Page 83 of Ruined

That made sense. Nora knew what was going on, but didn’t understand the severity of the situation, much like one would expect from a young adult.

“Dramatic?” I asked.

“Let me tell you about how dramatic that woman can be,” she said. “She wouldn’t let me join the dance team because she was afraid I would turn out like Mama and her. As if the stage was a literal death sentence for me.”

I could see Haley acting like that. “Do you know what your mother did for a living?”

“Well, she worked at the Dahlia District too. And a strip club, right?”

There it was again: complete transparency. Perhaps the honesty was to protect Nora from that life, to explain to her how Haley made the difficult decisions she had to make.

I was glad that Haley was honest with her sister. It proved, yet again, why I should trust her.

“Did you ever leave the academy?” I asked.

“Whoa. So many questions, Sherlock.” She raised a brow. “We went to a restaurant for Christmas when I was ten years old, but then she got freaked, and we never went again.”

It must have hurt to take on that much pressure and responsibility at such a young age. To go from being a normal teenager with hopes and dreams, to mothering your kid sister in a few days.

I would never underestimate what Haley was capable of again.

“She tells you everything,” I said.

“You seem surprised.” She laughed. “She even told me about you. Mr. Lucas Conway, the man who she finally kissed. Her first date too. The reason I’m even being let out of the academy in the first place.” She handed me the wrapper for the granola bar. “Where do rich people keep their trash cans?”

“I assume where everyone keeps their trash cans.” She raised a brow, glancing around, and I took the wrapper and crumpled it in my hand. “She told you about me?”

“Yeah. She said she was in love with you.”

The sun had risen by now. A bird chirped, and the slosh of the water on the sand serenaded us. I didn’t mind the company; in fact, Nora amused me. She was so different from her sister.

But it would be agony to wait for Haley. I hoped that Haley was okay. Wherever she was.

I could admit it then. To Nora. “I’m in love with your sister too.”