Page 42 of Keep This Promise
No, I’m not. I’m . . . well, I don’t know. I actually try really hard not to think about it or wonder if I’m going to wake up and they’ll be gone. So much of it doesn’t make sense, and it irritates me that Sophie’s husband knew who and where I was and still robbed me of being a part of Eden’s life. I would’ve been there, loved her, been . . . well, everything a father should be.
“I’m more worried about Sophie than anything.”
Spencer’s smug grin appears over the rim of his glass. “Worried about the fact that you have feelings for her or her safety?”
“Her safety.”
“So, you do have feelings for her?” he counters.
I walked into that one. “I obviously care about her. She’s the mother of my child.”
“And she’s beautiful,” Emmett adds in.
That instantly pisses me off. “You’re married, aren’t you?”
“Doesn’t mean I don’t have eyes, asshole. Sophie’s gorgeous and seems really nice. Blakely likes her . . .”
Spencer nods. “Brie too. She said lunch with the girls was great, and she is really happy about her working at the youth center. Mama James also stopped me yesterday to talk about how much she loves Eden and how Brielle should get Sophie a job.”
I swear, my aunt is the most meddling human I know. “That woman is determined to keep her here.”
Emmett laughs. “Did you expect anything different?”
I glance through the sliding glass door and see Sophie laughing with the girls. Eden is at the table, eating something I’m sure she shouldn’t, but Sophie looks so natural and at ease. As though these girls have been her friends for a lifetime instead of a handful of weeks.
“Things don’t add up with the messages and what she’s said. I can’t protect her if I don’t know the truth.”
“What makes you think she’s lying?” Emmett asks.
That question rolls around inside my head. “It’s just the timing of it all. The letters, the packages, then she shows up, completely unaware of whatever her husband is hiding her from. When Jenna and I were married, she couldn’t fart without me knowing it.”
Spencer snorts. “Holden, you were married when you were twenty. You and Jenna didn’t have secrets, and you didn’t have a life. You have no idea what their home was like.”
I fill them in on what little I do know about her life back in London, including how Sophie and Theo may have been married, but they were never intimate.
“Wait, so the last time that poor girl had sex was in a club with a guy who can’t remember?” Spencer asks with a smirk.
“She said it wasn’t bad.”
“Glowing endorsement.” Emmett lifts his glass, clanking it against Spencer’s. I really hate my freaking friends.
“My point is that they were friends. Look at us, we have the same type of friendship she had with him, and we tell each other everything,” I remind them.
The two of them share a conspiratorial look.
And then I remember my two best friends are lying dickheads.
“Right. Well, what I should’ve said was that I tell you fuckers everything, and you’re both assholes who lie.”
Spencer reaches out, gripping my shoulder. “I wanted to tell you about Brielle, but she and I didn’t want to put anyone in a weird position with Isaac.”
“I didn’t ever plan to say shit to either of you, so . . . there’s that,” Emmett says unapologetically.
One lied about being engaged and the other about being married. Now I understand why they chose to keep their relationships a secret, but when I found out, I was pissed. We’ve been friends since grade school, and it really felt like a slap in the face.
If Isaac were alive, he’d have kicked both their asses, and I would’ve helped.
“You both are shitty friends.”
