Page 50 of Season of the Witch (Toil and Trouble #3)

thirty-five

The secret crossed the Atlantic quicker than any portal.

Tia barely had an hour before her cell started chiming with text after text, call after call. She didn’t bother to look, just let her dress drop to the floor and crawled into bed. Her head ached but worse was her heart. She refused to let a single tear fall.

She lay staring up at the ceiling for who knew how long, going over everything.

When she thought back, she felt like she should’ve seen the subtle shift in Henry.

How he was less embarrassed around her. More purposeful, challenging.

Confident. No more hiding in the music room, worried he’d let her down.

Everything hurt and she burrowed under the covers into the dark. But that didn’t help because now she saw his mouth quirk as he teased her, how his eyes shone with appreciation. How he’d made her feel valued.

He’d really known how to work her. And she was a damned idiot for believing anything that came out of his mouth. Even…

Because I love you!

Another manipulation. Another pretty set of words.

Time passed. She moved from Henry to her parents, who’d resorted to sending mirror messages she ignored. She felt wrung dry, and worse, now everyone knew she was a fraud.

She dozed a bit. When she woke, it was to pounding on her door. For a second, her heart jumped to her throat. She left her bedroom, drifting across the hardwood toward the door. She’d told him they were done but maybe…maybe this time he’d ignored that and come for her.

She wasn’t sure if she was disappointed or relieved when Leah settled that. “Tia, it’s us. Open up.”

Tia marshaled her voice. “I’m fine.”

“Yeah,” Leah scoffed, just as Emma said, “C’mon. We’ll break it down if we have to.”

Tia sighed. She knew her friends; they’d change their address to her hallway before they left.

Leah was through first, barreling into her like a quarterback. Her arms went around Tia’s waist and squeezed. “Why didn’t you tell us?”

Emma shut the door behind them, gaze serious and soft. “How are you?”

Tia avoided their questions with her own. “How did you find out?” She wandered to the couch, where she dropped, pulling her knees up to wrap her arms around them.

Leah followed and sat next to her, bright and festive in her pink gingerbread man sweater. “Gabriel. For a man who doesn’t gossip, he gets it quick enough.”

“And what’re they saying?” Tia wasn’t sure what her friends knew, even though it barely mattered. She’d tell them everything anyway. It wasn’t like she could kill the investment twice.

Cupboards clanked in Tia’s small kitchen as Emma got out cups. “I’m making tea,” she announced. “Any preferences?”

“Not tea?” Leah made a face.

Tia shrugged listlessly. “What’re they saying?” she repeated.

Emma hesitated over the box of tea bags, angling her head around. “That you’re not…” She stopped. “That your dad isn’t…your dad.”

Tia pressed her lips together.

“It’s true.” With a small sound, Emma abandoned the tea, hurrying over and kneeling at Tia’s feet. “T, why didn’t you tell us? When did you find out?”

“Is that it? Is that everything they’re saying?”

Leah glanced at Emma. “Is there more?”

Tia laughed, dry and humorless, and told them everything. They barely moved, barely spoke, except for a lot of blinking and silent curses.

When she got to the part about Henry’s lie, Emma put a hand to her forehead. Tia swore she heard the words, “ Damn it, Henry ,” under her breath.

When Tia finished, Leah exhaled noisily. “Well, hell.”

Emma rocked back on her heels. “I don’t know what to tackle first,” she said finally.

Tia felt hollowed out. She rested her head on the back of the couch. “You and me both.”

“So, you haven’t seen your parents?”

Tia shook her head.

“And Henry…?” Emma stopped herself.

Leah put a hand on Tia’s knee. “You’ve told us the facts,” she said, jostling her. “Now tell us how you’re feeling.”

“What’s the point? Bad. It’s all around shitty and I’m giving serious thought to becoming a hermit witch who talks only to her dog.”

“You don’t have a dog.”

“Maybe I’ll get one.” She thought of Rudy and for some ridiculous reason, the image of that sweet face made her throat burn. She hadn’t gotten to say goodbye.

“C’mon. The Tia I know doesn’t hide from her problems.”

She looked at Leah, tired. So tired. “Maybe it’s time I start.”

Leah’s face pinched.

Emma was more direct. “Okay.” She stood, moving back to the kitchen to fill the kettle. Once it was set to boil, she turned, hands on her hips. “You need to talk to your mom.”

“No.”

“Yes.” Emma’s tone was brusque. “You need to face this like the big witch you are. It’s already out there. Might as well know the whole story.”

“She lied to me.” She hunkered down, brushing away a stray hair that fell over her lip. “A lot of that going around.”

“And you need to talk to Henry, too.”

Tia scoffed. “Fuck that. He lied, manipulated, all to screw me over.”

