Page 123 of Leave

As soon as she saw him, her eyes welled up, and she put her hands to her mouth. “Jesus, Nolan. I am so…” She squeezed her eyes shut, and a few tears rolled free. “I’m sorry.”

“For what?” Nolan came closer and hugged her gently, dwarfing her tiny frame as she leaned into him. “You didn’t do anything.”

“But I made you spend time around—around someone who didthatto you.”

“You didn’t know.”

“No, I didn’t. And I…” She gently freed herself from his embrace and started pacing the small room, staring down at her wringing hands. “I can’t lie, Nolan—I didn’twantto believe you. It… It’s not that I think you’d lie, especially about something like that. It was just…” She threw up her hands and looked at Nolan, shame and desperation in her eyes. “I know I should believe people when they say someone—when they say someone did thatto them. I know I should. But it was too horrible to imagine my best friend doing that, you know?”

Nolan nodded silently.

“And I’m sorry,” she whispered. “I’m sorry I doubted you and…” Sighing, she shook her head. “Then Leann accused you,” she went on with a pained expression, “and something didn’t sit right.”

“What do you mean?” Nolan’s tone gave away nothing.

Sophia swallowed. “I started thinking about how she is around you. How she’s been all these years.” Raking an unsteady hand through her hair, she shook her head. “Shealwayswants to be around you. Like, she’s kind of weirdly obsessed with seeking you out in a crowd, you know?”

Nolan shuddered, hugging himself and avoiding her gaze. “Yeah. I know.”

“Right, so she’s always been weird about you. And you’realwaystrying to put space between the two of you. That’s…” Sophia’s shoulders dropped. “That’s not telling me she’s the victim in this equation.

Nolan’s lips parted as he met her gaze.

Her eyes welled up again as she whispered, “I believe you, Nolan. I hate that you went through it. But I know you’re not lying.”

The emotions playing out on his face were hard to read. Some guilt, some relief; I could only imagine what it was like to be in his shoes right now.

I didn’t know if it would do any good, but I touched his back to reassure him I was here. Some tension melted out of his posture, and when he glanced at me, his expression softened.

“I know it’s been a long day,” Sophia said. “But… do you think you can handle seeing the family? Tonight?”

All that tension snapped right back into his muscles. “Uh…”

“Everyone is back at your parents’ house,” she said evenly. “No one’s getting the cops involved right now. It’s just the family. And… I think it would be good if you came so we could all talk things through.”

Nolan flinched and looked away.

“Everyone’s really confused and concerned right now,” she went on. “Yeah, there’s a lot of anger, too, but I think they need to hear you out. Now that everyone’s calmed down a little.”

He looked at me as if to ask what I thought.

I slid my hand up and down his back. “Whatever you want to do, baby. I’m with you.”

The ghost of a smile flickered across his face.

Clearing his throat, he faced her again. “What, um… What about the wedding?”

Sophia grimaced painfully. “I don’t know yet. We’ll… That’s something we all need to figure out, too. But… not until we do something about this mess. We can’t just go through with the wedding like nothing happened.”

“I’m so sorry,” Nolan whispered. “I fucking ruined your wedding, and—”

“Nolan.” Her voice was firm, but not unkind. “You didn’t ruin anything.”

“But I—”

“No.” She shook her head. “You didn’t do anything wrong. You’ve been carrying this horrible secret all this time, and without even realizing it, we were slapping you over the head with it. The only one who should be sorry is Leann for what she did to you.Shecaused all of this. Not you. Blaming you would be like… It would be like if someone threw a bowl of hot soup on you and we said you ruined the wedding by shouting in pain and then going to the hospital. Yes, I’m crushed. I’m devastated. And I feel terrible that we—whether we knew it or not—put you through this.Youhave nothing to be sorry for.”

I seriously thought Nolan was going to break down, and I wrapped my arms around him. I had no idea what to say, but the way he held on said I’d made the right move.

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