Page 46 of Seeing You

“Okay, well…”

“And we’re gonna need details this time,” Chloe stated. “You’ve been incredibly vague about the whole Marcus thing for years, so…spill it.”

“Wow,” Jade murmured, raising her glass. “I like this confident side of you, Chloe. Very impressive.”

Smiling, Chloe picked up her own glass. “I kind of like it too! People really listen when you sound firm.” Then she glanced at Billie. “Details!”

“Fine!” she snapped. “Sheesh!”

As much as she loved her privacy, she knew there was no way she was going to get through the night without telling them everything. They would be relentless. So rather than fight it, she embraced it.

Sort of.

After the initial breakup ten years ago, Billie swore she’d never tell anyone about where she and Marcus were supposed to go that next day. All she ever said was that she wasn’t happy, and she wanted to come home. No one had questioned it. But now she felt ready to share her deepest secret with them.

After going over their dinner date, arguing over the letter, the kiss, and then him showing up at the wedding, she gave abare-bones description of what happened up in her hotel room, leaving out the super sexy and intimate details.

“So there we were, lying there all sweaty and satisfied…”

Cora cleared her throat and stood. “I’m just going to, uh…get some more wine.”

“Oh my God! Why would you sleep with him?” Ash demanded. “I mean…with your history, both way back when and the whole dinner thing, why onearthwould you sleep with him?”

It was on the tip of her tongue to say she was horny, but she wanted to be a little respectful considering Cora was there, plus…it would be a lie.

“I slept with him because…I really wanted to. Our sex life was never the problem and I guess my curiosity got the better of me. As soon as he touched me, I pretty much lit up like a damn Christmas tree.”

“Okay. I guess then youhadto,” her sister mumbled. “I thought you would have had more self-control than that.”

“Believe me, I did too. But afterwards, you know…lying there all sweaty and satisfied…in my head, I thought that this was a good thing—we were either going to get back together or it was a one-time thing and we were going to really have closure,” she explained. “But the more we talked, the more it became blazingly obvious that he hadn’t changed. He was as stubborn as ever, expected me to give up my life here, and said I should have gotten this baking thing out of my system by now!”

“No!” they all cried in disbelief.

Taking a sip of her wine, she went over the rest of the argument right until he got to the door. “Okay, so…there’s something I never told anyone,” she began slowly, staring at her glass instead of anyone in particular. “The day I left Marcus…well…we were supposed to leave for vacation the next day.”

“Where were you going?” Cora asked.

“Mom!Shh!” Jade hissed. “That’s not important right now!”

“We were going to Hawaii…to get married.”

“What?!”

Then all the questions started.

“You were eloping?”

“Why didn’t you tell us?”

“Why would you have a wedding without your family?”

“I can’t believe you kept this secret all these years!”

“Look,” she finally interrupted, “I’m not proud of it, and it was the hardest thing I’ve ever had to do in my life! I loved Marcus—a part of me still loves Marcus—but the life we were creating wasn’t…I wasn’t happy! The longer I stayed with him, the further apart I was growing from all of you.”

“What a jerk!” Cora stated. “Good riddance!”

“Mom! Please!” Jade warned before looking at Billie. “Sorry. Go on.”

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