Leah gave her a castigating look. “Really? That’s what he said?”

Her jaw clenched. “Aren’t you meant to be on my side?”

“Hey, I can go grab my Tia pompoms from my closet but I don’t think that’s what you need.” Leah poked her. “What did he say when you asked him why?”

“Why does it matter?”

“Because Henry isn’t the villain you make him out to be.” Leah held firm under Tia’s glare. “And nobody plays the role of cute amnesiac without a reason.”

“I agree,” Emma called from the kitchen as she poured boiling water over the tea bags.

Tia shifted, pulling away from Leah. “I don’t care why he did it.”

“Tia.”

Her lips twisted into a snarl. “Fine. He said he did it to understand or some bullshit.”

“Understand what?” Emma put a mug down in front of her and kept her own. Steam circled the questioning look on her face.

“The breakup. Whatever, he was lying through his teeth.”

“Did he want to get back together?”

Her cheeks felt hot. She blamed the tea sitting a foot away. “He said so. He said…” I love you . Like it would change what he’d done. If he’d meant it…well, his absence said everything.

“He said a lot of things,” she finished, picking up one of the decorative cushions and squeezing. “Like accusing me of being to blame for our breakup. Saying how I didn’t try to talk to him, that I don’t accept weakness in people. As if he wasn’t the one who threw us away.”

Her friends said nothing for a moment. Then Emma put her mug carefully down on an end table. “Okay, don’t hex bag me, but I’m going to cross the line you’ve drawn all these years.”

Tia frowned, tightening her hold on the cushion. “Okay…”

Emma licked her lips. “It was kind of your fault, too.”

“What?”

Her friend visibly braced herself. “He didn’t come for you and that sucks, but you also never gave him a chance.”

“I begged him,” Tia hissed, Henry’s similar accusation pounding in her skull. “Why would I give an asshole who just walks away—who made me feel like I wasn’t worth choosing —” The words jammed in her throat.

“Because he was young. Arrogant. And just as stubborn as you. Neither of you was willing to admit you were wrong or talk through your issues. Really talk , Tia. And how did that work out for you? Lonely. For years.” Emma’s voice was firm. “Enough is enough.”

“She’s right,” Leah added, their betrayal stinging like salt on a thousand open wounds. “From everything I’ve heard from you and Gabriel—”

“He’s Henry’s friend! Of course he’s not going to blame him.”

“Tia. Be honest. You could’ve relented a bit instead of throwing everything away.”

Her jaw locked.

Emma muttered something. “I’m not going to apologize,” she said defiantly. “It needed to be said, if only to show you that second chances don’t make you weak. If I’d been as stubborn as you, I wouldn’t be about to marry the love of my life.”

Tia bit down on words she wouldn’t be able to take back. Especially as she knew her friend was right—under her circumstances. It didn’t mean… It didn’t mean that Tia was wrong now.

“I did let him back in,” she pointed out with savage relish. “And it was a mistake.”

“He lied and that’s crap,” Leah confirmed, squeezing her knee. “But it sounds like he tried to explain himself and you didn’t listen. You ran away.”

“Again,” Emma added.

“Are you trying to hurt me?”

“I’m trying to do what you did for me—knock you out of your own stupid fears.

You don’t like feeling weak, T. That’s just you, whether it’s how your mom kept after you to be the perfect Hightower all your life or what, but you hate letting people in, in case they hurt you.

And Henry, he’s your red button. He makes it impossible for you to hide. ”

Hearing Emma echo so closely what Henry had accused her of made Tia flinch.

But her friend wasn’t done. “Think about it. You could’ve used a TARDIS spell at any point on that bedroom so you didn’t have to share a bed. You’re the one who compromised, kept it going. You’re the one who was considering a future—and then used the first opportunity to bail.”

Tia breathed raggedly, the raw ache worsening with every word. She couldn’t speak.

Seeing that, Emma knelt again, taking Tia’s hand. “We love you. We want you to be happy, really happy, but that kind of happiness only comes from letting yourself be utterly open to someone. Of fighting through the fear. And I think you know it’s always been him.”

Tia squeezed her eyes shut as she felt a tear trickle down her cheek.

“I know it’s scary,” Leah picked up, pressing her knee. “Trust me. I know. We both do. Handing over your heart to someone who’s already hurt you isn’t for the weak.”

He’d lied. He’d manipulated.

He’d asked questions. He’d wanted to hear it from her side.

Because she’d never told him.

“You need to talk to him,” Emma repeated as Tia sat there, sick to her stomach. “You need to listen. And decide once and for all if he’s worth the risk.”

Tia dragged in a breath that hurt her lungs, the cushion in her lap forgotten as she hunched forward. Her hair swung.