Page 80 of Keeping Secrets

“I’m sorry. I’ll go.”

She reached out and touched his arm, a gesture that seemed more reflexive than anything. Again, he was tempted to put his arms around her and hold her close. Then she pulled her hand back, and he stood.

“Would it be okay if I asked Nick and Chloe to check in on you later tonight?”

“Okay,” she croaked, still in shock. She blinked her luminous green eyes, shedding still more tears, and nodded. “Sure.”

He nodded in response and left without saying goodbye.

CHAPTER 25

Keely wasn’t sure how long she sat on the couch, ignoring the occasional buzzing of her phone. It might have been minutes or hours. She was lost in a labyrinth of memories, bright childhood moments with Travis all mixed in with her darkest days under Adam’s influence.

If she did pick up her phone, it would be to send an SOS to Michelle. Instead she just sat there, hugging a fuzzy blue blanket around her shoulders and staring off into space. She felt so inundated by so many overpowering emotions all canceling each other out that it came together to create a sort of overwhelming numbness, like emotional white noise.

Eventually a knock sounded on her front door. When she didn’t respond, the knock got louder. She just stared at the wooden door, her mind blank. Finally, it opened.

“There you are,” Nick said with visible relief. He closed the door behind him and shed his jean jacket, leaving it crumpled by the wall next to his shoes as he kicked them off.

“Here I am.” Her voice came out ragged.

“Are you all right?”

“Sure.”

“Did your phone die or what?”

“Or what,” she answered.

“You can’t just ignore my messages like that.”

“Why not?”

“I was worried.”

“You were worried,” she repeated flatly.

“I didn’t know if you were okay or what you might have done,” he burst out. Then he clamped his mouth shut, like he instantly regretted his outburst.

“I’m not going to relapse, Nick.” She let out a laugh that sounded completely unhinged. It wasn’t exactly going to reassure him. “Though if anything were going to push me in that direction…”

“Travis told me.” He sat down on the couch with a heavy thump. “He shouldn’t have told you.”

“Why?” She reached out and hit her brother’s arm. It was annoyingly solid. “You think that I can’t handle as much as you can? You think that I haven’t been through worse than you? You have no idea, Nick!”

“Then tell me. Talk to me.”

“Why should I?” she shouted. “You didn’t talk to me!”

“You were in recovery!”

She threw the blanket off of her shoulders with a sound of frustration and stomped into the kitchen.

“Where are you going?” Nick demanded.

“To bake a pie!” she shouted back.

“Seriously?”

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