Chapter 16 #2
Celeste leans forward, eyes gleaming. "Yeah?" The way she stretches that single syllable tells me everything—she's caught the scent of drama. Her fingertips drum once against the table as she waits for whatever bomb I'm about to drop. And honey, this one's nuclear-grade juicy.
“Liv?” I say.
"Absolutely. That's a given. Remember how you kept my Vegas hookup under wraps when I was with Jed?
" Liv says, and I bite my tongue. Jed was her "forever guy" back then, despite the glaring red flag of her needing a secret Vegas fling while they were together.
But some lessons you just have to learn the hard way. I honored the vault anyway.
Celeste hasn't cashed in her vault privileges yet, but we both know it's inevitable.
My pulse throbs in my ears as I force the name past my lips. "It's...Cameron."
Liv's palm shoots out immediately, and Celeste smacks a five-dollar bill into it with a defeated sigh. I let my head fall back. "Seriously? Was I that obvious?"
Celeste rolls her eyes. "Come on. You wreck your Jeep, tell me Cameron was your doctor, then start ghosting us? I knew you had a guy, and Liv said you were probably hooking up with Cameron. The man couldn't tear his eyes off you at both my weddings."
"What the fuck? He was not staring at me."
"Everyone saw it but you," Celeste says. "I didn't mention it because?—"
"Because I'm toxic waste to guys like him. I get it."
"God, no," Celeste says. "I just thought Cameron wasn't ready to date anyone. And why point out something the whole reception could see?" Her face lights up. "Holy shit. You and Cameron making a baby together!"
Liv shoots Celeste a warning look that screams shut up.
She understands why I put this in the vault—I'm not planning to tell Cameron anything.
Celeste is too starry-eyed to connect the dots.
I expected her to rip me a new one for dragging Cameron into my bed, but she's practically glowing.
I can read her mind: if I married Cameron, we'd basically be sisters—or at least both have the last name of Kensington. Close enough for her.
Celeste's eyes go wide. "Hold up. Please tell me you've already told Cameron?
That you two have been steaming up the international phone lines and figuring out your baby game plan?
" She leans forward, her voice dropping.
"You're not seriously thinking about keeping him in the dark about his own kid, are you? "
I say nothing, and Celeste shakes her head.
“Oh hell no. You can’t pull this on us, Tally. Sorry, but I’m calling a vault exception.”
Crap. She’s invoking the loophole we all agreed on: if the secret’s so explosive that no one could possibly keep it locked up, we break the vault. But Olivia has to sign off, too.
I glare at Olivia with the fiercest stink-eye I can muster—hoping she’ll veto the vault exception.
If she does, Celeste stays silent. If she doesn’t…
well, damn it, I just fucking played myself.
I’ll have to break this to Cameron. What kind of mess have I gotten into?
I thought I could trust these two. Apparently not.
“Tally,” Olivia says gently, “you know we love you. But this won’t stay under wraps.
And when it comes out—not if, when—we’re all screwed.
You’re asking Celeste to betray Max, because you don’t think he’ll feel betrayed when it comes out that you kept his brother’s kid secret from him?
And we can’t say you didn’t tell us—everyone knows you share every detail, and Celeste is a shitty liar so Max will automatically know the truth.
He’ll know Celeste knew about the kid and that is a straight-up betrayal. Think it through.”
I exhale in frustration. This is why I’m terrible at chess—why Mom wipes the board with me.
She’s a natural; with training she could go pro.
I only have my ranking from junior tournaments, and I was merely decent.
Yet here I am, failing to think three moves ahead: I’ve set Celeste up to betray Max. Why didn’t I see that coming?
Because I’ve been only thinking about myself.
That’s the ugly truth. I’ve been utterly selfish.
Yes, I’m scared: scared Cameron will feel trapped and resent me down the road; scared he’ll try to control my life and the baby’s; scared that I’ll love someone who ultimately might not want to stay.
But showing that kind of vulnerability? That’s something I’ve never been good at.
I blow out a long breath. "Fine. I'll tell him." Dammit. But Olivia's right—a secret this nuclear has a half-life of about five minutes. Better to detonate it myself than wait for fallout.
Celeste's face softens. "Tal," she says, leaning forward. "Why wouldn't you tell him? What's really going on?"
