“Okay, okay,” he says reassuringly.
I can hear Owen in the background telling him he’s going to leave him alone to talk to me, which I appreciate. I don’t want to let Cooper go yet, and I’m not ready for the conversation we’re about to have to be in front of anyone else.
“He’s gone,” he tells me, as if picking up on my hesitation. “Will you talk to me? Tell me what you’re thinking.”
My phone vibrates again. This time, I don’t swipe it away. I let it go to voicemail instead. She must not have left one because a text comes through right after.
Mom: Brinley, please call me back ASAP. It’s important.
“Why don’t you want to answer it?” he asks when I don’t respond to his earlier question.
I let out a slow breath. “Remember how I told you she doesn’t know I’m in Rixton?”
“You still haven’t told her?”
I shake my head. “I transferred at the last minute. She thought I was taking the semester off, and I didn’t know how to tell her I came here instead.”
Another text message comes through.
Mom: Why didn’t you tell me you were transferring to Rixton?
“Well,” I say under my breath, a humorless huff slipping out, “I guess she knows now.”
I can already hear her voice in my head, like she’s standing right in front of me.
“Don’t you think you should call her back?”
“Not tonight,” I say, switching my phone to Do Not Disturb.
“Will you tell me what you’re thinking? You look like you’re freaking out, and it’s killing me to be so far away from you right now.”
He studies me for a long second.
“You went to see him,” he says quietly.
“Yeah.”
“I know that part,” he adds. “You just never told me what happened. Why you left his office upset?”
I look away from the screen, my heart aching at the memory.
“I didn’t want to get into it at the time.”
“I know.” His voice is steady. “But you can talk to me. You can trust me. I’ve said this before, and I’ll keep saying it. I’m not going anywhere.”
I swallow. There’s something about the way he says it. His calm reassurance that I can lean on him, and for once, I actually want to do it.
“He knew about me. Before I showed up to talk to him.” I let out a heavy exhale. “He wasn’t surprised or confused. He just looked… annoyed.”
Cooper’s jaw tightens, but he doesn’t interrupt, and I’m thankful for it. I need to get this out.
“He told me there was an agreement,” I continue. “Between him and my mom. He basically paid her off to keep me a secret.”
The words don’t even sound like my own saying them out loud.
“And she agreed?”
“Yeah. I grew up thinking he left before she ever told him. Like it was a one-night thing and he just disappeared, and she couldn’t track him down.” I shrug slightly. “That’s the story I was given. And for a long time, I didn’t question it. Didn’t ask for details or wonder why she didn’t try harder to find him.”
