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Before he asked, he took a few steps backward. “First I need to know… How old are you exactly?”
“According to my birth certificate, I’m twenty-one. Legal.”
“Oh, Jesus Christ.” Even in the dark, it was easy to see how quickly he’d paled. He was damn near transparent, like a ghost. He repeated back my reply in a stumble. “Twenty-one?”
“Yep.” I popped the p sound. “What else you got for me?” I sensed from his continued pacing that the puzzle pieces were falling into place. And quickly at that. He was smart.
“Is your half sister… I mean, it makes sense with your brother’s name and all… Everest…” He murmured more than flat-out asking. “Jesus, is your sister Cedar? Is that why she was so pissed suddenly? Did you tell her about this? Is Frank her father too?”
I knew where the line of questioning was going to lead – heartache road. Knowing that, I wrapped my arms around my chest and put some distance between us.
“Yes, she’s my half-sister. Frank, my father, is also hers.”
Before I could explain, he put his hand up, muttering and shaking his head. “Holy shit, Lucy was bang on.” He straightened up, blinking furiously. “I should’ve believed everything she told me because she’s never been wrong, but it was so out of left field it didn’t make sense.”
“Lucy? Who’s she again?”
“My ex-girlfriend. She’s a psychic.”
“So what?”
He spun around, stopping to stare in my direction. “Oh my god. She said…” He mumbled. “Fifteen years apart, strange world…” With the hardest, most penetrating glare I’ve ever felt, he squeezed his lips together and breathed heavily. “Your birth name isn’t Aspen, is it?”
Chapter Thirteen
My heart pounded. No one knew my birth name, aside from the members of the commune. Away from that group, I struck out on my own as Libby. Sylvia didn’t know my birth name, nor did Erin or any of my friends. How in the hell had Landon found that out?
Landon stormed around in circles. Off the gravel path and onto the grass, only to loop back toward me, mouth open, questions hovering but nothing coming out. Finally, on the third pass, he stopped.
“She said I’d fall for and be hoodwinked by an aspen. I thought she was out to lunch, but she knew. Lucy knew.” Violently, he swept his hands through his hair.
In the distance, the thunder rolled.
“Let me guess? I was the god-damn fool you went through. It’s not that you weren’t into relationships.” He air-quoted the last three words. “It’s that you were using me to get to her, am I right?” His voice pitched. “Were you using me?”
“A little, at first.”
“God damn. Are you fucking kidding me? All this time? None of it was real?”
I shrugged. I wanted to placate him and say all the things I thought he wanted to hear, and despite the feelings I did have for him, it wasn’t right. The feelings were incorrect, misplaced, and the timing sucked big time. I needed to sit in silence and work out the emotions, to try and figure out how to move out of this crushing emotional state.
“Wow.” He tossed his hands in the air and spun around. “Good luck with your future. We’re so over.”
“I can’t lose something I never had. I told you upfront I wasn’t into relationships.”
He stormed over and pointed a finger in my face. “Guess they didn’t teach you a goddamn thing where you grew up. Because people matter, Libby. Feelings matter. Thanks for nothing.”
“Please don’t tell Cedar about this. She should hear it from me and her family.”
“You’re incredible. And you’re not her family. You’re nothing to her. Or me. Stay away from her. Far away.”
He stormed away, leaving me all alone. Guess I was walking home after all.
Once I was home, I texted Everest.
The cat’s out of the bag. She knows. For now we’ll wait.
He didn’t bother writing back, instead, the phone rang. But I didn’t want to answer, too afraid of speaking for fear I’d burst into a sobbing, blubbering mess.
