Chapter Thirty-One

Evie

It was well past two and instead of being in bed, trying to sleep off what was sure to be a doozie of a hangover, Evie was lying on her patio lounger gazing at the sliver of moon hanging over the Rockies in the distance, sipping on a hot cup of coffee. The stars were brighter than normal, twinkling in the sky like millions of fairy lights.

The events of the night had her tied into an emotional pretzel. The more time they spent together, the more natural their interaction became, until the beginnings of a bond began to form—a bond she would be crazy to explore. But it was there and impossible to ignore.

Should she have played her cards differently—stuck to the plan?

For one, she never should have invited him inside the house. She should have told him to get his own glass of lemonade in his own damn house. Also, the moment he got within kissing distance, she and her blue panties should have headed for the hills. Maybe climbing the Rockies would have burned off some of that sexual frustration. But instead she’d drunk-texted him, then propositioned him for a quickie in the back seat of his soccer-dad SUV, which housed a booster seat and goldfish-cracker crumbs.

Lord help her.He’d kissed her on the cheek and sent her inside, a perfect gentleman, but Evie had to face facts. In the span of a few weeks, she and Jonah had gone from feuding, to flirting, to faking, to fuc—

A rustling sounded in the distance. Evie sat straight up as a shadow appeared from the side yard, so fast coffee sloshed over the rim, burning her skin. But she was too busy going through all the reasons there would be that kind of foot-on-leaves rustling.

Heart ricocheting off her ribs, she strained her eyes, wondering if maybe she’d manifested Jonah out of high-altitude-thin air. Had he come to melt the clothes off her body? And if so, would she let him know that she was mostly sober?

She watched as the shadow got larger and finally stepped into the center of the yard and the floodlights went on. Her heart gave a little sad tap dance. Instead of a deliciously addictive master of the man-made O sneaking through her yard, a brunette teenager wearing wedged heels, a slip of a sundress, and enough apprehension to advertise she was up to no good froze like a deer in the headlights.

“For future reference,” Evie said. “You might want to sneak back in on the side of the house that doesn’t have motion-activated lights.”

Her daughter slowly met her gaze. Instead of being filled with guilt, Camila cocked a hip and sent Evie a bored-AF expression. “I wasn’t sneaking. I forgot my key.”

“Sorry, try again.”

“Fine, maybe I didn’t want to be left out in the sneaking around department. It seems to be a Granger way of life lately. If you know what I mean.”

Oh, Evie knew all too well. She hadn’t just been sneaking, she’d been lying—to the people she loved the most on this planet. And if Camila was feeling even a tenth as guilty as Evie right then, maybe they needed to have a girl-to-girl talk.

She leaned back and sipped her coffee. “Then maybe we both come clean.”

“You mean, like I tell you where I was, and you rat out who I was with?”

“Or you tell me why you felt the need to sneak out in the first place.” Even though the light flickered off, plunging them into the darkness, Evie could practically see Camila roll her eyes. “Or we can both go to bed and you can lose all privileges for a month.”

“Fine. I was with Ryan,” Camila said, walking over and taking a seat on the lounger next to Evie. The light flickered back on at her movements.

Evie grabbed her cell off the patio table and the screen came to life.

“Let me guess, you’re calling your boyfriend to rat out Ryan.”

“I’m turning off the patio lights from my phone. As for Jonah, I’m not telling him anything.”

“Thank you,” Camila said, sounding relieved.

“You’re going to tell him that you were in his house without his knowledge.”

“Why?”

“Because he has a right to know that Ryan is sneaking in after-hours friends.”

Camila let out a huge sigh and slunk down in the chair. “He didn’t know I was coming. I just kind of knocked on his window. It wasn’t his fault.”

“If you wanted to go to Ryan’s, you just needed to ask, I would have let you go over,” Evie said. “At an appropriate time.”

“You weren’t home.”

Whatever guilt Camila was trying to ignite in Evie never came. Yes, she was out. And it was about damn time she started living a little. “Not a valid excuse. You could have texted.”

“Honestly?” Camila huffed. “I didn’t want to talk to you.”

Evie’s heart painfully tightened at the realization of just how big of a divide her lie had caused between her and Camila. Her daughter might not know the extent of the lie, but instinctually she obviously knew Evie was hiding something. That was not the kind of behavior she wanted to model.

“Do you mind if I ask why?”

Camila shrugged the shrug of a little girl. Gone was the brooding sixteen-year-old and in her place was Evie’s precious daughter—who was obviously hurting.

“Because it’s about Dad and I didn’t want to talk to you about him.”

Evie’s heart sank. She’d worked tirelessly to make sure she never talked negatively about Mateo in front of Camila. Even when things had been at their worst, Evie always tried to put a positive spin on things. And when that wasn’t possible, she’d just hug Camila until the pain subsided.

“I’m sorry you feel like you can’t come to me about your dad.”

Again with the weighted shrug. “Why would I when you keep things from me and lie to me? Here you’re lecturing me about sneaking out and you’ve been blaming not going to Dad’s wedding on the cheer competition.”

