“Lo?” Dad’s voice filtered into my room and I stopped writing. “Loretta said you’re here.”

I closed the notebook and went out into the main room. “Hey.”

He smiled as if that small gesture would fix everything.

“Hey, Dad, what’s up?”

“I have great news, sweetheart. The agent called, and the house is finally ready. We should get the keys by the end of next week. I brought some boxes to start packing.” He flicked his head over to the pile of cardboard propped up against the wall.

“Are you planning on doing a Ross?” I joked but his eyebrows knitted together and I knew my Friends reference was lost on him. “I don’t think we need boxes, Dad. It’s not like we have much more than we arrived with.”

“Well, just in case.” He looked sheepish, and I hated it. Hated it made me feel guilty—like I was the reason for the distance between us. “Stella said yesterday was fun.”

“Fun, yeah.”

“Lo, please. I know you’re still coming to terms with this, but she’s important to me.”

“So you keep saying.”

Dad ran a brisk hand over his head and I could sense his frustration. But I couldn’t just get past it, I couldn’t.

“I want the truth,” I stated flatly.

“The truth?” Confusion clouded his eyes.

I nodded. “You still haven’t told me when this started, how it started. In fact, you haven’t told me anything, Dad. You just dropped her on me and expected me to smile and welcome her with open arms. I’ll remind you that you’re the adult here, not me. I shouldn’t have to tell you, you screwed up. People keep telling me how much you love me, how you only want the best for me, but all I can see is how this worked out excellently for you. So, tell me the truth. How long?”

“Eloise,” his voice cracked, and I knew there was more to it—so much more. Things I didn’t really want to know. But I’d asked. I’d given him permission to lay it all on me, so I had to suck it up.

He walked to the sofa and sat down, but I remained standing. “Stella and I were high school sweethearts.”

“You’re fucking kidding me?” The words flew out causing Dad’s eyes to widen to saucers, but he didn’t scold me. How could he when he’d just confirmed my worst fears?

“We dated for almost six years.”

“She was your first love?”

“Stella was my first everything.”

“I need a drink.” I scrambled to the sink and grabbed a glass just as Dad said, “Lo, really?”

“Water, Dad, I need water.” I filled the glass and held it up for him to see. “What happened?”

“Your mother happened.”

It was my turn to stare in disbelief. “Mum?”

“The summer after junior year at college, I volunteered at a summer camp in Monteverde…”

I knew this story. Two young kids who wanted to change the world, spent the summer helping disadvantaged kids in Monteverde. Mum loved to tell me and Elliot the story. How they fell in love in the suffocating heat and mosquito infested forests. Supposedly Dad rescued her from being eaten alive, lending her his net. But never once did she mention the fact that Dad was already in love with someone else.

“What happened?”

He smiled fondly as if he was remembering. “The summer ended, and I had to return to UCLA for my senior year and your mother had to return to England. Watching her leave, saying goodbye, it was one of the hardest things I’ve ever had to do. When I got back to college, to Stella, I was different.”

“You went back to her?” I gasped feeling my chest tighten.

“It was complicated. Love is always complicated. I loved Stella with all my heart. She was my first love, my first everything, but what I felt with your mother… it was magical. But her life was in England and my life was here, in California.

“I let her go. I came clean to Stella and told her there had been someone over the summer but that it was a mistake. Stella was my future. And for the next year, she was. I often thought about your mother, about what she was doing, where she was. And then one day, I was running errands for your grandma in town and I saw her. Standing there, like a mirage. I knew then, it was fate. I’ve never been a religious man, Lo, but seeing your mother standing there, it was a sign.”

“She came for you.”

He nodded, unshed tears glistening in his eyes. “I was engaged to marry Stella but in that moment, when I pictured my wife—the future mother to my children—I saw your mother’s face. I broke things off with Stella and made plans to move to England. It wasn’t an easy decision. Your grandparents reacted badly. They already considered Stella part of the family—by hurting her I also hurt them, deeply. It took a long time for me to repair that.”