I fidget with my tattoo sleeve, tracing the outline of the phoenix on my forearm.
"Pick your poison. But mostly? I'm terrified of disappearing into his life.
I've always done whatever the hell I want, whenever I want.
No compromises, no explanations, no apologies.
My life, my rules." I swallow hard. "I know the kid's already gonna change that.
But him too? That's...a lot of people having opinions about my choices. " I inhale deeply, my chest tight.
Celeste leans back in her chair. "Welcome to adulthood, Tally. When you let someone into your life, you have to consider their needs too. It's actually not the worst thing."
I stare at my glass of sparkling water, wishing it was tequila.
“Growing up, I learned to count on exactly one person—me.
Nobody else ever showed up when it mattered.
" I pause, looking at my scarlet nail polish.
"Changing that mindset won’t happen overnight, but I'm trying.
" I take a deep breath. "And now there's my mother to deal with. "
“Right,” Celeste says. “You’ve told us about her staying with you. How is she? I mean, we know you’ve always worried about-”
She doesn't need to finish that sentence.
Every time my phone rang after midnight, my stomach would drop like I'm on a roller coaster—wondering if this is finally it, if some cop found her body dumped somewhere or if she OD'd in some stranger's apartment.
Having her under my roof means I can at least sleep through the night without being terrified about getting that phone call.
I nod. “Remember all those years of pills and loser boyfriends?
Turns out there was something underneath it all—bi-polar disorder.
When she finally got clean and was still seeing things that weren't there, they ran tests.
The genetic markers confirmed what her symptoms were showing.
It's not a hundred percent certain, but the doctors are pretty convinced.
" I shrug. “They prescribed medicine for treatment of bi-polar disorder, and she has responded so well.”
Olivia's eyes go wide. "Oh my God, tell me everything! This is huge, Tally!”
I nod. "Yeah, well, she's no June Cleaver, but she's still my mom.
Back before the pills, before Dad got killed in Iraq, she was actually pretty amazing.
" I swallow hard. "The doctor explained that losing Dad probably triggered her bi-polar disorder, and she started self-medicating to silence the voices. That's their theory, anyway."
"What about this treatment?" Celeste asks, leaning forward.
“Lithium and Abilify." My voice catches.
"It's like someone flipped a switch and gave me back my mom.
She knows she put me through hell, and she's trying to make up for it.
Comes to all my prenatal appointments, brings me ginger tea when I'm puking my guts out.
She's actually acting like a grandmother-to-be.
And there's talk about her playing piano again. "
Celeste squeezes my hand. "That would be incredible. I know what those memories mean to you."
"Fuck yeah, it would be." I blink back tears. "Sitting next to her on that bench, watching her hands fly across the keys—those were the only good parts of my childhood before everything went to shit. But I'm not counting on it. Hope is just disappointment waiting to happen."
Celeste’s eyes light up. “I’ve got an idea, Tally! Hear me out—Cameron’s got, what, nine more months in Sicily? You need to tell him in person.”
I roll my eyes. “Sure—let me just win the lottery tomorrow so I can fly to Sicily on a whim. I’ve got a tattoo studio to run, and I’m not made of money like your husband.”
Celeste lays her hand over mine. “Exactly why you should take Max’s plane. Surprise Cameron. You can’t just drop ‘we’re having a baby’ over FaceTime.”
“That’s just it—I already told him I’m pregnant.
I panicked and blurted out that I’d had a one-night stand, got wasted, and woke up pregnant.
I know—it’s not my finest hour, telling some bullshit like that.
But I couldn’t keep the pregnancy from him.
The grapevine runs too deep with you, Max, and the whole Kensington clan. ”
Celeste giggles.
“What’s so damn funny?”
“You, thinking you’d get away with lying about the baby’s father.”
“Why wouldn’t it work?”
“Have you seen the Kensingtons? They all look like clones. Even the dad. My husband’s got green eyes, Roman’s are dark, the others shades of green, blue, hazel—but line them up and it’s obvious they’re kin.
Genetics in that family are bullet-proof.
Your baby will look like a Kensington, guaranteed.
She’ll be beautiful, with you as her mom and Cameron as her dad—but she’ll have that family face. You’d never fool anyone.”