Kira sighed, and I knew she didn’t agree with me. But she couldn’t understand. Dad hadn’t kept anything from her the way he had with me. And from what I was hearing from Mom, I wasn’t the only one who was ignoring him. She was just as mad as I was that he’d let me go through all that pain without ever saying a word to anyone—including her.

“So what happens now? With Liam,” Kira clarified a few moments later.

I exhaled heavily and lifted one shoulder in a lopsided shrug. “Now I have to figure out what I want to do. Liam said he was going to back off while I decided. He basically said it was to make it easier for me to decide; but nothing about that sounds like it’ll be easier for me. Even though he said he wasn’t leaving me, that’s exactly what it sounded like. It sounded like he was giving up.”

“I think he’s right to back off,” Kira mused. “I’m sure it’s hurting you right now, but just imagine what it would be like trying to decide between them if Liam stayed around you. With Rhys staying in the condo, there would be so much tension between the two of them. And right now, you’re really too upset with Rhys for him to sway your decision in his favor. If Liam was always around you, you’d only be able to think of him because you’ve been falling for him for months now; and right now, you only want him. What was it you said to me this morning before you left? That you didn’t know how to decide between what you thought was right and . . .”

“Who I wanted,” I finished for her.

“Right. You think staying with Rhys is right only because of your past with him. You know you want Liam, but you don’t know if you’ll end up wanting Rhys again once your anger is gone. So right now Rhys is more like an obligation, and Liam sticking around would only make that more apparent and not give you a real chance to make up your mind.” Kira waved her hand between us and said, “All that to say I agree with what Liam’s doing—even if it does hurt.”

“I guess,” I whispered. “I can see what you mean, but right now it hurts too much to understand.”

Kira squeezed my arm, but didn’t say anything else about Liam. Once we pulled up to the gym, she put the car in park and looked at me. “I know I’ve never been a fan of Rhys’s, but I never really had a chance to get to know him. In those months of you meeting him, marrying him, and being with him—you basically shut out everyone else in your life, including me. I get why now, I do. You were very in love with him, and even though you didn’t know that he would be leaving you, I bet you could sense his worry over what little time you two had left together, and that made you throw everything into that summer. But now that he’s been here for a few days and I’ve talked to him a lot, I just want to say that I like him. He’s really nice, Kennedy, I can see why that relationship destroyed you. And I’m sorry that I didn’t understand before.”

“No hard feelings, sis. It’s in the past, right?”

“Right,” she agreed.

“Come on, let’s get this day over with. I’m not exactly thrilled to face another day of Kristi glaring at me.”

We got out of the car and made our way into the gym, and before we even got to the drink station, Kristi walked past us with a death glare directed right at me.

I groaned and looked over to Kira when she patted my back, and mumbled, “So, this should be fun.”

15

November 29

Liam

SHUTTING THE FRONT door of my parents’ house, I called out to them as I walked through the entryway and into the living room. I found my parents, both of my aunts and uncles, and Kristi in there . . . and fourteen eyes locked on me—none of them giving me a welcoming look.

“Your cousins all already went back to school a couple hours ago,” Aunt Bree bit out. “If you were wondering or cared.”

“Um, okay? I do care . . . thanks for telling me,” I said uncertainly.

“And all six of your grandparents are wondering why you barely said a word the other night, and then left as soon as dinner was over.”

“Okay? I’m sor—”

“And you already missed pancakes, if you were wondering. I’m sure you can run back to wherever you’ve been hiding and make some for yourself,” Kristi added, cutting me off.

I raised my arms out to the side before letting them fall back down. “What the fuck? What did I do to get this kind of reaction as soon as I walk in? And what do you mean by ‘hiding’? I just saw all of you on Thursday.”

“You said you would be around this weekend to spend time with everyone,” Mom explained. At least she looked more worried for me than pissed off at me.

“I said I would try. I have a lot going on, and I’m sorry that it cut into time with everyone, but they’ll all be back for Christmas, I can see them then. There was a huge account I was finishing up that should have been done before Thanksgiving. I’ve been working my ass off to finish things before the end of the month.”

“Or maybe you’ve been gone because you were still moping around over a lying whore!”

“Kristi,” Dad warned.

“Fuck off, Kristi,” I growled. “What is your deal?”

“My deal is that it’s been a month, and you’re still waiting for her to choose you when we all know that isn’t about to fucking happen! Her husband is back, that alone should have told you all you needed to know in regard to her. She’s not coming back for you, Liam!”

“That’s enough,” Dad said with his eyes directly on my sister.

I backed up a couple steps and held out my arms again. “Is this really what today is going to be about? I’m not putting up with this shit from you.” Looking at the rest of my family, I said, “I’m sorry. I’ll apologize to everyone later, but I’m gone. See you all next Sunday.”

“Bye, Liam! Bye. Go hide out again because a girl you were with for four months doesn’t want to be with you anymore.”

“Kristi,” Dad barked. “I said enough.”

“Oh, but what a shock it was!” she continued. “She wouldn’t even let anyone call her your girlfriend—did you really think she would just change one day?”

“Again, fuck off, Kristi!” I yelled, and turned back around to face them. “You don’t know anything about what happened between Kennedy and me. Got that? None of you do—well, except maybe Dad. Finding Kennedy and fighting for her is something I would do again, and again.” I looked at all of their expectant and frustrated faces, and shrugged. “I didn’t meet Kennedy at the gym. I met her a year and a half ago in Vegas.”

“What?” Mom whispered, and looked at Dad. “You knew this?”

Dad’s eyes didn’t leave me, but I couldn’t tell if he was mad that I’d just thrown him under the bus, or if he was simply waiting to see what I would tell everyone.

“I met Kennedy one night and we hooked up,” I started again, but Kristi cut in.

“Wow. She just keeps getting better and better.”

“Think whatever you want about that, but know that I’m the one who initiated it then . . . so don’t go putting your bullshit theories on her.” Looking back at everyone again, I said, “It was only one night, but I thought of her for months. I would’ve done anything to find her again. And I mean fucking anything. But I had no name, nothing. Six months ago, my boss told me about his nieces who had just moved here from Florida, and weren’t happy about it. He wanted help introducing them to people, and anything else I could offer them. I knew Dad was looking for new people at the gym, and he agreed to interview them. Nothing more. I didn’t know until after the interview that it was the same girl from Vegas and her twin sister.” Narrowing my eyes on my sister, I said, “That is why Kennedy freaked when she saw me at the gym during her first week. Not because she dropped a drink—she dropped it because I was there.”