Page 120 of One and Only

Her eyes slid right past me.

Like I wasn’t even there.

“Olive, come get your bag,” she said. “We have to go.”

“Can I finish drawing these flowers?” Olive asked.

“No.” She crossed her arms. “We’re leaving now.”

Olive raced past me. “Bye, Greer,” she called.

I pinched my eyes shut, the burn in them tremendous and horrifying.

When Olive was inside and out of earshot, I took a few steps toward the house. “Josie, I’m so sorry,” I said.

“Don’t,” she said in a warning tone. “I can’t hear this right now. I’m taking my daughter, and I will deal with the two of you later.”

A sob escaped, loud and broken, and I rushed toward her. “Please don’t punish Beckett for this,” I begged quietly. Tears coursed down my face, unchecked and hot and unrelenting. “He’s such a good dad, and this was all my idea.” I laid a hand on my chest. My whole body shook like a leaf. “Please. He would never have done this if it wasn’t for me. He just wants…” My voice cracked, and I pushed past it blindingly. “He just wantstimewith her, and he loves her so much. He never wanted to hurt you.”

Josie’s lip trembled as she watched me absolutely unravel in front of her.

“This was all me,” I told her. My voice was hoarse, choked with emotions that I couldn’t stop. “Blameme. Please don’t punish him for this.”

Beckett’s face came into view behind Josie, his eyes red and his lips in a firm line. “Greer, stop. You can’t fix this for me.”

Josie acted like he wasn’t there, and an ugly sob clawed past my lips.

“Don’t you get it?” she asked quietly. “The moment you break someone’s trust, it doesn’t matter what your intentions were. You just have to deal with the fallout.”

I couldn’t stop crying. If I thought it hurt before, it was fucking nothing compared to the idea that this might have cost him a relationship with Olive.

Josie wiped under her eyes when Olive came back down the steps with her small pink suitcase and her heart-shaped sunglasses on her head.

Beckett picked her up to give her a hug, and even from where I stood, I saw the tight way he clutched her against his heart, a single tear escaping down his face.

It felt like someone was tearing my chest out.

“Bye, Greer. We can talk about Clarence when I come back!” And when she waved at me, I felt my heart crack into something unrecognizable.

I forced a smile, thankful she was far enough away that she couldn’t see the tears.

Josie gave us both an unreadable look. “I’ll call later after I talk to Micah,” she told Beckett.

“Josie,” he said.

She held up a hand. “Not now.”

When she slammed the door behind her, the vacuum of sound in her wake was deafening.

Beckett’s chest heaved, a choked sound of desperation yanked from deep in his throat. I covered my mouth with my hand.

“It’s over,” he said, voice ravaged and weary and heavy with emotion. When I took a step toward him, he shook his head. “I need to be alone right now, Greer.”

Our eyes met and held, and without another word, he turned and strode into his bedroom, slamming the door behind him.

Ten minutes later, my clothes shoved into my suitcase and my face wet with tears, I got into my car, turned it on, and started the drive back home.

Chapter26

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