“That’s a bunch of horseshit and I know it.” Rachel sighed heavily. “Something happened when you filmed last year, I know it did, because you and Rex were at odds with each other. I didn’t say anything then because you both seemed to be working on it. But now… I don’t even know.” Rachel clenched her jaw and looked around. She stepped in closer and lowered her voice. “Is he having an affair?”
“No!” Hope shook her head, her face pinching.
“Are you?” Rachel’s look was direct.
Hope’s lips parted in surprise. That fear skipped clawing her heart and went straight to her throat, trying to claw its way out through her mouth. “Wh-what would make you say that?”
Rachel’s shoulders dropped along with her jaw. “Hope Isabella Lawrence. I don’t play games.”
“I…” Hope looked around wildly to make sure that no one else was nearby. She lowered her voice so that it was barely above a whisper. “Rex isn’t cheating on me, and I’m not cheating on him.”
At least she wasn’t anymore, but that had been how this whole situation started, wasn’t it? It was so easy to forget that when it seemed to be working so well, when they seemed to have a handle on the complicated relationships between everyone.
“Then what the hell is going on, becausesomethingisn’t right here.”
Hope sighed. She nodded her head toward the pathway and started to walk away from the restaurant and the main reception building and toward the suites that were all along the golf course. She didn’t want to be anywhere close to where someone could overhear this conversation. Rachel followed dutifully, but she didn’t seem pleased about what was going on.
“Ange and I are in a relationship, of sorts,” Hope murmured, pressing her lips together hard. Except she really couldn’t define that relationship, could she? Because she and Angelica hadn’t talked directly about what they were to each other. “Rex is fine with it.”
“I don’t think he is.” Rachel furrowed her brow.
“What?” Hope stopped walking, her shoes scuffing on the ground. The scent of fresh-cut grass reached her nostrils and very nearly made her sneeze.
“Didn’t you see the look on his face when she walked in with Eva?” Rachel bit her lip. “He looked betrayed.”
“Eva and Ange have spent time together since well before she and I were… a thing,” she added at the last minute. She wanted to say girlfriends, but that didn’t sit well with her either.
“Okay, I need to take this one step at a time, I think.” Rachel breathed in deeply and let it out slowly. “First, since when didyou start liking women? Not that I have an issue with it, but for as long as I’ve known you, you’ve been pretty damn straight.”
Hope pursed her lips and shook her head. “When I met Ange last season, if I really think about it. I didn’t actually name it until we were in Colorado last year.” She rubbed her hands together and started to walk again. They’d walk for as long as they needed to get this conversation out in the open. It felt so good to say it out loud to someone else, someone who could give her some kind of perspective on everything. “I fell in love with her, Rach.” Tears welled in Hope’s eyes. “And I didn’t know what to do.”
“Not cheat on your husband!” Rachel’s voice raised.
Hope shook her head wildly, the tears disappearing. “That’s not what I’m doing. Rex knows. He’s fine with it.”
“He’s not.” Rachel stepped in closer. “Look at me, Hope, because he’s not okay with it. He might say that, but the look on his face today, he’s not okay.”
“We’ve spent the last year working through this,” Hope whispered. “We’ve spent the last year figuring out how we were going to do this, and making sure that we’re okay, and coming up with rules that we both agreed to.”
“What rules?”
“Rules about being in an open relationship.” Hope bit her lip, looking her sister directly in the eyes. “I know it’s unconventional, that’s why I didn’t say anything. I didn’t want judgment from you.”
“I’m not judging.” The defensiveness in her tone said otherwise. And they both recognized that. Rachel tried again. “I’mnotjudging you.”
“No one knows except the three of us. No one can know, because… there’s so many reasons why.” Hope sighed at the end, a tear falling down her cheek. “Eva loves Ange, and Rex hasn’t liked that. He doesn’t want Ange to replace him, but I also can’tkeep Eva away from her. We practically live in the same space for three months straight. It’s impossible?—”
“Hope, just stop talking.”
Hope stilled. The betrayal on Rachel’s face was evident. Hope hadn’t just hurt Rex through this whole situation, she was also hurting her sister and her best friend. Hope swallowed the lump in her throat—or at least she attempted to. But it came right back.
“I’m not sure I know who you are anymore.” Rachel’s voice was so quiet, almost deadly.
Hope’s heart shattered. “Wh-what do you mean?”
“The woman I know, my baby sister, wouldn’t hurt a fly. She’s loyal, she’s fun and energetic, and she loves her husband and daughter deeply.” Rachel held her ground. Hope looked at her in the eye, and she finally finished speaking. “This woman you’ve become in the last year isn’t someone I want to know, and she isn’t someone that I want around my kids.”
“Because of Ange?”
