And now that he knew and they knew and everyone fucking knew, I would have to face the consequences of my mistakes all over again. Only this time, I was taking Max with me.
I owed it to him to tell him the truth. And if they were intent on getting to know him, he should get to know them too, as they were his family.
Butson of a bitch, this sucked so hard.
Just as I turned the car off, my phone chirped with an incoming call. I pulled it from the front pocket of my tiny purse and answered. “Hello?”
“It’s me,” Coco said, her voice quiet and reserved.
“Hi.” She was another person I’d confessed to, along with my mom. Their reactions were almost identical. Coco had fallen on her couch where I’d cornered her in her apartment and said, “Holy shit.” After I explained to my mom that it wasn’t the living Cole brother that was the father, but the deceased one, she’d fallen into a dining room chair, put her hand over her mouth and mumbled, “Fuck me.”
Unsurprisingly, my mom got over the news much quicker than Coco. My best friend was furious when I spilled my secrets last night. Her anger had only lasted until Emilia had slapped her on the back of the head and said, “Stop being stupid. Ruby was obviously afraid of losing Max. You weren’t even around to help her. This isn’t about you, Co.”
She’d snapped out of it after that, and after I’d sworn I hadn’t kept anything else from her. Then I’d remembered Levi’s kiss seven years ago and the one on Saturday, so I’d confessed more to her. That had taken some more time to work through and Emilia had been less on my side, but we’d managed to eventually make peace while Max wore Coco’s headphones and played Roblox on her iPad.
But I could tell from her tone she hadn’t totally forgiven me. That was fine, I hadn’t totally forgiven myself either.
“Did you make it?” she asked.
I blew out a big breath and stared at the wrap around porch of the Cole’s picturesque home. The sprawling farmhouse was exactly what you pictured in your mind when someone said the word. It was massive, with an arched drive-through that led to a massive, unattached garage. The small covered, corridor leading into the house from the side was even adorable with its boot box, spigot and outdoor washing area.
Vibrant, autumn mums dotted the porch in planters and window boxes, some even hanging in the corners. They’d decorated with a porch swing and matching rocking chairs and I could just imagine the Coles sitting out here after supper, taking in the stunning Nebraska sunset over the tops of their corn crops every night.
My entire property in Meadowbrooks was smaller than their garage. They had no neighbors. We lived nearly on top of ours. Their house belonged in the front pages of a magazine. Mine belonged in a junkyard.
Wrapping my hand around my stomach, to brace myself against the nervous cramping, I struggled to breathe evenly so Max wouldn’t notice I was currently freaking the hell out. “I made it.”
“It won’t be that bad,” Coco reassured me. “They’re nice people.”
“Maybe to you,” I argued. How could they be nice to me after everything? How could they even stand to look at me after I’d hidden their grandson from them for so long?
“They’ll be nice to you, too,” she promised. “You’ve got what they want. They won’t risk messing that up.”
Maybe. Maybe they wouldn’t. But maybe they’d also decide they wanted nothing to do with Max or me and have us escorted off the property.
“Okay,” I said instead.
Coco’s voice cracked, sounding infinitely sincerer. “You can do this, Ruby. You’ve raised a kid all by yourself. You rock being a single parent. You’re a fighter and a survivor and you’re the strongest person I know. There’s nothing to be afraid of,chica. You just do you. They’re going to love you.”
Tears wet my eyelashes, but I refused to let them fall and mess up my carefully applied makeup. “How do you know that?”
“Because Levi clearly already loves you. It’s just a matter of time before his parents fall for you too.” She paused and then quickly added, “Hopefully not in the same way as their son.”
A shaky laugh bubbled out of me. “Used to,” I argued. “Maybe he used to love me, but not anymore.”
She made a humming noise. “I’m not sure that’s how it works. I don’t think it’s that easy to stop loving someone.”
“Have you ever been in love?”
She laughed. “Er, no. Obviously, no. But if he could somehow care about you during high school when you were awful to him, this will be a piece of cake to smooth over.”
“He was awful to me too.”
“Mm-hmm, whatever you need to tell yourself, babe.”
The door opened and the man in question stepped out on the porch, arms already folded over his broad chest. He wore a navy-blue button up shirt, rolled at the sleeves, and tapered dark tan pants. His socked feet padded across the painted wood until he leaned against one of the columns near the stairs. His expression was immediately suspicious. He was letting me know he saw me and that it was too late to run away now.
Damn him.
