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Carefully, we climbed up the stairs and into her room. She threw off her dress and then fell into bed while I turned to give her some sense of privacy.
“Get some sleep, princess,” I said softly.
“Stay.”
“You know I’ll be here in the morning.”
“But I want you herenow.”
I sighed, but I knew I wanted to be with her just as much as she wanted to be with me. I was determined to give her space, especially after I’d annoyed her this morning, but it seemed like she was already past it. “Fine. I’ll go get changed and be back.”
Mollie was drifting in and out by the time I opened the door, but the second I climbed into bed and wrapped my arms around her, her breathing evened out, and she was sound asleep.
And I followed her within minutes.
Both Jackie and Henry sent me screenshots of the Facebook group at six the next morning, but only Jackie sent me some ofthe comments. I knew even without seeing them that people were pissed.
And now, so was I.
Kerry had made it clear who she’d found out from, and I didn’t understand how this could have happened. Mollie had been on my side since the day she got here. Why would she tell Kerry, the woman who loved to talk about me behind my back, the worst thing that was happening to me?
Now everything was ruined.
I only had the few letters I did. And now, because of what Kerry was saying, they all thought I only cared about them when I needed something from them. And I could admit that it looked that way, but I also knew that it had been nice feeling like a part of this town for once.
That hadn’t lasted for long.
As Mollie came downstairs, my entire body tightened.
“I couldn’t even sleep in because of this headache,” she muttered. “I’m never drinking again.”
“Probably a good idea,” I said. My voice was short, and she froze when she heard it.
“What’s wrong?”
I wanted to snap at her. I wanted to tell her just how wrong she was for tellingKerry,of all people, what was going on.
“Take some ibuprofen.” I put the pill bottle on the counter before walking off, jaw still clenched. I needed to get work done and be away from her before I said something I would regret while she was still hungover.
I stayed outside for as long as I could, but she eventually found me while I washed eggs.
“Please tell me you’re not mad because I went out last night. I thought you said you wouldn’t try to keep me from friends.”
I stopped, and all of the tension I was trying to avoid came rushing back. “You really think that’s what I’m mad about?”
“It’s the only thing I could have possibly done.”
“It’s not, actually.” I pulled out my phone and handed it to her.
Mollie’s eyes went wide.
“Shit.”
“Yeah, that’s one word for it.”
She screwed her eyes shut. “A lot of last night is blurry. I remember her talking to me and asking questions ...” She trailed off. “Fuck, I told her everything.”
“And now everyone knows.”