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“I see.” A smile of my own had crossed my face to match hers but quickly fell when I remembered why I was there. Lifting our joined hands, I brushed the tips of my fingers along her jaw. “Remember what I told you earlier?”
Her eyebrows rose in forced amusement, but a deep dread had filled her eyes at my question. “You said a lot this morning.”
“I won’t stop you from leaving.”
Her body caved on a heaving breath and her expression crumpled, but she forced herself to straighten when she assumed, “You know something.”
“I have more questions than answers.”
“But you know something,” she ground out as her jaw trembled.
“Yeah,” I confirmed and released her when she turned.
Hands moving quickly as if she didn’t know what to do with them. Interlacing on top of her head and then drifting to her neck before sliding to her chest as she hung her head.
“Whatever it was happened a few days before the accident,” I said when she just stood there, then repeated the stories Brian and Brandon had told me.
“But I was with you,” she said once I was done, eyes glassy. “That weekend...the week before...I was home. I was with you other than when I was doing my classes or at brunch. And you were—” She’d started gesturing away from herself but let her arm fall limply. “Except for when you were at work or at the gym or breakfast with the guys, you were home. Unless you weren’t actually at those places.”
“Think they would’ve told me if I’d skipped out on one of those.”
She blinked up at me. “Then we were home, and we were fine. Everything was fine. I mean, I remember what Brandon said...sort of. You were quiet, but I actually think I just chalked it up to you being exhausted because of how busy we were. We’re always coming and going with work or our friends.”
My head bobbed quickly before I repeated, “I won’t stop you from leaving.”
A strangled sound caught in her throat. “Stop saying that. You—we don’t even know what happened. We don’t know if anything happened.”
“Something had to, Scarlet,” I said undoubtedly. “I was keeping something from everyone closest to me. You, most of all.”
“But you told Brian, ‘I didn’t know,’” she reminded me as if I hadn’t been replaying his words for the past hour and a half. “That doesn’t sound like something a person would say who cheated on their fiancée.”
That dull spark of hope flared a little brighter, even as I shook my head. “I can feel it. This morning, when you said you can’t sleep because of my need to convince Harper I hadn’t cheated on her, I had this twisting in my gut like I was afraidyouwould find out.”
Her body bowed and swayed toward me as her hand pressed to my chest, pushing all that fear and grief into me and amplifying my own. “What are your memories?” she asked as her fingers curled against my shirt.
“Of what?”
“Of whatever happened?” She cleared her throat and looked up, holding me captive in that gaze. “What you were trying to tell Harper after you woke up. Why you were saying you hadn’t cheated on her.”
I drew in a slow breath as those days assaulted me, feeling just as real as Scarlet’s hand did against my chest.
And yet, I could sense it now... the difference in my memories from growing up and what I remembered as the last year. Even in their vividness, they felt off. Like there was a hazy film layered over the latter.
Grabbing Scarlet’s hand, I turned, leading us out of the calf-high water and up to sit on the sand as I spoke. “This girl I work with, Trish—”
“You don’t work with a Trish,” she said, making me nod in acknowledgment.
“Right,” I mumbled, then corrected, “Workedwith...thought I worked with. Anyway, none of it makes sense because she’s—shewasgay. I met her girlfriend a ton of times. But she showed up at my party for whatever reason. Next thing I know, I’m waking up to Bree screaming at me, and Trish is in bed with me, wearing only my shirt.” I placed a hand to my chest and hurried to defend what hadn’t—or possiblycould’ve—happened, “I hadn’t even been drinking. I don’t even remember the party.”
“Okay.” The word left her on a breath as if just the coma-induced dream made Scarlet nauseous because of the possibilities. “You...you work withRiss,” she added hesitantly, expression scrunching up in disbelief.
“Yeah, just found that out. And there’s no fucking way.”
“No,” she agreed wholeheartedly. “But when you started talking about yoursupposedlife with Harper, I easily fit it all together into what had beenreal. I still can’t make sense of this.”
Her head shook as she glanced back at the ocean, getting lost in her thoughts for a while. “I can’t remember the last time either of us was at a party unless you count Brandon and Harper’s wedding or your parents’ New Year’s Eve parties. But we’ve gone hometogetherafter those. And even before we moved into the house, it’s been you and me, every night in the same bed.”
Her lips pressed tightly together as she stared straight ahead, but nothing could’ve hidden the deep sadness that burst from her when she realized what she’d said.
