Page 119 of The Moment Promised

Everything that’s not within the town is miles away.

Like it’s our own little world.

I kind of love it, and it’s my new home.

I unlock my phone, opening my texts with Finn. I fumbled with the keys, backspacing and retyping, not sure what to say. I settle on,I landed, Chloe and Charlie just picked me up.Iwant to tell him I love him, but we can’t say that to each other anymore, it’ll just hurt all the more.

Once we get to the apartment, Chloe talks, never once letting up to take a breath. She listed adventures on the bucket list she wrote for us, told me about some apartment listings, and is now telling me about the cute boy she works with.

She brought up Finn a few times, but I just shook my head, not wanting to talk about it yet. I figure once I tell her the truth about who my real parents are, it’ll be easier to admit we’re over.

Charlie sits on the couch, watching his daughter with amusement, an easy smile on his face. He’s happy when she’s happy.

I don’t think I can go any longer without telling them. Something bursts, and I just interrupt her mid-sentence, “Chloe!” I take no time to think over my words before speaking them. “I’m your sister.”

Her face doesn’t fall, and she doesn’t gasp in shock, she just looks confused.

“Oh, wow. Um, that is not how I wanted to say that.” I clear my throat, looking past Chloe and straight at Charlie. “I know who Evia is.” I slowly step past my sister, then sit on the couch beside our dad.

Now his face does fall, his mouth hangs open slightly, like he’s just heard me say the name of a ghost.

“I know who she is because…” Here it goes. Please don’t hate me, Dad. “She’s my birth mom.”

His eyes ping pong between mine, confused and shocked and even more confused. His facial expression goes from denial to probability. Like he’s questioning if this is true. His fingers toucha strand of my hair, his eyes fill with water. “You have her eyes,” he says as emotion floods his vocal cords.

I laugh past a tear that falls down my cheek. I feel Chloe’s presence as she sits on the floor between us.

“Wow. Evia Monroe’s daughter.” He shakes his head in disbelief. “How is she?”

In his shock, he hasn’t registered what I said to Chloe.

“Dad,” Chloe says, eyes wide with tears. “Oh my god, Adeline. Are you?—”

“Charlie’s daughter.” I fill her silence. “Your sister.” My hands tremble.

Silence. Heavy, loud, raging silence.

“Wait.” Charlie stands to pace back and forth. “How?”

“I’m nineteen.” I answer with the logistics. “I was born April twenty-ninth in Key Largo,” I say, so he can do the math.

Chloe sits there, staring at me in disbelief. Her eyes graze over my features, the shape of my nose, the width between my eyes, finding all our similarities.

He stops pacing, looking me head on. “You’re Evia Monroe’s daughter?”

“Yes.”

“You’remydaughter?” he asks.

“Yes.”

“I’m your dad.” He echoes his thoughts, a smile breaks across his face.

I smile wider than I ever have before, reflecting his.

“Holy shit.” His hands reach up to squeeze his hair. “Shit. Sorry, no cursing, you two.” He points between Chloe and I. “Wow, Evia and I have a daughter together,” he says, dumbfounded. “Where is she, I’ve got to see her. Why didn’t she ever tell me?”

My heart sinks. I tell him what my mom told me, everything from why she hid to the way she died.

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