Page 59 of On My Side (Quiblings #3)

Audrey

Playlist: Crooked Smile | The Weepies, Deb Talan, Steve Tannen

The next morning, I insist Ren go to work, and Piper insists I go to the inn.

“You’re making me claustrophobic!” she whines, burrowing beneath her weighted blanket on the couch.

I remind myself she needs space as I smile at Caroline, one of our front desk employees, when I walk in.

“How was the conference thing-a-mabob?” she asks when she sees me approaching, pausing her scroll to place her phone face down on the desk.

My stomach flips. “Good. I had to leave earlier than planned, but I’m glad I went.”

Caroline grins. “Hell, yeah. We already got a booking from a guest who found you on their website.”

“That’s great,” I reply, grabbing a stack of mail and turning toward my office.

“Oh, also,” Caroline calls. “There's a guest who checked in yesterday and specifically asked to speak to you. Said she was an old friend of yours.”

I turn and stare at her in confusion. Old friend? I don’t have old friends. “Who is it?”

Caroline clicks her mouse until she finds the booking. “Sidney Prescott.”

“Sidney Prescott, like… Neve Campbell’s character in Scream ?” I don’t think I’ve ever been more confused in my life.

Caroline picks her phone up and shrugs. “I guess?”

I shake my head in bewilderment. “You can tell her to come to my office if she wants to see me.”

I’m making my way through my bottomless email inbox when Caroline knocks on my open office door twenty minutes later.

“Boss lady, Ms. Prescott is here.” Caroline steps to the side, and I choke on my coffee.

“Thank you,” Kat Holt says quietly. Caroline closes the office door and Kat peers at me, our eyes meeting. There are dark circles rimming her dark brown eyes, and she’s wearing sweatpants. Her appearance reminds me of myself when I’m depressed.

“Kat, I… hi,” I stammer, slapping my chest to clear my airway. “What are you doing here?”

“Can I sit?” she asks, motioning to the chair across from my desk with her hand.

I nod, and watch as she flops into the chair. I never thought I’d see the day where Kat did anything that could be described as “flopping.”

We sit in an uncomfortable silence until she speaks again. “I know you don’t want me here, but I didn’t know where else to go,” she says, barely audible as she stares at her hands in her lap.

“You have like the biggest family in the world,” I say, dumbfounded.

She shakes her head. “They’d laugh at me.”

“Respectfully, what the hell is going on?”

“I left Steve,” she blurts out, lifting her head, eyes watery. “I can’t do it anymore. I can’t be his wife, can’t be who they want me to be."

“Who’s ‘they’?” I’m surprised I can get the words out, honestly. I’m shocked by her revelation.

“My parents. God, my whole family. I did everything I was supposed to. Got married, got my law degree, and I think it broke me. My parents will be so disappointed, and divorce is a sin, and my siblings will laugh at me because they’ve always hated Steve, and they hate me, and, god, I don’t blame them. I hate me, too.”

I hand Kat a tissue as her voice cracks, tears escaping from her eyes. “I can’t speak for the rest of your family, but I know for a fact Ren doesn’t hate you,” I say softly. “He loves you.”

She shakes her head. “He wouldn’t understand. No one would… only you.”

I furrow my brow. “Kat, we’re not friends. We haven’t been friends in well over a decade. Why do you think I’d understand you over your family?”

“Because you’re the only person I know who was brave enough to do the opposite of what was expected of her. Because I want to be like you. And I think you’re the last person who knew me—like, really, truly knew me—before I became Steve’s.”

My stomach drops. “He hurt you.” It’s not a question, and she knows it.

But still, she shakes her head. “No, he never touched me…”

“Abuse is more than physical harm. He hurt you, emotionally.”

She nods in resignation. “Yeah. We’ve been trying to get pregnant for a few years, but were never able to conceive.

With every negative pregnancy test, he became angrier and more aggressive.

It’s like he married me to use me as an incubator, and when I couldn’t fulfill my purpose, I was worthless to him. ”

I swallow the lump in my throat. “You can stay free of charge as long as you need to,” I promise.

“You’re safe now, okay? But you need to at least tell Ren that you’re here so he can tell your family you’re safe.

No one else needs to know, but I can’t lie to him, and they deserve to at least know you’re safe. ”

She shakes her head. “Okay. But, Audrey, I can’t stay for free.”

“You’re going to tell me Steve doesn’t have access to your finances?” I ask.

“I withdrew cash to pay for my stay.”

I shake my head. “I don’t care. I’m not charging you. You’re going to need money for the divorce.”

“Audrey,” Kat meets my eyes and my stomach sinks when I realize what she’s going to say. “I’m sorry. I’m so, so sorry.”

“I need you to say why,” I say, mouth dry. “You owe me that, at least.”

She nods. “I’m sorry for kissing you. I’m sorry I kissed you and blamed you for it and pushed you away. I’m sorry I didn’t reach out when I heard about the pregnancy, or said anything to you at school.”

The memories replay like a movie. The night we’d been watching Vampire Diaries , laughing and joking around when she’d suddenly cupped my face and planted her mouth on mine.

I was so surprised. She was my best friend… but it felt good. Right. I kissed her back. When she pulled away, she looked at me like I was disgusting. Like she hadn’t initiated the kiss. She demanded I leave and I obliged, too confused and hurt to fight back.

This is the first time we’ve spoken since.

“That was a fucked up thing to do.” I say in response, because honestly? I’d dreamed about saying it to her for sixteen years. “I never would have done that to you, and you know it.”

She winces, but nods. “You’re right. And I don’t have excuses, but I am sorry I did it. I was so scared about what it all meant.”

“What did it all mean?”

“I don’t know,” she admits feebly. “I still haven’t figured it out. I’ve been too busy trying to be the perfect wife, but that obviously didn’t go the way I’d hoped. None of it went the way I hoped.”

“It’s not too late for things to go the way you hope,” I say, thinking about how long it took for me to truly be happy with my life. God, it feels too new to be happy. Too soon. “You just have to open yourself to the possibility.”