Page 66 of The Temptation of Truth

I whip my eyes to her. “What offer?”

“I told Aurora I’d fly Brady out anytime he wanted to visit. Fuck, I offered to let him come on tour, even.”

A frown takes over before I can stop it, and Sav lifts an eyebrow. I fix my face and give her a saccharine smile.

“How benevolent of you.”

Sav’s eyes narrow as they scan my face, reading me in that annoying way that she does. I turn my forced smile on Aurora.

“Well? Will the hubs be joining us?”

Aurora laughs awkwardly and keeps her eyes trained on her lap. She’s deliberately avoiding looking at me. I know it.

“No, he won’t be coming to visit. He won’t take the time off work.”

To say I’m sad I won’t get to meet Brady is a lie, but my frown still returns. Aurora didn’t say hecan’ttake time off work. She said hewon’t. I say the next thing before I can stop myself.

“He won’t take time off work for an all-expenses-paid international trip with his wife? It would be like a second honeymoon.”

“We didn’t go on a honeymoon.” She shifts her weight on the couch cushion and shrugs. “Anyway, he’s trying to get a promotion. It’s important.”

I feel Sav’s and Claire’s eyes on me, but I don’t take mine off Aurora. The topic obviously makes her uncomfortable, but I can’t quite tell why. Her face, normally so expressive, isn’t usually this difficult to decode. Is she upset her husband won’t take time off work to visit? Is that why she was crying in the bathroom? Or is there something more behind the stiff posture and timid tone?

I drop my eyes to her bare left hand again.Still no ring.It hurts, she’d said. What did she mean by that? Is it truly because the ring is too small, or is there another reason?

The skin on the back of my neck prickles with awareness. There’s something more here. Something concerning, yet less visible.

Just what kind of relationship does Aurora have with her husband?

She doesn’t talk about him unless asked. I haven’t seen her text or call him even once. And then the constant apologizing. It’s habitual. An immediate impulse response. I think back to our conversation during our hike.

It’s instinctual for you, isn’t it?

What?

Apologizing.

To my knowledge, Hammond hasn’t taken time off to visit her in a while. Not in a year, at least.It hurts, she said.

My stomach tightens.

“You said he was your brother’s friend?”

She brings her eyes to mine slowly. “Yes.”

“And when was the accident?”

I swear I can hear the air in the room crackle. Sav’s disapproving stare burns into the side of my face, but I’ll deal with her later. I need to know. There’s something here. I know it. I’m just missing some pieces...

“Four years ago.”

Her words are a whisper, and I mentally fumble through her answers. Eighteen months. Four years. Her brother’s best friend. They didn’t date until college—untilshewas in college, because he’s five years older than she is—and likely not until after she’d lost her family.

There’s something here. Something bigger. I just can’t?—

A knock on the dressing room door breaks our silent stare off, and we all turn to find Jonah walking in with Teddy in his arms. Claire jumps up and meets them. She takes Teddy, then Jonah cups Claire’s face and kisses her deeply. Their daughter giggles and Sav groans.

“Not in front of my niece,” she teases, then she pushes up from the couch and takes Teddy from Claire. “We don’t want to see those smoochy kisses, do we, Teddy girl?”