Chapter 25
Chapter Twenty-Five
EVIE
I’m coming home early.
That’s the text I sent my brother. Not a call, a simple text, just to let him know to expect me. He probably won’t react all that kindly to a stranger breaking into his house. I’m not a stranger, but when I look at myself in the airport bathroom, I feel like one.
Dark circles coat my under eyes, my hair is tangled, and my outfit is wrinkled.
Traveling does that to anyone, and traveling in my mental state makes it more challenging.
Everything is harder now. Breathing is harder.
Thinking is harder. Maybe it’s the heartbreak, or perhaps it’s the flight.
I don’t know. No one has ever gotten to me this badly.
Spotting my brother at baggage claim doesn’t do anything to put me at ease. I need to be alone.
“You didn’t have to come,” I drone, repeating the last time he picked me up.
“Stop it. Of course, I did.” His voice lowers. “You look like a zombie.”
“I feel like a zombie.” I try to force a smile, but I’m not sure if it works. I can’t flip on that switch right now. “How did you know when to come?”
“I looked up the flights, did some deduction…”
I shake my head. “You’ve been here for hours, haven’t you?”
“Maybe.”
My brother. He’s one of the many things between Theo and me, but when I see him standing here, all sunshine and rainbows—I can’t help but be relieved. Without another word, I fling my arms around him, hugging him tightly.
“I missed you,” I mumble.
“I missed you, too. Let’s get you home. I have a pizza with your name on it.”
Everett’s home isn’t mine, but it’s the closest I have these days.
I’ve been away for a while, but relief and familiarity hit me as I wander through the tiny abode.
A shower makes everything feel better. A change of clothes does, too.
I only manage a few bites of the promised pizza, which also does the trick.
Feeling better isn’t hard when your baseline is on the ground.
“Tell me all about the trip,” Everett says. “Starting with… why you’re home early.”
What happened? He doesn’t say it aloud, but I’m sure that’s what he’s asking.
I play with the frayed ends of the blanket on my lap. “It’s a long story…”
“Good thing I don’t have any plans. Let’s start from the beginning.”
My brother has always been the most easygoing of our siblings, but there’s an edge to his voice—one I so rarely hear.
I can’t meet his eye when I speak. “Did Theo tell you anything… about us?”
Silence answers me first, and then… “I’m going to fucking kill him.”
I sit up straight, looking at my brother with wide eyes. “No! Everett—”
His nostrils flare. “I told him not to do anything. That was his responsibility, to make sure nothing happened.”
I shake my head. “It was our responsibility, and I-I did it anyway. I chose to do it anyway.”
“Why?” He flashes an incredulous look. “You know you can do better than him. Come on, Evie.”
“Because…” I let out a sad, breathy laugh. “Because I love him. We fell in love.”
“Fuck.”
“Yeah. I know. It’s bad.”
“Fuck.”
That is all he can say. We both go quiet. Everett finishes his slice of pizza, and I’m relieved to see he still has an appetite. I don’t, but I pick a piece of pepperoni off my slice and pop it into my mouth. It’s better than eating nothing.
After a little while, he asks, “You promise he didn’t hurt you?” He sets his plate down and turns to me with a serious stare.
“I promise.” My lip tugs up at the corner. “If anything, I think I hurt him. I was the one who left, you know. It’s not like he kicked me out.”
Everett grins and lands a light punch on my shoulder. “Atta girl.”
“Stop!” I laugh—genuine laughter, for the first time all day. “I just didn’t want him risking his career for me. That’s all.”
“You should be worried about him risking a black eye.”
“Everett.” I glare. “No.”
“Fine.” He holds his hands up. “I can’t keep talking about him. If you need to talk more, we can later, but—”
Of course, Everett doesn’t want to hear about me falling in love with his best friend. He’s the only one I have to talk to, and he’s taken it pretty well, but I should quit before that changes. Theo doesn’t deserve a black eye.
“No,” I utter. “That’s all I have to say.”
“Good, then… moving on. I have good news.” He waggles his eyebrows. “Something that will more than make up for whatever Theo did or didn’t do.”
How can anything make up for losing the person who may be the love of my life? Everett doesn’t want to hear that. I can already feel his judgment coming from the other side of the couch.
“He didn’t do anything.” It’s important that Everett knows that. I feign a smile just for him. “What is it? Are you competing again?”
“With my bad back? Absolutely not.” He pulls an envelope from the side table. “This is for you… and it’s thick.”
I know what an acceptance letter looks like. I received a few of them back when I was still applying to schools, but that was years ago. What is this? My brows furrow, and I take the letter from him.
California Culinary Arts Institute…
“Everett. No! You didn’t… what is this?” I scramble to find the right words.
“Why don’t you open it and find out?”
Because it’s exactly what I think it is.
My fingers slip under the seal of the envelope, prying it open.
With shaking hands, I pull out the letter—an acceptance letter for this fall.
