Claire slips between us and takes her arm. “As soon as I get you to your room, I’ll make sure you get time alone. Call me your bodyguard. Okay?”
Emma nods.
Her makeup’s running down her face. Her hair’s still perfect. Dress still pristine.
“I slapped him,” she whispers.
“He deserved it for taking you for granted. You did the right thing, Em. I know it hurts now, but you’ve got an amazing support system behind you,” Claire’s saying as she leads Emma away from us.
“But I have to startover,” Emma sobs. “It’ll be at least threeyearsbefore I have a baby now.”
Claire looks back at us.
There’s no judgment.
Feels more like she’s promising she’ll take care of everything and smooth things over with Emma.
I wrap my arms around Sabrina and pull her against me in a hug as they disappear into the building. “Are you okay?”
She buckles against me. “Hesold the café, Laney.My café. It’sgone.”
“We’ll fix this.”
“We can’t. And now Emma hates me and I hate knowing things and I amnevergoing to know things again. I’m becoming a hermit. I’ll forage for mushrooms and ice fish to feed myself, and I’ll live in a secret cave that none of the rest of you know about.”
“I’m sure you’ll be very comfortable with the bears.”
She doesn’t laugh. “Please tell me you don’t hate me too.”
“Why would I hate you?”
“I knew about Theo and GrippaPeen. I knew he was paying for the wedding. And I knew he hadn’t told you.”
My heart twists.Once a disappointment, always a disappointment.
I told myself that as soon as Emma was okay, I’d go find him.
But I’m honestly terrified of what I’ll find.
“It’s not what it sounds like.” She’s sobbing, and she’s trying to comfortme. “He’s…a solo act. He doesn’t screw women on video. And it’s tasteful. It really is. Inspiring even. Don’t—no, no, don’t get mad that I’ve seen it. I found out by accident. And I quit watching as soon as I realized it was him.”
I blow out a deep breath.
Definitely gonna need a minute for this one.
“Is that why you’re mad at him?” I ask.
A sob wrenches out of her. “No.”
“Why then?”
“I knew about Bean & Nugget’s back taxes. I asked Theo for money, and he pretended like he was just an average construction worker even though I know his construction job is a cover.”
“He…didn’t help.”
“Don’t be mad at Theo, Laney. I get it. He wouldn’t help because he didn’t like that I knew he could. He doesn’t wantanyoneto know he’s loaded. And I get it. I do. He spent so much of our childhood being a disappointment that he didn’t want people to suddenly like him because he’s sitting on a half-billion dollars when he knew they’d be total assholes about the fact that he made it by stripping down on the internet. But it’sBean & Nugget. It’s mylife.”
“Sabrina. Why didn’t you come to me? You know I’d go to my parents, and we would’ve helped. We would’ve figured this out.”
