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“Because—” She reigns in a garbled sob. “I’m the one who leaked the story.”
The room tilts and darkness creeps into my vision. “Why?” I brace against the doorframe, fighting for clarity in a blurry, unreasonable world.
Heels clicking their way across the tiles, her warm hands grab my face and attention. “Oh, Devin. No. I didn’t do it on purpose. I…” Her forehead wrinkles as her hands drop, head tilting. “Do you actually think I would leak a story to the press?”
“Before ten seconds ago, not in a million years.” Licking the tears from her lips, Nova shakes her head. Her hurt mirrors mine. “What did you do? How did he find out, Nova?”
“I called Willa during my lunch break on Tuesday.”
She has got to be kidding. “You called my sister?”
“We’re friends. We talk. I hated how our conversation ended Monday night after Leo left. So, I…”
I shouldn’t be calling Willa. That truth plays on repeat in my mind, but I dial her number anyway.
“You have the most uncanny sense of timing,” Willa answers with a breathless laugh. “I just got Briar down for her nap, which is harder and harder to do these days.”
“Awww, don’t tell me that. I don’t want to be reminded how fast they’re growing up.”
“Then maybe you and that brother of mine should take a few days and fly up here for a visit. I’m not happy he stole you away from Burlington over the holidays before we could see you.”
“Me either, but it was worth it.”
“I can’t tell you how happy I am for you two. He was so nervous at Christmas. He second-guessed everything. I think he’d convinced himself that he was on his way to spend a weekend in Alaska alone by the time he left us in Kissimmee.”
Picturing a nervous Devin somehow lessens my guilt for calling Willa. As though knowing just how much he wants us to work gives me the right to go behind his back for answers he won’t give.
“I need to ask you something.” I glance around the deli’s patio, gathering courage. “Does he talk about Tara with you?”
Silence.
“I’m not asking out of idle curiosity. You’re his sister, Willa. You know him. He’s gone to therapy to work through things, but I still think he has this idea in his head that he has to be this big strong athlete, and if we’re going to have a future together, I need him to be honest with me.”
“Is that why you don’t want to move in with him? You think he’s hiding something?”
How hypocritical. Devin got mad at me for using Leo as a sounding board. For calling Dad and Sharon, but he’s evidently told Willa about our housing issue. “It’s not that I don’t want to live with him. I’m just scared.”
“Scared of what, Nov? My brother will love you from this life until the next. He would never hurt you.”
“God! Don’t you think I know that?” I shift in my seat, frustrated. “There is nothing Devin won’t do for me and nothing I won’t do for him. I promise you that, but every time her name comes up, he shuts down.”
“Can you blame him?”
“Of course not.” Sighing, I massage my aching heart. “Tara Green did unspeakable things. She’s left a mark on him that will never fade. Every time we’re together I worry that I’m hurting him or stirring up a repressed memory. That somehow…” I choke on the words I never expected to say.
“Oh, Nova.” Willa soothes. “Don’t do that to yourself.”
“I can’t help it. He’s trying to hold it together, but ever since your mom called about them releasing her from the facility, he’s been tense. And this is just a temporary release. What happens if her hearing goes her way and she’s released permanently?” I choke on a cry.
“We talked about your dad, too. And I’m sorry. God, I’m so sorry, Dev.”
“You gave that reporter everything. Our names. All the clues that some woman harmed me, that she’s in a facility.” I shove my hands into my hair, yanking the strands. “You practically dared the guy to look into my life, Nov.”
Her shoulders curl in, tears dripping off her chin, but I can’t look at her. Not right now.
Moving toward the kitchen island, I brace myself on the counter’s edge. “You had a conversation about the woman who molested me in public!”
“I was worried about you. I didn’t realize anyone around me was listening. I was just eating lunch outside at Toasted, and… I shouldn’t have. I know that. But you won’t talk to me about her, and I know it’s killing you.”
