“And the rest of it?”
She looked at her hands. “The rest of it is . . . well, it’s probably not what most people think. Hollywood changes you. But it’s not all at once. It doesn’t work like that. It’s not one moment but a thousand small ones instead. It’s a decision here and a compromise there. You tell yourself each one is small enough not to matter. But they add up over time.”
Wes listened.
“Then one day you look up, and you don’t entirely recognize the person making the decisions.” Rowan swallowed hard, her throat burning. “I’ve made choices I’m not proud of. I’ve donethings I told myself were necessary at the time. I’m not the same person who left here.” Her voice cracked.
She hadn’t meant to say that last part.
Or maybe she had.
Maybe that was exactly the thing she’d been carrying underneath everything else. Maybe it was the thing she’d been carrying underneath Vince and Thayer. Beneath the photograph and the mountain road.
In truth, her heaviest burden was the fact that she wasn’t the same person—and not in a good way. Coming back here had made her realize that.
Wes needed to know that truth. He especially needed to know that in case he still had any feelings for her.
He wouldn’t like the person she’d become. He deserved better than that.
After a moment of quiet, Wes finally said, “I don’t know who you are now. But I do know that you came back. That says a lot.”
How did she respond to that? She wasn’t sure.
So she didn’t.
She stayed quiet instead.
Refuge Cove came into view a few minutes later, and Wes turned in.
Whatever was waiting inside—her mom, lunch, the ordinary life of people she loved continuing around the extraordinary weight of everything she was carrying—she would walk in and make people believe whatever she wanted.
She was good at that.
She just wasn’t sure anymore whether being good at pretending was something to be proud of.
CHAPTER 32
As soon asWes and Rowan walked back into Refuge Cove, Wes went still.
Ruby and Naomi both sat at the kitchen table. Based on their expressions, they’d been waiting for Rowan to return.
“Ro.” Naomi looked up from her phone, her expression tight. “Have you seen . . . ? There’s an article about you. In the national news.”
Another one? He had a feeling this was just the beginning too.
Rowan went still. “Is there? What does it say?”
Naomi looked at her phone again and began reading. “Sources close to the investigation into Thayer Holt’s death have noted that actress Rowan King departed the production the same night Holt died.”
Her mom stared at her. “Is that true?”
The color drained from Rowan’s face. “It sounds bad, but everything is fine. Really, it is.”
Wes waited, knowing she needed to give her family more of an explanation.
“You were there when that man died?” Naomi asked.
There was no accusation in her voice. But Wes hoped Rowan interpreted the question that way as well. He knew how touchy the situation was.
