Page 21

“Do what?” Monti sounded more confused now than ever before.

“Why would you ever be in a relationship with someone as surrounded by abuse as we were?” The question was out there, though Fallon was fairly certain she hadn’t asked it in a way that Monti would understand. She was never very good at that.

“Oh.” Monti’s voice dropped.

A pregnant pause where neither of them said anything stole over the car, and the silence was so loud that it was nearly painful.

“For a long, long time, I never wanted to give anyone that kind of power. I never wanted love, even yours, because to me that meant I was a burden, that you would suffer because of who I was, and I couldn’t have that anymore.”

Fallon sucked in a sharp breath. She had never realized Monti felt like that, that her pulling back was all because she didn’t want to hurt or cause worry. Pulling off the highway, Fallon parked in a gas station parking lot and stared at the brick wall in front of her.

“But now?”

“Now I still struggle with that.” Monti half-laughed. “But I think I’m getting better at it, don’t you?”

Fallon wasn’t sure what to say to that. Had Monti been around more? Yes. But she’d always just chalked that up to her relationship with Athena, not because Monti was trying to make changes. Relaxing her shoulders, Fallon settled into her seat.

“What Mom and Dad did fucked us up, Fallon. I just decided to stop giving them the power to continue doing that decades after their death.”

That did make sense. But Fallon still hated that she might ever be in a situation where she could become even more like her mom. Growing up, everyone said she looked so much like her, insisted that Fallon was her mom in miniature form. It had never gotten easier. And she wouldn’t make the same mistakes.

“Thanks. I’ll uh… talk to you soon.”

“We should get dinner sometime. Just you and me.”

“Yeah.” Fallon tried to swallow the lump in her throat this time, but she didn’t quite manage it and her voice came out rougher than expected. “Yeah, let’s do that.”

“See you soon, Sis.”

Fallon ended the call, the tears that had been in her eyes finally falling freely down her cheeks. The release valve had opened, and she wasn’t going to manage to crank it closed for a while. Closing her eyes and resting her forehead on the steering wheel, Fallon let the sobs rack through her body and hold her in their grasp.

She’d pull herself together in a few minutes.

That was all she needed.

eight

“What’s this?” Fallon’s voice was sharp as always.

The smooth black box came out of Savannah’s purse exactly as she’d planned, and she set it onto Fallon’s desk right in front of her. They’d barely talked since that night, but she felt there was more apology needed after Forrest had spoiled their fun.

The box was small enough that Savannah had been able to slip it into her largest purse, which she was glad about. She didn’t want to make a big deal over this. Well, she did, but not in the show of a gift. She wanted to make sure that Fallon knew how sorry she was for the upset.

“A gift, along with yet another apology.” Why did she keep having to apologize? It was like she messed everything up in the relationship that wasn’t even a relationship. Three bad half-meetups counted as a disaster that shouldn’t be tried again, right? Surely Fallon would tell her to get lost before she agreed to make time for her again.

“Another apology?” Fallon raised an eyebrow, flicking her gaze from the box to Savannah. “What do you have to apologize for that you haven’t already apologized for?”

“Forrest. Again.” Savannah rolled her eyes, embarrassment sweeping over her. She wished that could stop, but even gettingdivorced from the asshat hadn’t managed to put that to rest. He still put her in situations that she hated, ones that definitely pushed the boundaries of what she was comfortable with. “He interrupted our night, you left, and I…” Savannah stopped. She what? She was sad that Fallon had left? Happy that Fallon hadn’t forced awkward conversations with Brinley? Was ecstatic that for once someone actually defended her?

Fallon cocked her head to the side, curiosity lining those stunningly dark eyes.

“I was embarrassed.”

“No reason to be embarrassed. You weren’t the one who made a fool of themselves.”

“I did by marrying him.” That’s what it really was, wasn’t it?

Fallon hummed, moving her fingers across the box. “You really need to stop bringing me things.”