Page 53 of Skylar

But now he knew, and Skylar was sure that his friendship with Aiden was still intact.

“Was there something you needed from me?” Skylar asked. Her tone of voice was probably harsher than it should be because of her thoughts about the friendship her brother and ex-boyfriend shared.

There was a long pause before Cole responded. “I was just wondering how you were doing. How you felt about Aiden and the situation with Shiloh.”

“I don’t think how I feel about any of that is relevant to anything.”

“What do you mean?”

“My feelings about all of it haven’t mattered to anyone.”

“Tell me how you’re feeling.”

“Why?”

“Because I care about you,” Cole said. “I love you and feel bad that you didn’t think you could confide in me.”

“You’re best friends with the man who hurt me very badly.”

“That’s true, but that doesn’t mean I wouldn’t understand and support you.”

“Would you have supported me not wanting Aiden to meet Shiloh?” she asked. “Or me not wanting Charli and Blake to tell Shiloh about me and Aiden?”

Another long pause confirmed what she’d assumed would be his position.

“Sky, it’s not as black and white as that.”

“Of course it’s not,” she said. “For you and everyone else. But for me it is. No one else was there at the end of our relationship. No one else was there when he told me to get rid of the baby.”

“He said he told you that because he thought you were trying to trap him.”

Instead of anger, Skylar felt sad and a little sick. “You know I’m not like that.”

“I do know that,” Cole said. “But I also know how much you loved Aiden, and how much you hoped to have a future with him.”

“But not enough to lie about being pregnant,” she told him. “You know that. Plus, why would I want to be with someone who clearly didn’t want to be with me?”

“You’re right,” he said. “You never would have done that.”

“And Aiden knew that, too. He just chose to believe Iwoulddo something like that in order to justify what he said.”

“He knows that what he did back then was wrong,” Cole told her. “Both the way he broke up with you and how he reacted when you told him you were pregnant.”

Skylar didn’t respond to that. Aiden had expressed the same sentiment to her. She’d heard his apology, so she knew he was sorry.

She stared at the birds flying in the sky high above the trees in the distance. Suddenly, she felt weary. Weary of fighting for what she’d thought was right. Weary of being made to feel bad about not wanting what everyone else wanted.

“Sis, I’m sorry,” Cole said. “I’m not trying to make you feel bad about what you wanted in this situation. I know this all must have been really hard on you.”

“It is hard,” Skylar agreed. “But nothing I’m dealing with is as hard as what Shiloh is facing, and what Charli and Blake are experiencing. The focus just needs to be on them, and what is best for them.”

She truly believed that. So even though she struggled with what was going on, it was something she needed to keep to herself. This conversation with Cole would be the last time she addressed it.

Maybe she should go back to Vegas. That way, she’d be able to escape the weight of everything.

Shiloh can’t escape what she’s going through.

The thought slipped into her mind and made her pause.

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