They want me to start in the fall. I think of my school back home, one ten times more affordable than this, and my heart races.
“I don’t understand!” I yelp.
“I applied for you.” He smirks. “And I knew you would get in. Looks like I was right.”
I shake my head over and over again. “I can’t. Everett, I cannot go here.”
“But you can. You have options now. You can stay here without worrying about rent, get another bakery job…”
The end of the summer was always an out—of my job with Theo and our relationship. If I stay here…
If I stay here, I’m living my dreams. I’m going to a better school than I could have ever imagined. I’m living by the beach! I have a support system.
But the tuition? It’s impossible.
Still, my brother went through all this work. I should pretend to entertain it, even if I can’t.
I force another smile. “I’ll consider it.”
There’s nothing to consider. Even after a summer of saving up my paychecks, I can’t afford to transfer to the California Culinary Arts Institute. It would be a dream, but dreams don’t happen for women like me, not without a whole lot of work.
EVERETT
It’s only with a thinly veiled mask that I keep my cool around Evie. Showing her how royally fucking pissed I am will only make her feel worse. I’m not mad at her, anyway. It’s him. He has me pissed enough that when I finally have a moment, I pick up the phone to give him a piece of my mind.
Sliding off my house slippers, I trail through my mostly clean room, stepping over a pair of discarded sweatpants as I go. At least the bed is made—with an emerald blanket draped over the mattress.
Not that I’m the one who made it.
Outside, the waves crash on the shore. It’s a sight that usually calms me down, but it doesn’t do anything now.
I need to talk to Theo.
Who cares what time it is over there? Consider it payback for the time he woke me up on my only day off. It was six in the damn morning, and he had me worrying something was wrong with my sister. Now, there is, and it’s his fault.
After I explicitly told him to stay away. I trusted him. I vouched for him. I knew I could trust him to work with my sister, but I never would have trusted him with her heart. He knew that. That’s why he dropped it after I told him to stay away.
But he didn’t stay away, did he?
When he answers the phone, it sounds like he’s expecting my call. “Hey.” That’s all he says.
Fine. I don’t want to hear what he has to say, anyway.
“What the fuck is wrong with you?” I hiss.
Evie is a few rooms away. As much as I want to raise my voice, that’s another thing that won’t help. He deserves someone to chew him out, to yell and make a fuss, but I can’t be the one to do it without hurting my sister.
She’s already so damn hurt.
“I don’t know,” he says. “That’s a great question. I’ll let you know once I figure it out. Sound good?”
“No. That does not sound good. What you’re not going to do is roll over and act like you’re innocent in this. You don’t get to be sad.”
He groans. “What do you mean?”
“You broke my sister’s heart! Never mind that she’s way too young for you. You don’t even know the state she’s in right now.”
“I broke her heart?”
“Yes! Why is that news to you?”
“Everett. She’s the one who broke up with me. She left me with a note—nothing but a damn note.”
“Oh.”
She did say she was the one to leave, but I didn’t quite believe her. It would be just like my sweet baby sister to take the fall for some asshole.
That asshole is my best friend, in this case.
Evie didn’t give details, and I didn’t press, but in my mind… it was always him. Breakups are hell for both parties, I guess, but I’ve never been as upset as Evie is when I’m the one to do the dumping.
There must be more going on, but asking Theo about it doesn’t feel right. Evie will tell me more if she wants to.
“That doesn’t change things,” I say, putting my defenses right back up. Someone has to defend Evie, and it’s been me for as long as I can remember.
“I know. I still fucked up our friendship. I get it.”
“Yeah…” I squint at a wall. “You did. She has other things to focus on right now, all right? She got accepted to the California Culinary Arts Institute.”
“What?” He gasps. “That’s a damn good school.”
“I fucking know. Damn right, it’s a good school—and she’s going there. She doesn’t need any distractions. You know all about that, don’t you?”
For a moment, all I hear is the crashing waves.
“Everett. I know you won’t believe it, but I’m sorry for hurting her, and for keeping secrets from you.”
“You’re right. I don’t believe it.”
“You’re still an important friend to me, and she… well, I hope you’re celebrating her acceptance. This is huge. I didn’t even know she applied.”
I was the one who applied for her, but I won’t give Theo the information. He doesn’t deserve to know anything else about my sister. It’s hard to stay mad at him, though. There’s a genuine sound in his voice, as if he really cares.
Dammit.
“Huh.” I shake my head, exhaling harshly. “You know, you make it hard to fight with you when you’re just… taking it like this. Are you really that beat up?”
I’ve never known Theo to act like this. I’ve been introduced to a few of his dates, usually people I don’t see much after the fact, but I’ve never seen him go through a real breakup. Evie, on the other hand, had a broken heart more than once when she was still a teenager.
No matter how sad my friend is, I have to take care of her. I’ll always put her first.
“Yes,” he says. “I am.”