Page 72 of Everything We Found

“Infinitely. Yet somehow, here we are.”

“Here we are,” she echoed, meeting his gaze. Ten years? Try twenty-five. He’d been longing for her for a quarter century. And she’d spent every one of those years convinced she was the kind of woman men eventually left.

His eyes dipped behind her. “Food’s burning.”

“Oh, crap.” Nadia waved the spatula, dispersing the smoke. She turned on the vent.

“You trying to burn my house down?” Cammy asked from the doorway. She wore a navy-blue terrycloth robe tied over flannel pajamas.

“She’s attempting to cook us breakfast.”

“Thomas is distracting me.” She defended her lack of practice in the kitchen.

“Sorry if we woke you, Cammy.”

“You didn’t wake me. My phone did.” She showed them the device in her hand. “Got an update. Kane Mitchell’s been apprehended.”

22

NADIA

EIGHT YEARS AGO

Ian had called Nadia hours ago to let her know Aimee was flying home today, alone. He’d been distressed about her, seeming troubled on the phone. He wasn’t flying back with her, but she also wasn’t bringing James home. Nadia had offered to pick her up at the airport, but now that she was here? She couldn’t make herself get out of her car, her body betraying her with violent shudders.

Aimee’s plane had landed fifteen minutes ago, but the weight of the secret she’d been carrying kept her stuck in the driver’s seat. Aimee didn’t know she was here. She wasn’t expecting her. Nadia should just go home. Pretend she never came. She could tell Ian something came up. It would be much simpler. So much easier to avoid her than telling her the truth, which she deserved to know.

Gawd!She buried her face in her hands. Aimee had thought James was dead. She tried to move on. Nadia pushed her to move on. Watched her grieve. Comforted her. Steered her towards Ian. And all the while, she knew! She knew he was alive. What kind of friend was she?

A shitty one. Someone who didn’t deserve Aimee’s love and respect.

Nadia should tell her. It was the right thing to do.

But what then? Aimee would never forgive her. She might not even want to know. Ian hadn’t said much on the phone, but what if she’d finally found some peace?

Then Nadia couldn’t tell her.

She tapped her fingers on the steering wheel and bounced her leg. She glanced repeatedly at the terminal, her stomach in a twisted knot.

“I hate myself.” Agonizing over this solved nothing, and sitting there was making her sick.

She wasn’t a coward. But Aimee was practically family.

A dull ache had settled behind her eyes. Nadia would weigh Aimee’s mood, then she’d decide whether to tell her.

Decision made, she left the car.

Inside baggage claim, she found Aimee’s flight’s carousel on the monitor and reached her just as she hauled her luggage off the track. Aimee turned and bumped into her, nudging them off balance. Nadia grabbed both her shoulders as Aimee looked at her in surprise.

“Welcome back.” Nadia pulled her in for a tight hug. It was really good to see her. As excruciating as it’d been keeping Thomas’s secret, she’d been so worried for her friend.

“How—”

“Ian called me.” Nadia wrapped an arm around her waist. “Come, let’s get you home. You look like shit,” she said because that was something Aimee would expect her to say. Act normal. Say normal things. Pretend she hadn’t possessed the knowledge that could have ended her suffering months ago and maybe, she could bear living with this secret for the rest of their lives.

But Aimee did look like shit. Her curls cascaded in chaotic beauty and the dark crescents under her blue eyes were a starkcontrast to her sunburned cheeks. She walked like she hadn’t slept in days as they made their way to Nadia’s car, her feet dragging with her roller case.

“Gee, thanks.” Aimee grimaced and Nadia immediately felt sorry for saying anything at all.