“No!”
Lily reached for her, but Eva stepped away. “I need to go.”
Eva fled before Lily could stop her, sliding behind the wheel of her Mercedes and peeling out of the parking lot. Lily stared after her, shivering in the cold, tears burning on her cheeks, unable to believe what had just happened.
* * *
Eva had to pick her mother up from Angela and Tom’s, and the drive passed in a blur. She had no idea how she managed to make it there in one piece with how her mind was spinning. Molly and Lily simply couldn’t be the same person. How could they be?
No. Somehow, Lily had gotten hold of her phone and found out about Molly. Somehow, that seemed more likely than the possibility the person on the other end of the line was Lily Cross.
As Eva pulled into Angela’s driveway, she took a moment to check her reflection in the rearview mirror. She’d put herself back together after her and Lily’s balcony tryst, her lipstick freshly re-applied and her hair straightened, but it wasn’t the after-effects of that encounter Eva was worried about hiding.
No, it was the wild look of panic in her eyes, the flush of anger on her cheeks, the tension radiating off her in waves.
What had she done? Bad enough, Eva had caved into…whatever it was growing between Lily and her. They’d well and truly fanned the flames, an ember building into a fully-fledged blaze, and Eva needed to smother it before it was the death of them both.
And now Lily was the person she’d been enjoying getting to know? The person whose texts had brightened up her days? If Eva had been worried about letting Lily too close before, it was nothing compared to how she felt now.
The air in the car felt too thick, like she was breathing in quicksand; Eva had never had a panic attack before but this must be what it felt like. She curled her hands around the steering wheel until her knuckles flashed white, trying to get herself under control.
Eva took a breath and got out of the car, forcing her emotions down deep—she’d deal with them later. For now, she needed to pretend everything was fine.
“Come on in, Eva,” Tom said when Eva knocked on the door of the bungalow. He sat in the living room with a bottle of beer, a soccer game playing on the TV. “They’re in the kitchen.”
“Thanks.” Eva ventured further into the house, and found her mother and Angela huddled around the kitchen table doing a jigsaw puzzle.
“Did you have a good night?” Her mother said, and Eva struggled not to wince.
“It was a school dance, Mom.”
“Still. No reason not to enjoy yourself.”
Oh, if only she knew.“How was your night?”
“Just wonderful. We made chilli.”
“There’s plenty left over if you’d like some, Eva,” Angela said. “We weren’t sure if you’d have eaten.”
“I haven’t, actually.” Though the thought of food made Eva’s stomach churn.
Angela wheeled herself over to the refrigerator and retrieved a full Tupperware box. “There’s some cookies, too.”
“You don’t have to—”
Angela waved off her protests. “Nonsense. Here you are.” She handed Eva the two containers; sometimes it was like having two mothers fussing over her.
Eva picked up her mother’s bag from the floor. “You ready to go?”
“Okay.”
When they arrived home, Eva was quick to excuse herself to the shower, eager to wash the night away. But before she stepped into the bathroom, Eva couldn’t resist picking up her phone, chest feeling tight as she opened the message thread.
Please tell me you had a nice boring night in,she typed, with tears stinging at her eyes.Please.
There was still hope, Eva thought, waiting for a reply as the shower warmed up.
Until it buzzed.
