“Okay,” Amantha flaps her hands. “I can’t take it anymore. Julia, I know we’ve only just met and this issolast minute, but would you be one of my bridesmaids? I don’t have sisters or a ton of friends, and?—”
Julia’s screech of acceptance makes me laugh so hard I snort.
“Welcome to the tribe, Julia,” I chuckle.
“Thanks.” Julia pulls open the door but pauses on the handle. She chews her lip for a good while before she speaks. “And Kate, I know this is likely going against my whole Switzerland thing, but I think you deserve to know. Regardless of whether you and Brandon patch things up, I’m grateful he reconnected with you.”
I freeze as Julia goes on. “I think it healed a part of him. He’s… I don’t know, more sure of himself. Not the cocky stuff he usually puts on, but deeper than that. And although Brandon didn’t tell me exactly what he heard your parents saying in that study, he?—”
“What?” I cut in, staring at her.
A blush stains her cheeks, her lips flapping as she tries to backtrack.
“Brandon heard that?” I whisper. “How?”
After a minute, Julia caves. “He went inside the main house for cold water, I think? Then he heard yelling and wasn’t sure if you needed rescuing, so he waited outside the door…”
I pale, but my voice takes on an urgent tone. “Screw Switzerland, Julia. Youhaveto tell me everything he heard!”
Julia’s shoulders slump. “Something about him not being worth messing up your family over? That you’d be stupid to stay with him, orsomething? Once he heard that, I think something cracked in him, and he left.”
Panicked breathing fills my lungs. I shove my fingernails into my thighs until I feel their bite through my pants.
He heard, but he didn’thear.
How much I care about him. How much I was willing to fight for him. That I said goodbye to my inheritance, to myfamily, all to be with him. I chosehim.
A strangled noise whimpers out of my throat.
Julia’s blue eyes are a midnight ocean of sorrow. “I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have told you.”
I wave a hand through my tears. Amantha takes Julia’s shoulder, giving it a kind squeeze.
“Let’s give her a sec,” Amantha says.
But Julia bites her lip as she looks back at me. “Since Switzerland is officially busted, I guess I should tell you this too. When you see Brandon next, be gentle, okay? His mom just got dumped, and he’s kinda spiraling.”
Worry stalls my tears in their tracks. “Is he okay?” It’s a stupid question, but I ask it anyway.
Julia shrugs with a sad smile. “No, but he’s hangin’ in there. So is she, I think. For now.”
They say goodbye while I stare blankly. My thoughts are soup, and Julia’s revelations are the whisk stirring them into oblivion.
I decide to retreat to the office, yank the blackout curtains shut, and lie there for what feels like hours. I think I hear Anthony come home after Ryan drops him off. I think I smell dinner being prepared, see a tray set in the sliver of light beneath the door with a soft knock. I hear Val and Amantha’s TV in their bedroom turn on as they watchWhisper Harborlate into the night.
But no matter how hard I try to sleep, I cannot quiet the screaming in my thoughts. Liza might hate me. Could even be siding with my parents as I lie here. Does Brandon hate me? Is he okay? Is his mom still sober? My skin crawls.
There’s only one solution for a moment like this.
I order a car service, slip into my gym shoes, and steal across the house to the front door.
I need to hit something.
forty-three
PRESENT DAY
BRANDON
