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After Davi died,I have to admit, I got a little lost. It wasn't that I missed her or felt like I needed her to function. It was that my entire life had gotten flipped upside down, and I guess I was expecting the fallout. Jace was spiraling slowly, but I knew it would only get worse, and Tye had completely disappeared.
I thought I was doing what I should have. Parties were the only time Jace didn't sit and stare at a wall or look like he was going to self-destruct. So, we threw as many of them as we could. And when those started to get boring, we threw bigger ones.
At Jace's trial, they said no one in their right mind would be throwing parties after someone close to them had just died. They called it celebrating. I, however, called it grieving. In my own way, I was grieving the loss of a girl who I knew had the potential to be an incredible person.
Eventually the school had caught on. Someone at one of our parties drank too much and ended up in the hospital, needing their stomach pumped from alcohol poisoning. Jace and I were expelled, and our fathers dragged us back to North Haven to keep an eye on us.
I never thought I’d ever be back here, in front of Davi’s childhood home. I've only been here once, the day that Davi told her parents she was pregnant. I think I'm more scared now than I was that day.
The mansion is massive—the kind with statues by the entrance and you need a code to get into the gate. Tye murmurs a few numbers to me and I put them in, and the gate opens in front of us like magic. I pull the rental car up the driveway and in front of the house.
"I can't believe I'm back here," she whispers.
My brows furrow. "Don't you live here?"
"I did, until I ran away."
I'm about to ask her to explain when Davi's mom steps outside. Grace Sorrentino is a beautiful woman, with long dark hair and piercing green eyes. At first she looks confused, but when Tye gets out of the car, her jaw drops and she erupts into a flood of tears. She yells for Davi's dad and starts charging down the steps.
"She left us, Mom," Tye cries.
"Oh, Tyeler."
She wraps her arms around the girl and holds her close, shedding tears right along with her. They hold each other like they need it in order to survive, and I think that might be true for her mom.
When they back away, Tye looks confused. "You knew?"
Grace sighs and nods. "Davi was a smart girl. She was always safer than dancing on the ledge of a roof."
"But you didn't tell me."
"I didn't want to hurt you," she tells her. "You were already so devastated. We were afraid of what you would do."
Tye looks back at me, and I cock a brow at her that makes her laugh. "I might have moved to California to ruin Carter's life."
Grace pinches the bridge of her nose. "Honey, that's why we tried to get you help. Those rehabs were supposed to be calming places. We didn't want that life for you. You deserve so much more than that."
Rehabs?
Davi's dad, Vincent Sorrentino, steps out the door, and Grace waves him over, yelling that Tyeler is back. He comes rushing over and she hugs him tightly as he tells her how much he missed her. I stand far enough behind them to be sure I'm not intruding as they have their little reunion. When Vincent sees me, however, he becomes protective.
"Is there something I should know?" he asks Tye.
She swallows harshly, but when she looks at me, she smiles. And it's not your average smile. It's one that radiates happiness, the contagious kind that you can't look away from even if you want to.
"It's a really long story," she says, walking toward me and straight into my arms. "But all that matters is he makes me happy."
Grace exhales. "This day is just full of surprises. Please tell me you're staying for a bit."
Tye shakes her head. "We're leaving tomorrow. Surprisingly enough, I have a life there. Friends, school, a job."
"A job?" Vincent looks impressed.
"It's just bartending, but it's a lot of fun."
Grace and Vincent share a look and then smile proudly at Tye.
"Well, I guess it's no different than any other child being away at college," Grace says. "But surely you can at least stay for dinner?"
