She doesn’t press, thank God.
Once she’s distracted cleaning up, I slip down the hall and find Dee pacing in the laundry room, arms folded so tight they might snap.
“You’re justleaving?” she says as soon as I walk in, voice low and biting. “No warning, no heads up, just... ‘Hey everyone, I’m peacing out for Denver’?”
“I didn’t plan this, Dee. The offer came this morning. And I don’t know if I’m definitely going.”
“But you already said yes?”
“I said I’d go see it. That’s all. I just… I need a break from here.”
Dee glares at me, then scrubs a hand through her curls like she’s trying to shake the thoughts loose. “What are you even thinking, Josie? After everything that’s happened, now’s when you decide to run?”
“I’m not running,” I snap, harsher than I mean to. “I’m trying to move forward. That’s not the same thing.”
Her jaw clenches.
I take a breath. Then another. My throat feels like it’s closing, but I push the words out anyway.
“You weren’t there, Dee. You didn’t see his face when I told him.”
Her eyes soften a fraction. “You told Knox?”
I press a hand to my stomach, not even thinking. “Yeah.”
Dee swallows hard. “What did he say?”
I laugh, but it’s a hollow, broken sound. “He asked me how I even knew. Like I made it up. Like I was trying to trap him or something. Then he got cold. Suspicious. Distant.” My voice cracks. “He looked at me like I was some stranger on the sidewalk asking for money.”
Dee steps closer, eyes shining now. “Josie.”
“I don’t want to be anywhere near that kind of pain again. I can’t just go back to pretending everything’s fine. I feel like I’m unraveling every time I walk past The Marrow, every time I see his truck, every time someone asks if I’m okay and I have to lie through my teeth.”
“I get it,” she whispers.
“No, you don’t.” I swipe angrily at my cheek. “I was falling for him. And I know I never said it out loud, but I did. And he didn’t even trust me. Not for a second. He looked at me like I was the problem. Like I was the mistake.”
Dee pulls me into a hug, tighter than before. Fierce. Protective. Her voice is thick with emotion when she says, “You are not a mistake.”
I nod against her shoulder. “I need to go see what else is out there. I need to remember who I was before all of this. Before him.”
She leans back, searches my face. “You think this job will do that?”
“I don’t know. But I think not going would feel worse.”
She lets out a breath. Nods. “Okay. But you’re not doing this alone. You hear me?”
“I hear you.”
“I’ll come and help with the baby.”
“Babies…”
Dee blinks.
“Wait, what?”
I hesitate, but the truth’s already out there, shimmering in the air between us like heat off pavement.
