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“If you go, I’ll miss you.” She bit back a huff of frustration. The words were right there, lodged in the back of her throat. She needed to say them and yet they wouldn’t just wiggle loose and fly off the tip of her tongue like they were meant to. “I—” Her words were good and stuck, but surely they were written on her face and visible in the fathomless depth of adoration in her gaze. “You are every good thing that has ever happened to me.”

Ali closed the distance between them, wrapping her arms around Charlotte, burying her face into Charlotte’s neck.

Of course, Charlotte couldn’t resist returning the embrace. Of course she did. Because what if this was the last time? The thought hollowed her out, made it hard to breathe.

“You’re my favorite person to spend time with,” Charlotte murmured.

“You’re my favorite, too,” Ali replied, and Charlotte didn’t need the way Ali squeezed her tighter to believe she meant those words.

When they finally pulled apart, Charlotte pressed a lingering kiss to Ali’s forehead. Those three words skipped through Charlotte’s mind on repeat, begging to be said. All she had to do was open her mouth. But what if it was too late now? What if every chance had already passed? She didn’t want to add the weight of her own feelings to everything Ali needed to consider.

“Will you text me when you make it home please?”

“Of course,” Ali said, lifting up on her tiptoes and pressing a fleeting kiss to Charlotte’s lips before turning away, grabbing her bag, and heading for the door. “Goodbye, Moonbeam,” she called over her shoulder, throwing Charlotte a half-hearted smile.

“Goodbye, Lina,” Charlotte returned, watching as the door closed.

Shell-shocked, Charlotte stood motionless, staring at the closed door. She barely had a moment to process what just happened before⁠—

“Cricket?”

Charlotte didn’t turn. Instead, she moved to her suitcases. “I’ve got to go.”

“Charlotte.”

“I need to check on my plants,” she said weakly. “They’ll be feeling neglected.”

A gentle hand caught her arm and tugged her into her mother’s embrace. It remained one of the safest and most comforting places in Charlotte’s world.

“I fucked up, Mama,” Charlotte whispered, voice cracking.

Her mother rubbed her back in a familiar soothing motion. “Tell me what happened.”

Charlotte pulled away, passing a hand through her hair, bracing herself. “Ali and I aren’t actually together.”

A bemused smile curled across her face before her lips pressed together. But then she broke, bursting into laughter. Charlotte couldn’t understand until…

“Your father owes me ten bucks.”

Her arms folded across her chest, not at all appreciating the laughter while she was having a crisis. Of course her mother had known. And of course, she hadn’t said anything, just watched it all play out, waiting for Charlotte to come to her. All the while, placing bets.

Composing herself, Diana faced her, fixing her with that knowing expression as she pulled Charlotte’s hands free, holding them in her own.

“You have always told us when you were seeing someone,” Diana began, ocean blue tunneling right to the core of her. “Maybe we wouldn’t meet them right away, but you never hid anyone. You are,” she caught Charlotte’s eye, none of the anger she expected lingered, “the most honest of my children. And it is incredibly easy—for me—to see when you aren’t being entirely honest.”

All the breath whooshed from her lungs. Guilt slithered in her gut, coiling itself into knots. She hated this feeling. The heat of it mixed with the sour taste coating her tongue. For a moment, she couldn’t remember why she lied in the first place.

Then it came rushing back, sticking like tar to every corner. She wanted her family to stop worrying. Ali was the perfect solution with her bright smile and easy nature. She was believable.

“Cricket,” Diana murmured, lifting a hand to cradle her jaw and chin. Her mother’s soft use of the childhood nickname broke her open. “No matter how it started...” Her thumb brushed across her cheek like she could brush away her sour emotions. “There is nothing untrue about what you both feel for each other.”

Charlotte’s eyes stung.

The weight of a little lie told to keep everyone from worrying pressed in. But her mother had always been a safe place. So, she told her everything.

How she’d first seen Ali through the B&B’s front window, red hair catching like embers. How Lizzie and Imani teased her mercilessly. How Lizzie’s fears about Victoria pushed her to invent a secret girlfriend. How Ali agreed to play along. And how, somewhere along the way, none of it felt fake anymore.

“I love her, mama.”