So much made sense now. Why they never visited. Rarely called. It wasn’t until we were older that Dad talked about his family more. When he’d suggested visiting them last summer, Mum hadn’t been keen. I’d overheard an argument but put it down to Mum’s reluctance to leave Elliot, even though he was off doing his own thing most of the time.

“She didn’t want to come, last summer,” I said. “Mum didn’t want to come, did she?”

“No. Your grandparents blamed her. I left for her, Lo. I was young. I gave up so much. But I’d do it again in a heartbeat. Marrying your mother was the best decision of my life. It gave me two wonderful children.” He swallowed as if the words we painful. “And I loved my life in Surrey very much.”

“What changed?”

“Excuse me?” Dad’s voice wasn’t defensive, just confused.

“You said you loved your life, what changed?”

“The accident, how you dealt with things, you know—”

“Don’t lie to me, Dad. There’s something you’re not telling me. I can see it in your eyes.”

He released a heavy sigh, and I braced myself. “When Elliot left for Oxford University and you started making plans for your future, I realised how much time had gone by. You would soon be off having families of your own and I’d barely spoken to mine in twenty years. It was time to make amends. That’s why I wanted to make the trip.”

There was more. Even now, he wasn’t telling me everything. I don’t know how I knew, but I did. The real reason—the truth behind all of this.

“You wanted to move back here, didn’t you?”

Sadness washed over his face and I had my answer. “Yes. There was an opportunity at Stone and Associates and Gentry wanted me to come on board. It was time.”

“And Stella?”

“I promise, Stella wasn’t in the picture then. I wanted to make the move with your mother, and you and Elliot, if you wanted to come.”

“And if we didn’t?

His face blanched until he was as white as a sheet.

“You were coming anyway,” I whispered, the words punctuating the air.

“Lo.”

I held up my hand to silence him, trying to digest everything. “You were going to leave us?”

“Eloise, please. It isn’t like that.”

“Did she know?” The words spewed out of me. “Did Mum know?”

“She knew I wanted to move back, yes, but she didn’t know—”

“Oh my God, she didn’t know. She didn’t know you were leaving. She died, and she didn’t know. You bastard, get out. GET OUT!” My voice was no longer my own as I heaved ragged breaths, my hold on reality slipping.

“Lo, please, let’s talk abou—”

“GET OUT!” I yelled over and over, tears flowing down my face as I pressed my palms into my thighs.

Dad left, but not before silently pleading with me to let him explain. I sank to the floor, rocking forward and backward. Mum didn’t know. She didn’t know Dad wanted to leave—with or without us. That he woke up one day and decided his life in Surrey was no longer enough. Maybe it should have brought me comfort that she didn’t know, that her last breaths in this life were full of love. But it was a lie.

It was all a lie.

Dad hadn’t brought me here out of desperation, to save me from a path of self-destruction. He’d brought me out of guilt because I had no one else in Surrey. I had no other grandparents or aunts or uncles to take me in if I didn’t want to move halfway across the world. And although when we first arrived at the Stone-Prince house, I couldn’t wait to leave, now it felt like he was taking me away from the only other people I had. I’d forged a strange bond with Kyle, and with time, I knew me and Summer could become good friends, but once we moved out how would that work? Would I be out of sight, out of mind? Would they all be as happy to see us go as I once originally felt about the day we’d leave here?

The urge to drown out the storm raging inside of me with whatever I could find in Gentry’s liquor cabinet was strong. So strong I almost leapt up and ran into the house. But that would get me nowhere besides an unwanted hangover tomorrow. I wanted to scream. To throw my arms wide and yell until my lungs hurt and every last ounce of breath left my body.

My life was built on a lie.

Everything I believed about my parents fairy tale now tainted by the truth.

“Hey.”

I met Summer’s concerned gaze. I hadn’t heard her slip inside the pool house. She came and sat on the floor beside me. “That bad, huh?”

“You could say that.” I swiped my tears with my arm, sniffling back another sob.

“Want to talk about it?”

“Not really.”

“Okay.” She smiled. “We can just sit.”

