black lifted pick-up was moving through the intersection at a snail’s pace. The tinted windows prevented me from seeing inside, but I had a pretty good idea of who was behind the wheel.
