I shake my head.Once.Twice.The movement makes me dizzy.“I’m fine.”
“You are sonotfine.”She sits beside me.“Did something happen with Zach?”
“No,” I say quickly.“Not him.”
Her expression shifts.“Then who?”
I stare at my white and teal duvet cover for the longest time, my heart hammering like I’ve just run a mini marathon.“I saw him,” I say finally.
“Who?”
My throat burns when I swallow.
“Zach’s father.”
Fleur goes very still.“What do you mean, you saw him?You said he wasn’t going to be there.”
“He showed up.”
Her mouth parts slightly.“Jesus.”
I tell her everything.It tumbles out, haphazard, out of order.I struggle to relive it all again, the look on Paul Knight’s face when he realized who I was.
“I froze,” I whisper.“I couldn’t breathe.I couldn’t even look at him without feeling helpless again.”
Fleur’s eyes flash with anger.“And Zach, what did he do?”
“He doesn’t know,” I say.
“Still?”
“Still.”
“Jesus, Maya.How can you keep this from him?It’s big.Big enough to split you up.”
If it hasn’t already.I can’t see a way forward for us after this.And yet, I can’t bear to walk away.It wouldn’t be fair to run like a coward.At the very least I owe him some sort of explanation.
“You should tell him,” she insists.
“I don’t want to do that to him.His father isn’t well.”
“His father is a monster.”
“He’s the only parent Zach has.”
“He’s still a monster.
“Zach looks up to him!”
“Because he doesn’t know what a despicable human he is.”
“I can’t tell him.
“You have to.”
Fleur studies me for a long moment.“Maya,” she says carefully, “he’s not psychic.He’s watching you shut him out and he has no idea why.”
“I know.”
