Page 28 of Tempting Promises
There, that should shut her up.
Only it doesn’t. “You should’ve never gotten in a car with him! What if he took advantage of you?”
“Did you hear anything I said? Is that really what you think?”
The world has officially flipped on its axis. I am defending Rowan Whitlock to my sister. I don’t know what kind of alternate reality I just woke up in.
“Yes! It’s exactly what I think. You don’t know him like I do. He’s a liar and a cheater who broke my heart.”
“Two years ago! You’re in New York now. You left! You left me, and you don’t get to call me after I had a horrible night, when my head feels like it’s in a vise, and scream at me for allowing someone to take care of me. If you want that job, Aurora, come home and do it yourself!”
That shuts her up, though. I can hear the silence driving the wedge deeper through our relationship.
Aurora was my best friend. My only friend. When our parents died, it was her I clung to. Then our grandparents took us in, raised us here, and we lost them.
She left me just like all of them did.
I know it’s not fair or right to feel that way, but it’s the truth.
In my heart, I feel her abandonment even worse than if she’d died. My parents didn’t choose to leave. They drove home one night after a parent-teacher conference and were hit head-on by a drunk driver. There was no goodbye. No time to prepare for what it would mean, we were just...orphans.
But I had her.
We both dealt with the loss of our parents differently, I guess. I learned to love people, but with a bit of distance, where Auroraclung to everyone. Which is why I think when things don’t work out with a guy, she’s left angry and hurt.
“I didn’t leave you,” she says after a minute of absolute silence.
“You did.”
“I had to go.” Her voice is shaky and cracks at the end.
“I know.”
And I do. She was never a farm girl. The dust and chores and never-ending home repairs were never her thing. All Aurora wanted was to go back to New York City where we were born and lived until our parents died.
She loves it there.
I love it here.
But she would’ve stayed if Rowan hadn’t broken her heart.
“But I didn’t leave you, Charlotte. I just...staying there wasn’t where I belonged.”
I nod even though she can’t see it. “I don’t begrudge you because you left. All the two of us have ever wanted for the other was to be happy. I know that Rowan hurt you, and you decided to leave because of it.”
“Not because of it, but it was what drove me to go and do what we both know I always wanted,” she corrects.
“I understand all of it, which is why I never asked you to stay, but don’t you dare question my loyalty to you. I did nothing wrong. I was simply lucky enough that he kept that guy from forcing himself on me. I don’t remember all of it, but I know I kept saying no, and he didn’t take the hint.”
She sucks in a breath. “Oh my God.”
“It wasn’t like that. We were in the bar still, but it could’ve gone that way fast. Rowan made sure it didn’t.”
“Then I guess that’s . . . well, it’s good he was there.”
The one thing that weighs heavy on my mind is how he remains adamant he didn’t cheat on Aurora. “You know he says he never cheated on you.”
“Well, I saw it with my own eyes. I don’t want to talk about it. It hurts too much still.”
