Page 123 of Every Broken Promise
“Ohmigod,” I screeched, making all three brothers jump up. “My friend Oriana must know what’s going on. She works with me on the paper.” I left out the part that it was her wedding yesterday, but desperate times called for desperate measures.
All of them looked at me and nodded.
“I bet that gossip queen must know all about this.” Adam snapped his fingers as the idea came to him.
“What gossip queen?”
“The one in your paper. Who is it? Or is it all-around anonymous?”
My stomach sank at the realization that they were talking about me without even knowing they were doing it. Truth be told, since my articles “Around Town with Hart” had been taking off, I had not been paying the same amount of attention to my “gossip” column. Ronnie didn’t seem to call me out on it as long as I kept doing my work. I didn’t like to dwell on it because then I would have to come face to face with some uncomfortable truths.
Again, this was not the time nor the place to think about that. But Adam’s idea did have merit. I had not checked the email inbox in a few days. Perhaps someone had some information that could help our girl Rachel out.
“You are a genius, Adam,” I told him as I got up, more than ready to get home and check my laptop.
Ty and EZ groaned—at least, I was sure it was them since I didn’t bother to turn.
“Beautiful, wait up,” Ty yelled after me.
Without thinking, I took his hand and led us to his truck. When we got there, he didn’t unlock it immediately. I craned my neck to look up at him, and sure enough, his eyes were on me, and there was a smirk on his face.
“Ty, we don’t have time for dramatics. Take me to my house. I need my laptop.”
His eyes went soft and then trailed down from my face to our hands, where I was still holding him. I felt my cheeks heat and was about to let go, but he didn’t let me. Instead, he took two steps forward to close the distance between us and then kissed me softly on the lips.
“It’s going to be okay. We are going to figure this out.”
Maybe it was how sure he was looking at me or the conviction in his tone, but I believed him despite all his broken promises.
FORTY-THREE
Tyler tookme back to my house. He didn’t say anything, but I could tell he was amused as I jumped out of his truck as soon as he pulled into my driveway.
“You couldn’t have texted this person?” he asked as he walked into the house.
“What do you mean?” I replied as I returned with my laptop and plopped down on my couch.
“The gossip column person. Do you have to email them, too?”
Oh yeah, that.
I sent a quick text to Orianna because I felt wrong calling her right after her wedding. What a mood killer, right?
“Can I trust you, Ty?”
My question was offhanded, and I didn’t mean anything by it. It wasn’t happening overnight, but I was working on my issues with him. I wanted what we had. Right now, it is easy and not complicated. It was just for us. I knew we were in some limbo, but limbo was good when you didn’t know where to go.
“Astrid,” Ty said my name, and I turned because of how serious he sounded.
If I wasn’t already sitting down, the intensity in his eyes would have knocked me out.
“I swear on my life, Astrid, I’m never going to let you down again.”
I should have told him that my question was rhetorical, that I didn’t mean it in that way, but when I opened my mouth, the croaked question sounded far away, even from my own ears.
“You promise?”
Tyler Kane held out his pinkie finger toward me.
