Augie feigned normality as she went back to the grill, checked the chafers, gave Zami a shaky thumbs-up, and headed back up the stairs to the Club. Without allowing herself to think, she went to Aida’s office. She grabbed the spare key and headed to the cage.
As soon as Augie turned down the final hall, she saw Chat already there, leaning against the wall, arms crossed, cupping his elbows. Neither spoke while Augie unlocked the door.
Even as they entered the large, dim room, Chat didn’t say anything. But then, in one movement, he rushed forward and kissed her.
Augie was so caught off guard, all she could do was kiss him back. She folded into him, disappearing into the smell and taste of him—how natural it always felt. He held her so tight, they began to sway, but a second later, Augie shoved him away, touching her lips as if bleeding.
“You can’t do that,” she said, a sharp pain in her chest.
“Augie.”
She backed away, stumbling over a box.
“It’s not what you think.” Chat moved toward her.
“Why didn’t you tell me how you really knew Danika?” For the first time ever, Augie had used her first name. “Why did you tell me you met on some sitter website? Why lie?” A new dread fell through her.
Chat slid his hand over his face.
“Augie,” he sighed. “Believe me, I wanted to tell you everything from the beginning. But it wasn’t about me. It’snotabout me. Ididmeet her on a sitter website. Danika has no idea who I am.” His shoulders rose as he started talking faster. “She doesn’t know Trey is my uncle. Trey doesn’t know I’m here, either. Neither do my parents. No one does. They would freak out. They all think I’m babysitting for some family in Lakeville. It was—it is—better this way.”
Augie held his gaze. She pictured him as Trey, arm slung around Lyle’s shoulders.
“What do you mean? How would Danika not know? You and Trey look alike. I saw photos of him.”
Chat dipped his chin. “How? And how didyouknow Danika was with Trey?”
“Don’t turn this back on me.It’s not about me,” Augie said, mocking his words.
Chat sat down on a cardboard box, shaking his head and tugging at his hair.
“Latvia,” Augie finally said, quieter. “I heard Danika mention Latvia... when she was talking about her necklace, how she got it from an ex. Then at their house that night, you said your uncle Trey lived in Latvia, played hockey. It was a weird coincidence, so I started to put it together. Then Leah found Trey online, and she recognized him from the training photo with Lyle. And...”
Augie stopped and sucked in a breath.
“Chat.” She held still. “Why are you really here?”
Chat hung his head. A moment later, he looked up.
“Augie, I’m going to tell you everything. But first, I need you to know that none of this has anything to do with you and me, okay? With how I feel about you. I need you to understand that. You were never part of the plan. And you were the best part of this summer. Seriously.”
Augie lowered herself onto a box across from him. “Just tell me what’s going on.”
He started to talk.
First, he explained that Trey and Danika had been high school sweethearts. The summer they were nineteen, in college, he and Lyle had been at hockey training camp together. They’d met at a few camps before, but that summer, they were roommates.
“They were good friends,” Chat said, continuing to say that after Lyle died, even though Trey got his dream to play in Europe, in Latvia—and Danika went with him—he was never the same. He became depressed; Danika left him a year later.
“The year they split was also the year Trey and I started getting close. I was only eleven, but I had started taking hockey seriously, and my dad had left for North Dakota, so yeah. We started talking a lot.
“I didn’t know about Lyle or anything then... I didn’t know how lonely Trey was, either. I was too young. Trey didn’t even tell me about Lyle until last fall.” Chat chewed his cheek. “I was so down after my injury, one night, he let it out. I knew he was trying to show me you could pull yourself up from the darkest of places, but I think it was also driving him mad. He needed to tell someone. He felt so guilty. He still does.”
“Why would he feel guilty? It was accident.”
“Yeah, but—” Chat clasped his hands together between his knees. “Augie, Trey was there that night. At The Manor. The night Lyle died.”
Augie didn’t move.
