Page 40 of Broken Promises

“I’ll be moving into Willa’s as of tonight. I was renting an apartment in the city. She wanted me to stay there while you were on tour. I didn’t understand why until this morning.”

I flinch, but he just pulls my chair closer and wraps an arm around my shoulder.

“What happened this morning?” Harlow asks. I see the way her eyes are flying between me and Declan. She’s worse than Jo when she senses something. She’s going to start digging if she thinks something is off. And knowing Harlow, she’ll find the truth.

“I feel like I know you guys,” Declan says. “Willa talks about you all the time and always has. She called me and woke me up in the middle of the night to tell me Cal had a little girl. The night Ezra went missing, I was on the phone with her when Kai cameto ask her where he was. We talked for hours the night Belle showed up covered in bruises. She was at one of my games when she had to leave early because Maverick drank too much and was causing a scene in a bar.”

“We had no idea who you were,” Maverick says, his cheeks flush with embarrassment.

“Yeah. Found that one out before leaving for practice this morning,” Declan says. I know he’s trying to hide how hurt he is, but I can hear it in his voice.

“I’m sorry,” I whisper to him, sure my voice is going to break if I speak any louder.

“Shit,” Kai says, leaning back in his seat and blowing out a breath.

“But why, Willa?” Belle asks, tears in her eyes. “You can tell me anything. Why lie about someone who means that much to you?”

I roll my lips between my teeth, trying to figure out how else to explain this.

“I’m not asking why you lied to everyone. I get it. But why did you lie to me?”

“I don’t know, Belle. I really don’t,” I admit. Out of all of this, that has been the biggest question I had for myself. Belle would have understood and kept Declan quiet from the rest of them if I asked her to. But I never gave her the chance.

Silence falls around the table. I don’t think anyone knows what to do or say right now.

“Well, it’s nice to meet you, Declan. I’m Harrison, Harlow’s father,” Harrison says, doing that head nod thing guys do when they meet each other.

“I figured that one out,” Dec says, gesturing to Harrison’s red hair that matches his daughter’s. Harrison laughs and nods.

“I’m Jason, Belle and Cal’s dad.” Declan shakes Jason’s hand since he’s sitting next to him.

“Jon,” Jon mutters from across from Declan. He never stopped eating during all the drama and is on his third plate. I think something is going on with his home life because he’s around a lot lately and grumpy nine times out of ten.

Harrison, Jason, and Cal get into a conversation with Declan about hockey. The rest of us eat in silence. Declan keeps his arm around me for the rest of dinner and it’s the only hope I have that I haven’t destroyed everything.

TWENTY-TWO

declan

“What’s her favorite color?”

I’m in the kitchen washing dishes while Harlow dries them. I offered to help and now I’m thinking I’ve been left in here alone with her on purpose. Willa warned me to watch what I say in front of her. And if Willa wasn’t somewhere with Belle right now, I don’t think she’d let us be alone.

“She’d tell you lilac like her hair if you asked, but it’s a cop-out, so she doesn’t have to keep telling people it was her mother’s favorite color. Because then they ask about her and Willa still gets pretty broken up talking about her.” Harlow watches me, her face not giving away what she’s thinking. “Her real favorite color is green.”

“Like your eyes?” she asks. My brows raise at the question.

“Is that why? She hasn’t told me if it is.” I grin. “Man, I hope that’s why.”

Harlow laughs at that. “I don’t know, but it wouldn’t surprise me with what she just told us in there.”

“Why did she keep her parents’ house? She could’ve sold it. No one else still has a house in Maine.”

I take a deep breath and hand her the plate I just washed. “That one is complicated. Some days I think it’s just because ofsentimentality. She doesn’t have a lot of memories of her mom, but she painted the inside of that house. Her mom hand-painted the unicorns on her bedroom walls.. There are other areas like daisies on a green wall in the kitchen, or the bathroom painted to look like a forest.” I’ve never stepped foot in that house, but I spent many hours on FaceTime with her while she lived there and could describe it from memory.

“And other days?”

I shrug. “Other days, I’m afraid she’s lost and is holding onto it, expecting to need somewhere to crash land.”

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