Lately, I've been falling for an innkeeper instead of running my company.
The meeting drags on for two hours.By the time I escape, my head is pounding and my phone has thirteen missed calls.
I'm scrolling through them when Nana's ringtone fills my car as I drag my board-chewed ass behind the driver’s seat of my car in the Sterling Security parking garage.
"Hello, Nana."
“Hello, my precious.How are you?”
“Um, honestly?Not the greatest, Nana.Just came out of a meeting that didn’t exactly go my way.”I wait for my grandmother to continue on, but she doesn’t.“Did you need anything?”
“Define ‘need anything.’”
My heart rate ticks up to another level.“What’s wrong?Anything happen at the gala after I left?Or did?—“
“Kevin called.”
Ice floods my veins."Kevin called you?"
"This morning.Turns out he saw some of the news in the press about SafeStay.And about Sage.I’m…guessing he wants to talk."
"No."
"That's what I told him.But Lukas..."Her voice softens."He sounds broken."
"Good."My jaw tightens."He should be broken.”
“I know.I do.The thing is…he’s family.”
"Is he?”I'm gripping the steering wheel hard enough to hurt."He was my brother in everything but blood.He stood next to me at my wedding and then?—"
"I know what he did."
"Do you?Because you weren't there.You didn't see them together.You didn't have to identify Veronica's body while he was in the hospital.You didn't have to hear him sob about how sorry he was while I planned her funeral."
"Lukas—"
"He wants forgiveness?He can want it from someone else."
"He saw the article about you and Sage.That gossip piece from the gala.He says he's happy you're moving on."
My teeth grind inside my mouth.“Well, it’s a good thing that he doesn’t get to have opinions about my life.”
"I agree.Which is why I told him to lose my number."My grandmother pauses on the line."But I thought you should know.In case he tries to contact you directly."
"He won't."My voice is cold."He knows better."
"Does he?Desperate people do desperate things."
I think about Kevin, about the last time I saw him at Veronica's funeral.
How he looked—hollow, broken, begging for something I couldn't give him.
“Look, I have to go, Nana."
"Lukas—"
“Love you.I’ll talk to you later."
