Page 96 of Always You (A Lilac Bay Novel)

Damn it. Why had I thought it was a good idea to give him a key, anyhow?

I hefted myself up from the couch and went to the door, unlocking it to find him standing there, a bottle of Jack Daniels held up over his face. “Thought you might need this,” he said, lowering the bottle so I could see his face.

I held up my glass of gin and tonic. “I’m way ahead of you.”

The cold emptiness from earlier was gone, replaced with something much worse. Pity.

“Can I come in?”

“Be my guest.” I stepped aside so he could come into the apartment. Gordie shot out into the living room the second he sensed Andrew’s presence.

“Hello, Mr. Howe,” Andrew said, picking up the cat with his free hand and heading into the kitchen. He reappeared a moment later with a second glass and the bottle of gin. “I would have thought you’d want the whiskey,” I said, but he shook his head.

“Whiskey can be our dessert.”

“So we’re going full on bender, huh?”

He shrugged. “Seems like the thing to do.”

He was acting normal, acting like nothing had ever happened, and the relief hit me like a punch to the gut. Maybe we would be okay. I sank into the couch, holding out my glass for refill, feeling slightly better than I had an hour ago.

“So,” Andrew said, looking at me over his glass. “This blows.”

I laughed. “Yeah. I think that about covers it.”

“I’m really sorry, Riley.”

“What are you sorry for? You did everything you could to keep us in this thing.” I shook my head, the tears I’d wanted to cry since our encounter in the hall burning my eyes. “You were such a huge help, Andrew. We wouldn’t have gotten half as far without you.” I shook my head, trying to keep from crying. “I’m sorry I let you down.”

“Hey.” He set his drink down on a magazine on the coffee table and faced me. “Riley, this isn’t your fault.”

“I was in charge, Andrew. It was my project. That means the responsibility lies with me.”

“You can’t control the way that people vote. You did everything you possibly could. Everyone on this island is grateful for your work.”

Okay, now I really was going to cry. A tear trickled down my face. “They shouldn’t be. I could have done better. I could have—”

“Riley, stop it.” He reached out and took my hands. “Please. You did everything right. You put on a great show. You should have no regrets.”

“My mom left.” I don’t know where the words came from but it suddenly seemed like the most important thing for him to know. “She went to my Aunt Lynn to start rehab.”

He watched me carefully. “That’s a good thing, right?”

“She didn’t even call me, Andrew. She told Rebecca, and not me. After all this time, everything I tried to do for her, moving back here, keeping an eye on things, getting her out of trouble—she still can’t stand me. She couldn’t even manage to talk to me. She hates me.”

“She doesn’t hate you.”

“Well, she certainly doesn’t want anything to do with me.”

“That’s not your fault.”

“You said I couldn’t stand to fail—but Andrew, you don’t understand. I’ve been failing at everything.” I was really crying now, the tears coming too fast to try to stop. “The show. My mom. Keeping Rebecca out of Mom’s drama. You.”

“You have never failed with me, Riley. Stop talking like this, none of it is true.”

“You were so angry,” I whispered. “And you were right, I shouldn’t have been worrying about Chase. I had too much going on to be distracted by him.”

“That’s ridiculous,” he said firmly. “Riley, listen to me. You didn’t do anything wrong. There’s nothing wrong with you going on a couple dates. I was an asshole about it, but that had nothing to do with you. It was my own stuff.”