Page 77 of Everything We Found

“I usually don’t, but Grace has to take her kid in for a doctor appointment this morning. I’m filling in for her. How are you, given everything? Are you still safe? I haven’t read the news yet, so I don’t know if anything else has happened.”

Nadia leaned against the porch rail. She picked at the peeling paint. “I’m fine for now.”

In the background on Aimee’s end of the line, she heard the usual noise that came with getting a café ready to open at 7:00 a.m.—the clatter of chairs being arranged on the floor. The beeping of equipment being turned on.

“I tried reaching James,” Aimee said as she worked. “I left a message and he hasn’t called back. I’m not surprised. From what Nick told me, James can barely stand being in the same room as Thomas. He hates his brother. More than I hate him, which is saying something. But for you—and only you because I’m worried sick about you—I’ll keep trying. If something happens to you because of him?—”

“I like him,” Nadia interjected, needing Aimee to understand her depth of feelings for this man. “Thomas. I like him a lot. Like, I seriously care about him.”

Aimee’s end of the line went quiet and Nadia could easily picture her announcement had her friend frozen in place.

“We’re talking about the same Thomas here?”

“I really care for him, Aimee. I always have. I know how you feel about him, and I know you once told me you wouldn’t interfere if I dated him even though I knew you wouldn’t like it one bit which is why I hadn’t said anything before. But I can’t hide this from you anymore. There is something I have to do and for you to understand why, you need to understand how strongly I feel for him.” Nadia pressed her fingers to her temple. How did she explain that Thomas lived in her chest like a second heartbeat? She’d tried to hate him for making her keep this secret, but every time she saw him shoulder another burden alone, another piece of her heart fractured in his direction.

“When Dad left,” she said, voice shaking, “everyone told me it would make me stronger, more independent. And it did. But it also made me believe that loving someone meant giving them the power to destroy me. Thomas… he’s already done that. But not in the way Dad did. He destroyed the walls I built. And I can’t stand that he did so. That despite everything—the lies, the secrets, the impossible position he’s put me in—I can’t stop myself from?—”

“You’re scaring me, Nadia,” Aimee interjected.

“Thomas and I know each other a lot better than I’ve been letting on. I never told you or Kristen how deep our friendship went. Not even my mom knows.”

“Exactly how deep would you say it is?”

“I don’t mean deep. That’s the wrong way to describe it.” She massaged the dull ache in her forehead. She was tired and famished, and she wasn’t thinking straight.

“How would you describe it?” Aimee was getting upset.

“Kristen and Nick were born soulmates. You had James, and I had… There were a lot of times when it was just me and Thomas. You weren’t around but he was. And when he faked James’s death?—”

She stopped, realizing her mistake as soon as she’d spoken the words. Leaden dread filled her body.

“Nadia?” There was a quiver in Aimee’s voice.

“Nothing.” She squeezed her eyes shut, waiting for the inevitable other shoe to drop. She was going to throw up.

“Did you know about James?”

“Why would you say that?” Nadia tried to backpedal. Dread pounded a fast rhythm against her chest.

Dead silence greeted her on Aimee’s end of the line. Then a whisper.

“Youknew?”

“Aimee.” She spoke the name with a tinge of defeat, her mouth desert-dry. She kicked the porch rail, hating on herself for spilling her secret. At the worst possible time, too. Right before she was going to disappear on her.

“My god! You knew! How could you do that to me?”

“I didn’t have a choice.”

“You did. You chose not to tell me. For ten years!”

“Aimee, please. Try to understand. I never meant to hurt you.”

“You never meant to tell me!” Aimee was shouting now.

“You didn’t want to know. You yourself told me you didn’t want to know the full story?—”

“Don’t you dare. Don’t you dare throw that back at me. That was after I found James—on my own. After I’d suffered for almost two years believing he was dead.”