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My head swivels in his direction and I gape at him.
“You’re a fucking fool, Ethan. For whatever you did to have Paige and Austyn so incensed, to have Fallon so unwilling to return to Kensington to heal?—”
His words stop my forward momentum. I croak out, “She won’t come back?”
He shakes his head. “I asked Paige if getting away from Seven Virtues would be better for her for a little while. Apparently, she and Austyn thought the same thing. Fallon turned them down flat. So congratulations, brother. Whatever you did to her crushed her at the absolute worst moment in time.”
“I know.” My voice sounds shredded to my own ears.
In facing the facts, I admit the truth. I was a stupid moron, fucking jealous, and hurt for no reason. I haven’t shared my source of additional income with Fallon, so why should she? We weren’t there yet. Even still, Fallon had reasons—reasons I never took the time to find out about. If she didn’t come to me, there must have been a reason.
Considering the moment I made her mine, to me everything I have—especially my heart—became hers. She and I obviously need to talk about more than just my apology for my asinine behavior.
The need to get to Fallon as fast as possible is pressing at me. Hard.
To beg, to apologize. To give her a safe place to grieve.
And when the time is right, to ask for another chance.
CHAPTER SIXTY-ONE
SEVEN VIRTUES, NORTH CAROLINA
There is no wrong way to grieve, just as there is no wrong way to live. So long as you honor the person in a way that’s healthy.
—Beautiful Today
I’m FaceTiming Austyn while cleaning out my mother’s kitchen. “So, he knows.”
“He knows and from all accounts, he’s flying to you as fast as a commercial airline will get him there.”
The surge of bitterness and resentment that rises through me almost overcomes the sadness that’s become my constant shadow. “Why bother?”
“I think you should hear it from him.”
“You’re assuming I don’t take Mama’s cast iron skillet and brain him with it.” I heft up the item in question and swing it like a tennis racket with a two-handed forehand to show Austyn.
“Now, why would you contaminate something that means so much to you?”
“I’m questioning whether a lot of things mean anything to me right now.” I lift the phone to show her the stacks upon stacks of Tupperware that are still in their original boxes. “I’m beginning to think my mother’s kitchen cabinets are like Mooney’s magical trunk in Harry Potter.”
Austyn’s eyes bulge. “One…two…six? Six boxes? Are you certain she wasn’t selling it?”
I let my legs give out and sit down on the kitchen tile to rest my back against the dishwasher. “No. Not entirely. I haven’t hit the office yet. When I do, I’ll let you know for certain.”
“Find anything interesting?” Austyn asks.
I stretch my arms high above my head and bend forward until my forehead touches the floor. “Yep.”
“Like what?”
“Her black box.”
“Her what?”
I lift myself up and prop up on my elbows. “Remember when you and I were in college and we swore to each other that if the other one died, no one was allowed into our dorm room until…”
Austyn’s face is appropriately horrified. “No!”