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“And then I heard everything going on in your bedroom this morning,” she continues. “This wasn’t some random crime that you stumbled into.” She heard everything and ignored my cry for help. She didn’t even call for help. She left me.
“I did not ask for this. I didn’t create this situation. Are you accusing me of instigating something?” The pain of being let down by my friend is replaced by anger as I question how long she would have stood by this morning if things had gotten any worse.
“You didn’t know who Lara Smith was when you took the job?”
“No, Willa. How can you question me after?—”
“After slowly coming to terms with how little I seem to know about you, it isn’t hard. Look, I’ve been your friend, and by your side when you needed someone—to help you through?—”
“What? Help me through what?”
Willa takes a step backward and shakes her head as if she’d like to redact what she just said.
“That’s not what I meant.”
“But it’s what you said. You wanted to help me? That’s why you live with me? What exactly do I need help with?” My cheeks and neck burn as I stare at her downcast gaze.
“Haley, stop. You’re taking everything I say completely out of context.”
“Am I? Why did you really stay here this summer rather than go home like you were planning?” She lives a few hours away, still within driving distance, but no one changes their mind that quickly about where they’ll be living. She has Jerry as an excuse because no one likes a long-distance relationship. Instead, she claimed it was because she didn’t want me to be alone while taking a new job.
“I didn’t want you to be alone. I told you that.”
“But why?”
Her brows furrow like she’s confused. “Aren’t we friends?” We’ve been best friends for years, which is why I’m questioning every word she’s saying right now.
“Yes, we’re friends, Willa. And whatever freaked you out this morning, I’m sorry for making you feel like you had to lock yourself in your bedroom and not respond when I was shouting your name. Weren’t you concerned Liam might have hurt me or something after everything you must have heard? Why didn’t you at least call the police—do anything?” I’m trying hard to keep my outrage at bay but seriously, was any of this necessary? If anything, I needed a friend, and no one was there.
“Some things are too much, even for me sometimes, and this?—”
“It’s over.”
“It’s not over,” she argues, “so what if they found the baby in Liam’s apartment. Nothing is cut and dry. You should know that better than anyone after all this.”
She really did hear everything this morning. “Do you think he’s guilty?” I hate that we’re talking about Liam. I hate that I fell for him and fell into a trap. I’m smarter than that.
“No, I think his sister, Lara, needs serious help. I could be convinced he was dragged into this just as unknowingly as you were—if it was in fact, unknowingly.”
Her statement is a question, but an accusatory one.
“I did not know who the Smith family was when I took the job. I grew up next to a Larissa Hoyt who has apparently undergone every available cosmetic procedure known to man! Seriously.”
Willa chuckles, a hint that she’s lightening up. “I don’t want to be scared to open the front door or walk into the apartmentanymore. Jerry has already suggested I come stay with him, but I don’t want to leave you here alone to deal with all of this.”
“I don’t want to be here either,” I say. “I’m terrified of who will show up at our door next. I just—I don’t know where to go or what to do.”
She nods her head and scratches at the back of her neck. “Well, Jerry is on his way over. I’ll tell him I want you to come with us to his place until we figure out what to do.”
“I’m sure he knows you were just hiding from me,” I say. I can only imagine what she told him after hearing everything between Liam and me. There’s no way he’ll want me to come back to his apartment with them.
“I’ll explain everything when he gets here. He’ll understand,” Willa says, her eyes large and glossy.
No, he won’t.
FORTY-NINE
THURSDAY, JUNE 22ND 1:00 PM