Panic and disappointment made a complicated knot in her gut. Panic over what her daughter knew and disappointment that she lied to cover up for her ex once again and lied to her daughter, breaking their truth code.

“Even worse, Heather is pregnant. And it’s a girl. And he didn’t even tell me. I had to find out from his Insta page.”

Evie was going to kill him.

“Oh my God!” Camila said. “You knew, didn’t you? You knew and kept it from me!”

“Yes, I knew. And yes, I kept it from you.” The betrayal in her daughter’s eyes was nothing compared to the absolute heart-crushing uncertainty crumpling her petite frame.

“I hate you,” she whispered, tears rolling down her face. “More than Dad, I hate you.”

Those four letters were like an arrow to Evie’s heart.

“Why didn’t you just tell me the truth?” Camila’s voice was thread thin, emotions sucking the air from her chest.

Evie set her mug on the table and scootched to the edge of the lounger, so she was closer to Camila. “It was Dad’s news to share, and I wanted to give him a chance to tell you first.”

Camila snorted. “Dad never tells me anything. But you and I are supposed to talk about everything. At least we did before you started dating Jonah.”

She cupped Camila’s cheek. “This has nothing to do with Jonah. In fact, I found out before we started dating.”

Camila rolled off the support. “Were you ever going to tell me?”

“Yes. I just didn’t know how without hurting you.”

“Letting me believe that you were the one who didn’t want me to go to the wedding hurt worse. You always said we’re a team and that wasn’t very team-like.”

“You’re right. I shouldn’t have lied,” she said. “I was giving your dad till the end of his honeymoon and then I was going to talk to you if he hadn’t. But I should have come to you straight away.” Evie wiped away one of Camila’s tears that were streaming down her face. “How do you feel about having a baby brother or sister?”

“I guess that part will be kind of cool. I mean, I love Waverly, and she and Ryan are super close.” Camila looked down at her hands, which were nervously smoothing over the crease of her dress.

“But?”

“But they live in the same house. Dad and Heather live in Boulder, and I barely see them as it is. Once they have the baby, they’ll be even busier.”

“And you’re afraid that it will affect your and Mateo’s relationship?” she asked, even though they both knew the answer to that question.

Chasing bright, shiny objects was Mateo’s MO. He changed directions like a compass in the Bermuda Triangle. And while Evie hoped that his new baby was a wake-up call that would make him step up as a father for both his kids, history warned her to be cautious with her optimism. To not give Camila false expectations for something that might never happen.

“He’s already changing,” Camila said. “I mean he threw a kid-free wedding. He said it was because Heather has a large family with a lot of nieces and nephews, but I’m not a kid.”

“No, you’re not.” And while Camila was referring to being closer to college-bound than construction paper collages, the subtext was screaming, “I’m his kid!”

“Do you love Jonah?” Camila asked and Evie choked on oxygen, which was a miracle since she couldn’t seem to get any to her lungs.

Love? No way. Like? Absolutely. Like-like? She was afraid to answer that. But she didn’t want to rack up another secret, especially with someone who’d been on the receiving end of too many secrets lately.

“I’m not sure,” she said honestly. “When we started this relationship, it was because we both needed help from the other. He promised to be my beard to get everyone off my back about dating and put a stop to the ClickByte insanity. In exchange, I agreed to help him get his life together so he could start his new job.”

Camila’s mouth was open as if poised to swallow a fly. “So you aren’t even really dating?”

“A few days ago, I would have said no. But now I’m not so sure.”

Camila’s shoulders sank. “I’m happy that you’re dating, but why did it have to be Ryan’s dad?”

“Convenience,” she said, but was that really the truth? She could have picked a handful of men from the PTA or even one of the many suitors, like Ernie. Stable, sensitive, single-dad Ernie, who was about as threatening as a gnat.

Instead, she’d gone for a man whose life was a bigger mess than hers. He was the most uncertain, unavailable, and un-dateable man she knew and yet there they were—dating.

The term “fake dating” no longer seemed to apply. The moment they’d had almost-sex all bets were off. Now it was her mission to get them back on. She didn’t need any more dependents in her life, and Jonah came with a minivan full of them.

“Does Grandma know?”

“No, and I’d like to keep it that way. But I would never ask you to lie or keep something from her. So if you need to tell her, I support you.”

Camila tugged her earlobe. “Nah. I get wanting to have something all to yourself.”

“Like Ryan,” Evie probed.

Camila’s face went slack with surprise. “How did you know?”

Evie nudged her daughter’s shoulder with her own. “Just a guess.”

“If I tell you something, do you promise not to make a big deal out of it? Because it’s not a big deal.”

Evie hooked her pinkie around Camila’s. “Promise.”

“Well, he kissed me tonight,” Camila said and Evie squealed. Camila put her hand over Evie’s mouth. “Not a big deal, remember?”

Evie zipped her lips. “Right. Can I ask how it was?”

“It was weird.” Camila’s face took on a shy blush. “But nice.”

She slung her arm over Camila’s shoulder and pulled her daughter against her side. “I’m glad it was nice, but you know this means no more closed door get-togethers when he’s over. And no more after-hours talks.”

“So much for not making this a big deal, Mom!”