Page 16 of No One Can Know

“I know you have history, but you were coming across a little Karen-y there,” Nathan said with infuriating cautiousness and an edge of humor she wanted to cut him with.

“You didn’t hear what he said,” she ground out.

“Look, you’re not exactly in a good frame of mind,” he said. He reached for the basket. “Why don’t I check out. You can wait in the car.”

“I’m fine, Nathan,” she said—and realized she sounded like she wasabout to cry. Which was ridiculous, since she hadn’t cried once—not finding out about the layoff, the offer, the baby, confessing her deep dark secrets to him. Except as soon as she’d thought it, it was like all of it hit her at once.

“Fuck,” she said loudly. A man at the other end of the aisle looked her way.

She pinched the bridge of her nose. That ever-present nausea was surging again, and the store felt unbearably hot. She wanted to get outside under the sky and take a breath that didn’t stink of paint fumes.

Nathan rubbed a soothing hand along her upper arm. “Hey, it’s okay. Go wait in the car, turn the air-conditioning on. I’ll go pay, and we can get out of here.”

She nodded mutely. She walked out into the sun, a hand over her stomach. Still flat enough she could forget she was pregnant at all—except for the sickness and the sore boobs and the fatigue that walloped her by seven every night.

She stalked over to the car and clambered in. They’d parked in the sun and the heat inside was like a solid thing. She got the AC going and leaned her head back.

If she were smart, she’d leave. It wasn’t like Hadley actually had anything on her. Let Arden Hills talk; she didn’t need to listen.

Except that she couldn’t put the genie back in the jar, could she? Nathan knew. And he knew that she’d lied about it, by omission if nothing else, which meant he had good reason to wonderwhy. Good reason to wonderwhat if.

Nathan arrived. He put the bags in the trunk and came around to the front. He opened the driver’s-side door, leaned down. “Want me to drive?” he asked.

They swapped places, and Nathan reached for the key to start up the engine, then paused. “That guy, Hadley. He said to say hello to Gabriel? You mentioned a Gabriel earlier,” Nathan said. Not making it a question—quite.

Emma looked over at him steadily. “He’s a friend. Or he was. Helooks in on the house sometimes. Deals with the maintenance people, since he’s local.”

“What’s Hadley’s issue with him?” Nathan asked.

“Can we not do this right now?” she asked. Her voice cracked.

Nathan frowned. “Fine,” he said.

As they pulled away, Emma let her head drop back against the seat once again. She’d thought that they were well matched, she and Nathan. Her flaws balanced against his. But that was when she’d thought she would never have to come back to Arden Hills, or tell him about her parents. Or about Gabriel, for that matter.

Now the scales would tip, and tip, and tip, with each doubt-filled glance he cast her way.

Whether they stayed or left, it was only a matter of time.

“Crap,” Nathan said, just as they were turning onto Royal Avenue, toward the house. He smacked his palm against the steering wheel. “We forgot the bolt cutters.”

“It’s fine. We can leave the car on the road for another day,” Emma murmured. She just wanted to get inside the house. A strange sanctuary, but at least it was hers.

“What the hell? Someone’s parked in the driveway,” Nathan said, and now Emma straightened up. There was an unassuming silver car parked behind the trailer, but no driver. Nathan rolled to a stop with plenty of room to spare. Emma unbuckled and reached for the door handle. “Let me check it out,” Nathan said, motioning for her to stay.

“Hon,” Emma said, giving him a look, and he chuckled.

“Let me be noble and protective of my pregnant wife?”

“I’ll stand behind you,” she offered with a quirk of a smile. They both got out of the car and made their way toward the gate and the parked vehicle. True to her word, Emma let Nathan take the lead, but there didn’t seem to be anyone there. Then she looked past him. The gate was open—and walking toward them from the house was thelanky form of Gabriel Mahoney. He raised a hand in greeting from a distance, picking up his pace to a loping jog to reach them. A smile broke across Emma’s face, warm and unexpected, but Gabriel’s expression was neutral as he approached.

“Got your email,” he said, nodding to her, then looked immediately at Nathan, sticking out his hand. “Gabriel Mahoney.”

Nathan seemed to hitch for a moment before taking the offered hand and giving his own name. He snuck Emma a glance that she was pretty sure she knew the meaning of. Gabriel was, no way around it, gorgeous, with tousled brown curls that fall to his jaw and deep brown eyes. The cheeks that had been soft and boyish at twenty-one had given way to a sharp jaw and sharper cheekbones, accentuated by a close-trimmed beard. His eyes were hooded, somewhere between soulful and mysterious; she’d teased him for it, once upon a time.

“Sorry I wasn’t out here sooner. My grandmother’s been in the hospital, so I was with her,” he said, still talking more to Nathan than to her. The smile that had curled her lips faded.

What had she expected? That he’d be happy to see her?

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