Page 41 of From the Embers
I hurried to the door and swung it open. “Hey, what are you doing here? Come in, come in.”
She walked inside and I leaned out, searching the driveway.
“Where are the kids?”
“They’re at home. With Evelyn.” She slid her eyes around the cabin, the front door feeding into the large living area with a bedroom on either side and the small kitchen tucked into the back corner. “I was waiting until nap time. Is Luna asleep?”
“Yeah, I just got her down. Perfect timing.”
“I hope it’s okay that I came. I mean… I know things with us are—”
“Good,” I finished for her. With one arm over her shoulder, I dragged her in for a hug. The messy bun on the top of her head tickled my nose, but damn it felt good to see her. “Me and you, we’re good, Bree. Rob and Jessica’s shit is not ours, okay?”
She tilted her head back, and on any other day, it would have been the cue to let her go. She would have smiled, stepped away, and we’d be nothing more than two friends who had shared an embrace. But now, after all the bullshit and not seeing her for far too long, I just didn’t want to.
So I didn’t.
And neither did she. Instead, she slipped her arms around my waist and peered up at me with tired eyes. “I know, but you wanted space—”
“Not from you. Just from…all the other shit. I needed to work some things out, and I couldn’t do it back at the house.”
“How’s that going for you?”
Fuck me seven ways to Sunday. I had no idea what was happening or why the constant roar in my ears suddenly fell silent, but I’d been at rock bottom long enough to know not to waste time questioning the good or I could miss it altogether. “Better now.”
“Oh, God,” she groaned, resting her forehead on my pec, hiding her face.
It wasn’t exactly what I had been expecting to hear. Although, I didn’t know what I should have anticipated, either, and it sent my brain off like a hamster on a wheel, finally showing up to work. All the gears started spinning in tandem. I’d been so happy to see her that I hadn’t truly considered why she’d driven all that way.
“Wait, why didn’t you bring the kids?”
She sighed. “Eason, we need to talk.”
Four simple words hit me like a brick house. Nothing ever good came from someone saying, “We need to talk.” It was never followed by, “Let’s go out to dinner,” or “We won the lottery.” We need to talk was universal language for I’m about to stir shit up, and if history was any indicator, the universe was going to use a damn blender when stirring my life.
Releasing her, I took a step away, suspicion ricocheting inside me. “Why? What’s going on?”
Her green eyes sparkled in the mid-day sun streaming through the floor-to-ceiling glass windows overlooking the mountains. “I found something on Rob’s phone that I thought you needed to see.”
Relief rained down over me. Thank God. I’d already seen the phone. Worst case, she was going to tell me they’d been together on my birthday or something equally as disgusting.
“What is it?”
“It’s just, they were together a lot longer than you think.”
“Okayyy,” I drawled. “I kinda assumed that when I saw the first text about them switching from a different number.”
Her lips thinned and a stifling sadness filled the air. “Yeah, but it was…a lot longer.” Taking my hand, she covered it with both of hers. “Let’s go sit down, okay?”
If I could build a time machine, I would go back to that moment. I’d laugh and hug her again. Tell her none of it mattered. Rob and Jessica were the past and they should stay there. I’d offer her a beer, insist we go sit on the balcony, and then get lost in the view—and not that of the mountains.
But I didn’t do any of that, and I would regret it for the rest of my life.
Losing my patience, I tugged my hand away. “What the hell is going on? Whatever it is, just say it. You’re freaking me out.”
Chewing on her bottom lip, she stalled. “Eason…”
“Say it,” I ordered.
And then she dealt me the most devastating blow I would ever endure. “I think Luna might be Rob’s daughter.”
BREE
“What the fuck are you talking about?” he thundered, his voice rattling the windows.
That was not how I wanted to tell him. On the four-hour drive, I’d considered every possible way to break that news, but none of them would have been any less crushing. There was no gentle way to take a sledgehammer to Eason’s heart. But he deserved the truth.
When I’d first read the texts, I debated with myself about waiting and telling him when he came home. But if he’d hated Rob and couldn’t stand to be in the space he’d once lived after finding out about the affair, he might have never wanted to come back after hearing the truth. And I wouldn’t have blamed him one bit. The betrayal burned like lava inside me too.
