Chapter 43
FORTY-THREE
Tyler took me back to my house. He didn’t say anything, but I could tell he was amused as I jumped out of his truck as soon as he pulled into my driveway.
“You couldn’t have texted this person?” he asked as he walked into the house.
“What do you mean?” I replied as I returned with my laptop and plopped down on my couch.
“The gossip column person. Do you have to email them, too?”
Oh yeah, that.
I sent a quick text to Orianna because I felt wrong calling her right after her wedding. What a mood killer, right?
“Can I trust you, Ty?”
My question was offhanded, and I didn’t mean anything by it.
It wasn’t happening overnight, but I was working on my issues with him.
I wanted what we had. Right now, it is easy and not complicated.
It was just for us. I knew we were in some limbo, but limbo was good when you didn’t know where to go.
“Astrid,” Ty said my name, and I turned because of how serious he sounded.
If I wasn’t already sitting down, the intensity in his eyes would have knocked me out.
“I swear on my life, Astrid, I’m never going to let you down again.”
I should have told him that my question was rhetorical, that I didn’t mean it in that way, but when I opened my mouth, the croaked question sounded far away, even from my own ears.
“You promise?”
Tyler Kane held out his pinkie finger toward me.
As soon as our fingers crossed, he spoke again.
“No more broken promises, beautiful.”
My heart constricted at the gravity in his tone. There was no falling for Tyler Kane again. At that moment, I knew I had never gotten up since I fell the first time.
“Hi, it’s me. I’m the town gossip,” I whispered, and braced myself for the fallout of my words.
Rachel and Ori had never taken it seriously. They thought my stuff was trashy, and even though I now had my other column, I still stood by what I thought. My gossip column helped people in their own way.
Tyler’s face was very expressive. His brows rose to his hairline. I could see the surprise all over his features. Then, when I thought they might morph into judgment, his lip quirked, and he was smirking at me.
“My dad loves your column. Working at the auto shop, he’s stumbled into quite a few secrets he couldn’t share for the sake of the business, but he was glad when he saw them exposed in Sunday’s paper.
My lower lip trembled.
“You don’t think it’s stupid?”
His eyes softened, and he didn’t hesitate to lean into me.
“Beautiful,” he whispered. “Nothing you give your time to would ever be considered stupid.”
At that moment, I folded. I didn’t think, I just got up and threw myself at him. There was warmth in Ty’s eyes that, despite the uncertainty, I had to bite my lip before I uttered words I could not take back.
There was a time and place for everything, but now, it was not. My friend was in jail, and I had a secret situationship with my once best friend.
Luckily for me, my phone rang, creating a perfect distraction.
“Oh my God, Ori, I’m so sorry for disturbing you today of all days,” I spoke into the phone. Ty watched me as I held the phone between my ear and shoulder while I furiously began to type away on my computer as Ori updated me on what was going on.
A few months ago, I was sure that if Orianna had entrusted me with help in finding a nitty-gritty story on the Oakhill Creek mayor, I could have been her biggest ally.
People like Ori wanted news, not stories.
They wanted facts, not stipulations—the thing about rumors was that they had to start from somewhere.
Orianna had a few facts on the mayor and some leads before Ronnie made her stop her search, and I had a bunch of pieces that needed to be put together, but if anyone could do it, it was her.
“Thank you so much, Astrid. This will help Clark and Prescott. I want to say I can’t believe he pinned all the money laundering on her, but we should have known he wouldn’t go down that easy.”
“Let me know as soon as she’s free.”
Once the call ended, I felt lighter, somewhat free. It wasn’t that I was looking for it, but having her thank me, having played a role in what would happen next, and having Ty’s support gave me the validation I didn’t know I needed.
I guess the same could be said for all creatives, right? Even though everything we did was to feed our souls, it still felt nice to have others telling us what we did mattered.
“Is everything okay?” Ty asked.
He had been hearing my one-sided conversation with Ori, so he must be a bit lost.
All I could do was nod. “It’s going to be okay. My friend’s husband is the chief of police in Sunny Pines and is best friends with Rachel’s ex-husband.”
“Okay, good. If Dunnett knows, then he has it handled. It’s Sunday, but I’m sure first thing tomorrow morning they’ll release her.”
What Ty said was true, but hearing him confirm it somehow made me feel better. Now, all we had to do was wait.
“What do you think Prescott is doing right now?” I asked because I had seen them last night. They seemed all in, and I was trying to picture what I would do in their stead.
“If that was you, beautiful, I’d be camping in the street until they let you out.”
Maybe it was because I knew he wasn’t joking that his statement made me blush. Now that I had handled the emails, and I felt a little less dread, did it hit me that we were alone at my house.
Which wasn’t new for the old us, but my parents could come back any minute, and I didn’t know how to explain Ty being here. I didn’t want to kick him out either.
“Do you have work today?” I asked, wondering if we were at the point where we could talk about our day.
We weren’t exactly best friends anymore, and calling him a friend started to taste like ash all over again. Maybe being in limbo wasn’t all that great. Before I could ponder this too deeply, Ty wrapped his arms around me, instantly easing the self-doubt that was creeping in.
“I have to take care of some things in the shop. I wanted to get a head start on paperwork and give Dad a break.”
It warmed my heart how thoughtful he was with his father.
“Sounds busy,” I murmured enviously.
“It’s all going to work out. Rachel’s going to be okay.”
I burrowed deeper into his chest.
“I hate that she’s going through this in the first place.”
He held me a little tighter.
Ty headed out just after my mom called to tell me they would be home soon. I couldn’t help but wonder if he felt the same way I did and decided to make a quick exit before we had to explain the status of our relationship to my parents.
“How’s it going, June bug?” my dad asked as he sat on the couch next to me.
For the last hour, I had been reviewing all the town forums and security chat messages and transferring them to my email so I could also forward all of it to Orianna.
What happened to Rachel was the kind of story she had been chasing, and I hoped she could help and bring my friend justice.
“It’s going. I just feel so helpless.”
“Honey, you’re not helpless…” My dad took a moment to gather his thoughts before continuing. “I’m just glad this happened now that she has you in her corner. I can’t imagine this happening a year ago when you weren’t back in town…when you weren’t her friend.”
My dad’s words struck a chord.
Fuck.
Things could change for the better, or if we let them be, we continue to get cut by the same wounds we refused to heal.
My mom walked in carrying a bowl of popcorn and then sat on the other side of me.
I bit my lip while I debated what to say, and how to say it. It was harder to talk about this with Ty, but it was also a struggle to get the words out with my parents. They watched me run away with my tail between my legs, and they never judged me for it. They gave me the space I needed to grow.
“I lied when I said I came home really late,” I told them.
My mother let out an amused giggle.
“You’re not the only one who knows how to use the front door camera.”
That made my cheeks grow hot. Okay, so they had also seen Ty coming with me this morning.
“I don’t think we need that camera anymore,” I huffed.
My dad threw his arm around me while my mother leaned her head on my shoulder.
“We love you, Astrid. And we love Ty, too, but whatever makes you happy will make us happy, too.”
My parents weren’t as oblivious as I thought. Their support in this made me feel better, like I could finally confront the one hurdle I was always too scared to cross.
I had fallen in love with my best friend, but a part of me always held back because I didn’t know if he would love me back.