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“Wait!”
But Haley didn’t wait, and her reaction was so extreme, so out of proportion to their conversation, that Meg was taken aback. Then everything clicked into place.
Her chest constricted. She shoved her feet into her flip-flops and ran after her. She took the shortcut through the cemetery instead of following the path. Her flip-flops slapped her heels, and weeds grabbed her still-damp legs. She reached the front of the church just as Haley ran around from the back, and she blocked her path. “Stop right there! I want to talk to you.”
“Get out of my way!”
Haley tried to get past her, but Meg wouldn’t let her. “You knew I was here because you followed me. Just like Spence did.”
“You don’t know what you’re talking about. Let me go!”
Meg tightened her grip. “It was you.”
“Stop it!”
Haley tried to free her arm, but Meg held fast as water dripped icy fingers down the back of her neck. “All this time. You’re the one who broke into the church. You’re the one who sent that letter and threw the rock at my car. All along. It was you.”
Haley’s chest heaved. “I don’t— I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
Meg’s damp T-shirt clung to her skin, and goose bumps broke out on her arms. She felt sick. “I thought we were friends.”
Her words cut something loose inside Haley. She jerked her arm away, and her sneer distorted her mouth. “Friends! Yeah, you were a friend, all right.”
The wind picked up. An animal scuttled in the brush. Meg finally understood. “This is because of Ted . . .”
Haley’s face crumpled with fury. “You told me you weren’t in love with him. You told me you were just saying that to get rid of Spence. And I believed you. I was so stupid. I believed you until that night I saw you together.”
The night Meg and Ted had made love at the church and Meg had seen those headlights. Her stomach twisted. “You spied on us.”
“I didn’t spy!” Haley cried. “It wasn’t like that! I was driving around, and I saw Ted’s truck go by. He’d been out of town, and I wanted to talk to him.”
“So you followed him here.”
She shook her head, the movement jerky. “I didn’t know where he was going. I just wanted to talk to him.”
“And you accomplished that by spying on us through the window.”
Tears of rage spilled over her lids. “You lied to me! You told me it was all fake!”
“I didn’t lie. That’s the way it started out. But things changed, and I sure as hell wasn’t going to make a big announcement about it.” Meg regarded her with disgust. “I can’t believe you did those things to me. Do you have any idea how it felt?”
Haley swiped at her nose with the back of her hand. “I didn’t hurt you. I only wanted you to go away.”
“What about Kyle? That’s what I don’t understand. I thought you were crazy about him. I’ve seen you together.”
“I told him to leave me alone, but he kept showing up at work.” Dirty mascara tears smeared her cheeks. “Last year, when I liked him, he wouldn’t even talk to me. Then, when I stopped liking him, all of a sudden he wanted to go out.”
The pieces came together. “You didn’t change your mind about going to U.T. because of Kyle. All along, it was because of Ted. Because he and Lucy weren’t getting married.”
“So what?” Her nose was red, her skin blotchy.
“Did you do this kind of thing to her? Harass her like you’ve harassed me?”
“Lucy was different.”
“She was going to marry him! But you left her alone and went after me. Why? I don’t get that.”
“I didn’t love him then,” she said fiercely. “Not the way I do now. Everything changed after she ran out on him. Before then—I had a crush on him like everybody else, but it was a kid thing. After she left, it was like I could see all the pain in his heart, and I wanted to make it go away. Like I understood him when nobody else did.”
