Page 119 of The One

I put my hands over my face, the tears making my palms so wet.

“It’s going to be okay, Rhett. I promise.”

I was tired of hearing that.

From my father.

From my mother.

From the friends I’d talked to.

That was all anyone said.

But they were wrong. How could any of this ever be okay?

How could things ever go back to normal?

My hands dropped and balled into fists. “You told me one rule when it came to boating. One rule I always had to follow, and that was to make sure the engines were off before anyone got in the water. I didn’t follow the rule. I didn’t say it to Penelope, and look what happened!”

“You didn’t know she was going to jump in, Rhett.”

“I should have turned off the engines!”

“But you were idling,” Dad said, “and about to take off at any second. There was no reason to turn them off.”

Air wasn’t moving through my lungs. I was a mess of words, and wet lips, and a runny nose, and an ache so bad that every part of my face was throbbing.

“She’s not coming back, Dad!” I pounded my fists against the bed. “And now, Lainey never wants to see me again, and her father wants to kill me and …”

There was nothing left to say.

It was all over …

Penelope’s life.

My relationship with Lainey.

The plans we’d made, the dreams we’d had.

“It hurts, Dad.” I hit my chest with the back of my hand. “It hurts so fucking bad, and I don’t know how to make it stop.”

Rowan appeared in the doorway, holding the side of it while rubbing her eye. “I heard you and woke up.” She made her way through my room and crawled onto my bed, grabbing a pillow on her way to my side, her head resting on my shoulder. “Don’t cry, Rhett.” Her arm looped through mine. “You’re my favorite person in this whole world. You and Ridge both are. You would never do anything bad or hurt anyone. This wasn’t your fault. Lainey knows that. I swear she does.”

But Lainey didn’t know that.

She’d said she put me in charge of her sister and look what had happened.

“Your sister’s right, Rhett.”

“Regardless, she won’t take my calls. I tried again a few minutes ago,” I admitted. “She’s not going to USC. She’s done with me.”

Dad rubbed my hair. “That doesn’t mean she’s done forever. She just needs a time-out, and that’s okay. Lots of people take breaks and get back together.”

“This is different,” I barked.

“She won’t answer my calls either,” Ridge said.

I glanced at the doorway, where he was now standing. “You called her?”