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It felt like she’d punched me right in the gut and clawed out my insides. She was right. I had promised that. “I’m sorry,” I said, feeling weak to my very bones.
She let out a breath. She looked between me and Winnie, who was frozen up against the kitchen cabinets, her bagel totally forgotten in the toaster.
“I can’t stay here anymore,” Lark finally said.
Winnie gasped. “No, please. You have to stay. I’m sorry, too.” She scurried up to Lark, who backed away from her right into a wall. When Lark had nowhere to go, Winnie grabbed for Lark’s hands, squeezing them tight. “Don’t leave me. Please. I promise I’ll tell you the truth about everything.”
Lark tried to pull away, but couldn’t. She shook her head. “No, I can’t. I don’t want to stay here.”
Winnie was almost hyperventilating, her eyes wild and scared. “Where will you go?”
Lark’s face crumpled, and she glanced at me.
My whole body had gone numb, ashamed at the hurt I’d caused her.
“I’ll find somewhere.” Lark’s tone was flat. Lifeless.
“Lark, you can come—”
She held up a hand, silencing me. “I just—I need some time to think, okay? I need some space. From both of you.”
It felt like an iron band was tightening around my chest. “You need to stay safe.”
“I will.”
And then she yanked her hands away from her mother’s grasp and shuffled out from against the wall. Winnie and I both watched, stunned and helpless, as Lark stalked down the hall and slammed her bedroom door closed behind her.
32
Lark
I pulled the floral duvet up to my nose, burrowing deeper into the soft, fluffy pillows.
The four-poster bed was massive, taking up the majority of the little room with the sweet yellow wallpaper with rosebuds on it. I should’ve slept like a baby, but I wasn’t sure I ever drifted off to sleep.
My eyes burned as they darted to the antique clock on the mantel. The fireplace was gorgeous, with the original tilework from the 1800s, but not even that could lift my spirits this morning. It was barely after five in the morning.
I rolled my lips, pinning them between my teeth. After a few more minutes, I decided I’d had enough and tossed the duvet to the side. It was late enough to get out of bed and maybe sneak out of this place before any of the Ramsey family woke up…or showed up. But there was no hotel in town, so here I was.
After the bombshell that was dropped on me about my mother’s lies, I’d left. I couldn’t stay there anymore. Not with her. Not even with Reid.
The thought of his name had a shard of pain piercing my heart. He had known that my mother was lying to me, faking her headaches and ankle injury. At this point, I wasn’t even sure the car accident had been real.
I pushed through the pain and started to get dressed.
I wasn’t shocked that my mother was a liar, but I was shocked that Reid didn’t see the need to tell me. I trusted him with everything that I had, and the fact that he let me down…I wasn’t sure how to process it.
After I slipped on a pair of sneakers, I went to the attached bathroom to brush my hair and teeth. When all that was done, I quietly tiptoed out into the hall.
There was only one place I had thought to stay after leaving my mother’s house. The Ramseys’ bed-and-breakfast. Raleigh had welcomed me with open arms, but there had been worry behind her eyes as she settled me into my room yesterday.
I stilled as I passed by Thea’s old room. The door was closed, and I had the urge to open it and see what it looked like now. The room Raleigh had set me up in last night had once been Fox and August’s, and she had turned it into a sweet space that flowed with the Victorian style of the house.
I wondered whether she had changed Thea’s room, too.
Curiosity burned, but I resisted. This wasn’t the time, and the echoes of my best friend could be found in all other parts of the house. On the wall near the grand staircase were giant photos that Thea had taken of the old house she’d grown up in from different angles and styles. Downstairs in the front living room, more of her work was displayed: photos she’d taken of the scenic views of the river outside of Ember Hollow. Thea was everywhere, if I looked hard enough.
As I descended the staircase, the smell of food met my nose. I stilled on the bottom step, my lips pursing. It smelled like bacon, and my mouth watered.
