Page 57 of Truly

“You’re just going to have to trust me on this one.”

She huffs. “No. I won’t. I refuse. Tell me, or I’m telling Chase.”

I groan, wishing my niece wasn’t a snitch.We’re going to talk about this. Later.

I wish I could tell my sister what’s going on. She might even be helpful. If Kate is good at anything, it’s understanding women. But I swore to Laina that I wouldn’t say anything, and I’m keeping my word.

“Please, Kate. It’ll all come out soon.”I hope. “But don’t get anyone riled up over this.Please. Do it for me.”

“For you, huh?” She hums. “What will I get out of not telling?”

“You’ll be a good person.”

“Overrated.”

“Kate…”

My sister laughs. “Fine. But you had better talk with Gavin, and the two of you had better start including me in stuff. I’m the baby of the family, remember. I can be a brat.”

“You’re always a brat.”

“Okay. Go buy your horse things or whatever you’re doing. I need to get back to work.”

“Love you, Kate.”

“Love you. Bye.”

“Goodbye.”

CHAPTER 18

Laina

I drymy hands on a kitchen towel, side-eyeing my cell phone. I haven’t had it out since I got it back a week ago. The disconnect from my life for the last ten days has been one of my life’s greatest, most glorious periods.

No stress.

No bullshit.

No decisions to be made, meetings to attend, or events to prepare for so that someone else looks like Prince Charming.

Undoubtedly, there are important things to handle, media fallout to contend with, and many questions to answer from all directions. But I’ve been perfectly fine letting someone else, anyone else, deal with all of that. Except in the past few days, reality has begun gnawing away at me …inso many ways.

Luke hasn’t asked me when I might leave, but he knows it’s coming. Staying indefinitely was never the plan. Then again, neither was falling in love with him again.

I was supposed to be on my honeymoon, so my calendar has been clear. But those days are dwindling, and my commitments are on the horizon … and I don’t know what that means.

Will we have a long-distance relationship? Can I cut back on my engagements to be here more? What will my security team say about me being here often?

I’m not even sure Luke locks his doors at night.

“We’ll figure it out,” I say, tossing the towel on the counter. “Trust the process.” I eye my phone again. It’s next to the coffee maker like a bomb ready to explode.Fuck. “Might as well get this over with.”

I power it on and wait for it to load. The alerts ping as soon as it connects to the towers, or whatever phones do. And they ping. And they ping. And ping again.

I missed calls from nearly every contact in my phone—from acquaintances to friends to business partners. The number of texts awaiting me is ridiculous.Maybe I’ll need a new phone number because I can’t handle that.

Anjelica is at the top of the call list with a missed one from only a few minutes ago, so I touch her name and wait for it to ring. She picks up quickly.