Page 92 of Terms + Conditions
“Language.”
“Like you’ve never heard it before?” She rolls her eyes.
Oh God, is this what it’s like to deal with a teenager?
“That’s not the point,” I say. “You’re fifteen, you shouldn’t—”
“Exactly. I’m old enough to use words like that.” Brie stops me when I try to fight her on it further. “Oh, trust me.” Brie scoffs. “I’ve saidwayworse.”
I take a deep breath but let it go. I’m not here to fight with her. I’m here to try and figure out what is going on, and the best way to do that is to get ahold of Juliet. “When you get a minute, can you give me your mother’s number?”
“Why?” I don’t miss the way Brie’s eyes light up.
“I want to speak with her about all of this. There are a lot of things we need to figure out. The sooner I can get ahold of her, the sooner we can figure out how long you’ll be staying.”
And the sooner I can put any doubts Elizabeth may have behind us.
Walking into the bedroom is like déjà vu. Elizabeth sits on the ottoman against the floor-to-ceiling window overlooking the East side of Manhattan. She has shed her clothes from the day and changed into a white nightgown that looks delicious against her tanned skin.
“A kid, Josh?” Elizabeth asks before I can say anything. She turns from the window, her lips set into a straight line. I’ve been dreading this conversation since Brie uttered my name at the front door. “How are we supposed to—”
“I didn’t know!” I sigh, falling onto the edge of the bed, and rub my eyes.
“Awesome, this is just fan-freaking-tastic.”
“Sugar, you can’t be mad at me for something I didn’t even know about until a few hours ago.”
“Is this what she wanted to tell you?” She asks, but I don’t have an answer. The truth is, I don’t know what she wanted to tell me last year, but I can only assume it had something to do with this. Why didn’t she show up to the cafe last July? “Josh,” Elizabeth says quietly, drawing my gaze to her. “I’m not going to get mad, okay? But, you have to tell me the truth. What happened when you went to Wichita?”
Is she implying that I lied about not seeing Juliet last year?
“Elizabeth, I haven’t seen Juliet since twenty-ten. I told you, she never showed up last year. I swear to you—”
“She knew our address, for godsakes. How would she get that unless—”
“I don’t know!” I dig my fingers into my hair, standing from the bed and tugging on the strands. “I don’t know. And I know that’s not a good enough answer, but it’s the truth. I have no idea how she found our address or how Brie found Michaela’s. The whole thing makes no sense.”
“I will not be made a fool of, Joshua Davis.” Elizabeth takes a deep breath, her hands clenching the edge of the ottoman. “Thishas to be what she wanted to tell you. This iswhyshe wrote that letter. She wants to—”
“Elizabeth, stop.”
I cross the room and kneel in front of her. Taking her hands in mine, I try to gain her attention. “Look at me,” I beg, but she still refuses. I grip her chin finally turning her gaze toward mine. “It’s all going to be okay, Sugar. We’ll figure it out.”
“What if Brieisyour daughter?”
“Then we find a way to deal with it. Together.” A sigh of relief escapes me when Elizabeth slumps forward resting her forehead on my shoulder. I tighten my arms around her, kissing her temple. “I love you.”
“You better.”
CHAPTER FORTY-EIGHT
THEN
October 2024
HAVE YOU EVER BEEN to a wedding with your soon-to-be ex-wife, but nobodyknowsshe’s your soon-to-be ex-wife? No? Well, I don’t recommend it.
Thankfully, we have both been too preoccupied with wedding hoopla to see much of each other, but at the end of the day, when everyone goes to bed, we’re left to deal with one another in the close quarters of the hotel room. We can’t have separate rooms, that would raise brows. I don’t think we’ve spoken a word to each other away from the others…No, scratch that. She huffed out agoodyfrom the passenger seat of my Bronco when I quoted the trip from our house in Winchester to the Alderidge Estate at a little over two hours.
