Page 156 of Sugar

“At the end of summer, I overheard the OGs talking. Mom thought Dad was cheating on her.” She grimaced. “There were some discrepancies that Kerri caught. Appointments and procedures that my dad wasn’t in the office for. Mom asked about them, and he gave her some dodgy excuse. She decided she could live with it if she never knew for sure, so she turned a blind eye.”

And not ask a million questions?

Couldn’t be me.

Tears welled in her eyes. “I have no clue what to do.”

“I don’t know, either.”

“It’s not like I can ask them. Dad doesn’t tell me anything. And if my mom doesn’t know, or she’s burying her head in the sand, I would be tossing dynamite in the hole and exploding her carefully built life.”

“Or Josh could be lying,” I said. “Maybe you can demand your dad finally fire him, and we’ll pretend none of this ever happened.”

She started to nod before her panicked gaze shot to me. “You have to tell your parents. It’s not fair… They can’t…” A sob broke free, and I pulled her into a hug.

“My dad has been talking about retirement anyway,” I shared. “Just in case Josh isn’t lying, I’ll start encouraging it. I’ll sign them up to get cruise mailers. Subliminal messaging. Retirees love cruises.”

“But it doesn’t matter because he’s lying.”

“Definitely.”

“Except he’s not, is he?”

“I really don’t know.”

But I don’t think so…

Greer talked herselfthrough her own roundabout before leaving for hot yoga followed by a hike. According to her, it was the quickest way to clarity.

According to me, it was the quickest way to hell.

I offered to go with her anyway, but she wanted solitude.

That was fine by me because I wanted my bed and Easton—and not necessarily in that order.

When I opened the door to my apartment, he stood and took a step. That was as far as he got before I launched myself into his arms.

He cupped the back of my head and pressed his lips to the top of it. “That bad?”

“Worse. She’s hoping Josh is lying.”

“But?”

“But I think she knows. She just needs time to know that she knows.”

“What do you want to do?” he asked.

“I want us to climb into my bed because I need at least ten hours of sleep before we deal with whatever chaos is to come.”

He smiled at my use ofwe. “Whatever you need.”

Chapter 33

Chaos Waits for No Guppy

MADDIE

“Mine.”