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“Drive first,” I blurt out. “I’ll explain later.”

“Okay, you’re actually scaring me now.”

Nina reverses out of the driveway, and my pulse pounds until I can no longer see the house. I bury my head in my hands and groan.

“What the fuck, Clem?”

“Do you remember the night we went out for my birthday?” I ask, my head still lowered, my voice a little muffled.

“Yeah,” she drawls. “I left and you stayed.”

“That woman I stayed with...”

“And?” She huffs. “That woman you stayed with what? You’re killing me here.”

I turn my head to face her, and she alternates between concentrating on the road in front of her and looking at me expectantly.

“She’s Raine’s mom,” I deadpan.

The car is silent, and after all that build up, her reaction is somewhat disappointing. “Are you going to say anything?”

She uncurls a lone finger from the steering wheel and holds it up. “Please wait.”

Seconds roll into minutes, and just before I open my mouth to question her, she pulls the car over and puts it into park. Sitting up, I look outside, noting there’s absolutely nothing recognizable about the house we’re parked in front of.

“Where are we?” I ask.

“I don’t know,” Nina screeches before backhanding my shoulder. “How dare you drop a bomb like that while I’m driving?” She gestures to the random house. “I had to find a place to stop so I could freak the fuck out.”

“Okay then,” I say on an exhale. “Let’s do this again.”

I clear my throat. “Do you remember the woman from the club, when we went out for my birthday?”

She nods. “Yes.”

“She’s Raine’s mom,” I say again.

I brace myself for her reaction, but she’s just staring at me, not a single sound coming out of her mouth.

“Nina,” I whine. “Say something.”

“There are no words, Clem.” She just stares at me in disbelief. “Like how in the fuck did this happen? What are the chances? I mean, Raine’s mom? Really? Does Raine know? What did she say when she saw you in her house?”

“I can’t.” I shake my head from side to side, my chest heavy. “I can’t do this, Nina,” I say, completely bypassing her questions. “Not with everything else going on.”

Nina unfastens her seat belt and stretches herself over the middle console till her arms are wrapped around my neck. I lean into her and she kisses my cheek before our heads are resting against one another. “Let’s just do one day at a time, okay? The thing with Raine’s mom happened. You can’t turn back the clock, and it’s not like it’s going to happen again.”

If she’s waiting for my confirmation or a rebuttal of any kind, she isn’t going to get it. Because while tonight was filled with too much shock to think straight, I don’t know if being Raine’s mother is enough for me to turn down a repeat.

I press my hand over the necklace that secretly sits tucked under my shirt, maybe I was mesmerized by the woman or the act of beingwitha woman, but either way, it unlocked a piece of me that I don’t want to ignore. Ican’tignore.

And now that she’s no longer a memory I occasionally conjure up, I don’t know how I can resist that either. Of course, there’s the precarious issue of Raine being her daughter and one of my closest friends.

Raine is mature; she’s unconventional and progressive. She’s unique, empathetic, and wise beyond her years, but she is still also only human. A human with feelings, feelings that hold weight, feelings that are valid and important, feelings that I’m certain neither Zara nor I want to be the one to hurt.

“Clem,” Nina says, grabbing my hand and squeezing my fingers. “Tell me you know it can’t happen again.”

“I know it can’t happen again,” I repeat.