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Rafe would’ve been nineteen at the time, and still young, but anger churned in my belly at how he’d handled the situation. The boy I’d known as a kid never would’ve abandoned his sister that way.
What had happened to him?
“Emmy.”
She finally met my gaze again.
“It was harsh, I’ll agree. But it doesn’t sound like he blamed you.”
“Then why wouldn’t he look at me? Or when I tried to hug him, he kept me at an arm’s length and foisted me off on your mom? Because he knew it was my fault! Of course he wouldn’t want to comfort the person who killed our parents.”
“Emmy, you didn’t kill them. I looked more into it, and the guy who hit your parents was four times the legal limit. He was blind drunk and driving so fast no one would’ve been able to swerve around him.”
Even in the dim light, I saw her eyes wet with unshed tears. “Why are you so insistent about this, West?”
“Because it fucking rips my heart in two to see you punishing yourself for something you didn’t do. You were a kid, Emmy, and the asshole who hit your car probably wasn’t far from passing out. As for your brother…”
Something clicked together in my mind, something I hadn’t realized before.
But it made a lot of fucking sense.
“What about my brother?”
“You were going to see him play, weren’t you?”
She frowned. “Yes. It was the first time we could fly to England and see one of his matches in person.”
Fuck.I was even more confident that my hunch was right. But how could I convince her to believe it?
All I could do was voice suspicions. “Maybe Rafe blames himself for what happened.”
“What? No, that’s ridiculous.”
“Just listen for a second, okay? Your dad was driving you guys to the airport to see Rafe. He was the one who asked you guys to visit him in England, right?”
“Yes, but—”
“If he hadn’t asked you guys to come, then you never would’ve been on the road that night and never would’ve been hit by the drunk driver. Think about it—if he felt even a sliver of the guilt you’ve felt over the years, and your roles were reversed, would you have thought it better for him to live with my family than with you, if you blamed yourself for destroying your family as you knew it?”
I expected Emmy to argue. After all, she’d been blaming herself for more than a decade and probably had a web of logic I would never fully understand.
But she merely sat quietly, staring out the window, thinking.
Life was always full of what-ifs, but if only Rafe and Emmy had talked to one another all those years ago, they could’ve avoided years of pain.
Because the more I thought about it, the more my theory about Rafe made sense.
“Change of plans.” I started the car and pulled back on the road.
“You should take me home, West. I’m sorry to cancel our date, but I’m tired.”
“And I will. But we’re going to swing by a drive-thru and grab some food. Then I’ll take you home. If you want me to leave, I can. If you want me to stay, I can do that too. It’ll be up to you.”
As she continued staring out the window, my heart ached for her.
At the same time, I wished I knew how to call Rafe and demand some answers.
After picking up some burgers and curly fries, I drove back to Emmy’s place. She’d turned the radio to some Top 40 station but didn’t look at me.
