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CARSON
She’s here. Way earlier than I expected her. Which means either something happened with her dad and brother, or she knows.
Either way, this is going to hurt.
I walk downstairs when I hear her footsteps in the living room. She crosses the space and walks to the kitchen. By the time I catch up with her, she has a glass of water, and she’s standing at the window, staring out to the backyard to the gazebo we’re putting up.
“Libby?” I say.
She doesn’t turn around. Shit.
“Everything okay?”
“Not so much,” she answers.
I walk to her when she still doesn’t turn around. But when I reach her side, it isn’t hard to see the anger on her face. And when she glances over, to see the hurt underneath all that.
“Are you okay?” I ask, trying to gauge the situation. Trying to figure out how to approach this.
“You lied to me.”
Fuck. I nod. “I did.”
“I thought…” She blows out a breath. “The whole thing, this whole time—it was a lie.”
“No, not the whole thing.”
“You didn’t tell me about Kyle. That you worked with him.”
“I didn’t, but—”
“You had the chance to. Not just at the beginning, but when he called me again. Or…I don’t know.” She laughs painfully. “The weeks and weeks after that when we worked together. You didn’t just lie once, you lied the whole time.”
“Not the whole time. Libby—”
“I trusted you! I believed you. I thought…” She swallows again. “I thought you cared about me.”
“I do. Libby—look at me.” When she doesn’t, I grip her shoulders and turn her to face me. “I do care about you—that has nothing to do with this.”
“No? So you lie to everyone you care about? What would your mom think about that?”
I wince. She might as well have slapped me. My mom would think I’m an ass. That’s why I didn’t tell her either. But Kyle is the only thing I lied about.
“I shouldn’t have lied to you. I know that. But I didn’t want you to think I was just like him and I was going to screw you over, too.”
“You did,” she whispers. “You screwed me over.”
“Libby…”
“What?” Her eyes flash. “You can’t deny it. You came here and pretended to break in so you’d have an excuse to be here. To convince me to hire you. Did you fake that faulty wire, too?”
“Hell, no. And I didn’t come here looking for a job either.”
“Oh, no? Just coincidence then?”
“Yes. I mean—”
“Why would I believe you? You were just here for revenge.”
“What?” I mean sure, I wanted Kyle to get what was coming to him, and yeah, I knew this would hurt him. But that’s not why I did this.
“He even left me a message,” she says, reaching into her pocket.
I release her arms, staring at her phone. “Who? Kyle?”
“Yes.”
“He’s lying.”
She shakes her head. “If so, that makes two of you.”
She puts the phone on speaker and plays the message. Kyle’s voice fills the quiet space.
“I’m so sorry to be contacting you like this,” Kyle begins.
I roll my eyes at the fakeness of his voice. How can she believe this?
“I just came by to apologize for not getting back to you sooner and see if there’s anything I can do to help and I ran into Carson,” he says. “I don’t want to have to be the one to tell you this, but we used to work together. We split after a project didn’t work out—and he was mad I landed this one. Anyway, it looks like he got his perfect revenge because he convinced you to work with him.”
“Libby, that’s—”
“Quiet,” she says, her voice too calm. “He’s not finished.”
“I feel really bad, and I hope this doesn’t screw up your project. If you need someone to help finish it, I can be available ASAP. I’m really sorry again—I just…I hate to see someone being used, and I felt like I needed to tell you.”
When he finishes, the room plunges into silence. I don’t miss the tremor in Libby’s hand. Even though she’s healed well from the fall off the ladder, part of me just wants to take care of her again like I did before. To pull her into my arms and reassure her that she’s not wrong about me or the situation. That she can still trust me.
But her eyes say everything her mouth isn’t. That she hates me for what I did to her.
“I thought you were different,” she says quietly, still clutching her phone.
“I am different. It was a misunderstanding.”
“Doesn’t sound like it to me.”
I shake my head, not sure how to convince her. Maybe she just needs time to cool down. To work off her hurt.
“I don’t know what to say. I lied about knowing Kyle but that’s it.”
“And you lied about your feelings for me.”
“I didn’t. I swear.”
But it’s too late. Her face is already closed off, unwilling to believe what I’m telling her. It kills me when I see tears in her eyes, a shimmer of pain about to spill over.
“I can’t be around you right now. I can’t—”
Her breath hitches, and she turns, shoulders moving in a sob. Shit.
“Libby, please…”
“Leave me alone.”
Her voice trembles, but I can’t ignore the anger there. Or the warning. I’d better do what she says.
So I walk out of the kitchen and grab my car keys and wallet off the table by the door. I don’t know where to go or how long to be gone, but I know I need to respect what she wants right now.
Outside, the sky is clouded over. It looks like rain. Just perfect for the day I’m having. I hop in my truck and turn the key, but don’t go anywhere just yet.
I look back to the house, debating. I can’t just leave her like this. But if I go back in, she might kick me out of her life for good and I can’t risk that. Not with how I feel for her. Not with how much I’ve invested—not in the house, but in her.
Damn. I didn’t feel like this when I found out about Denise and Kyle. I was pissed, plain and simple. But I didn’t hurt my chest the way this is.
Which tells me just how strong my feelings for Libby are.
And how broken my heart is now that it’s over.