Seconds turned into minutes, but she didn’t push. And I was grateful. I needed time to process. The stream of tears slowed and dried on my cheeks making the skin feel sticky.

“How are you?” I asked, rolling my head to her.

“You’re the one sitting in a pool of your own tears and you want to know how I am?” Summer chuckled softly. “I’m okay. Thanks to you.”

“And Nick?”

“He’s good. We’re taking it slow. Thank you,” she paused, chewing her bottom lip in between her teeth. “For not telling them.”

“It was your secret to tell.”

“Macey hates you for it.”

“She hated me anyway.”

The youngest Stone-Prince shook her head, blonde wisps of hair blowing across her face. “She doesn’t hate you. She just doesn’t let people get close. Especially ones that look like you.”

My eyebrows quirked up, and she smiled again. “Oh, come on, Lo, you’re gorgeous. Which makes you competition.” Summer winked.

“Competition, are you serious?”

“Who knows with my sister, but I can see why she’d feel threatened by you. You’re so normal and nice and pretty. You don’t care what anyone thinks of you and you’re not out to win a popularity contest.”

“Neither are you,” I said, a little taken aback. It was the most I’d ever heard Summer speak.

“No, but I’m Summer Stone-Prince. People will expect me to follow in their footsteps.”

“Popularity is overrated.”

“So is sitting on a tile floor in a pool of your own tears.” I heard the amusement in her voice and nudged her in the side with my elbow. “Come on,” she said. “Your dad left and Loretta baked a bunch of stuff.”

“Cookies?”

“I think so.”

I followed Summer up and used a towel to dry my face. “Lead the way, oh young one.”

We made our way to the main house. Kyle’s head snapped up. “Thank God, I was about to send a rescue party.”

I flipped him off and slid onto a stool, helping myself to a cookie. “No Laurie tonight?”

“Homework calls. So, what did your dad want?”

“The house is ready.”

“No, you can’t leave us.” His face paled, and it reassured me a little that things wouldn’t change between us just because I no longer lived here. “Things just got interest—”

The sound of raised voices silenced Kyle, and the three of us looked at the door leading to the hallway.

“Fuck that, Mom, I don’t need…” Maverick’s voice trailed off as Rebecca tried to reason with her son in hushed tones.

“Maybe we should…” I started, but they were already in the doorway, Rebecca’s face ashen as a man I didn’t recognise pushed past them and entered the kitchen taking the air with him.

“Kyle, good to see you again,” the man said in a measured tone. Kyle stiffened and mumbled a reply. “And you must be Robert’s daughter, Louise, was it?” He rounded the island and held out his hand. In a charcoal suit, pristine white shirt, and shiny silver cufflinks, he oozed money. But his eyes were the giveaway.

I glanced over his imposing figure to Maverick. His eyes were hard. Cold. And a shiver worked its way through my body.

“Hello.” I took Alec Prince’s hand. “I’m Eloise Stone.”

He tilted his head slightly and narrowed his eyes. “The pleasure is mine, Eloise. I trust Maverick and Macey have made you welcome?”

“They have.”

Kyle choked on something and we all looked over at him. He slammed a hand to his chest and waved us off murmuring something about a, “Chocolate chip got stuck.”

“Well, excuse me. Maverick and I have some business to take care of. Kyle, Summer, it was nice to see you both again.”

He turned on his heels and marched out of the room, his gaze boring into his son’s as he went. Maverick scrubbed a hand down his face, gave Rebecca a pointed look and went after his father.

“I’m sorry about that.” Rebecca came over to us, the colour slowly returning. “He wasn’t supposed to come here.”

He wasn’t?

“Your father.” She looked to Kyle. “He’s not…”

“Don’t fret it, Momma P, Dad is still at the office.”

The tension on Rebecca’s face seemed to lift. It didn’t totally evaporate, but she seemed lighter knowing my uncle wasn’t yet home.

Something crashed, like the sound of glass against a wall, and Rebecca dashed out of the room muttering under her breath. Kyle tore his eyes from the doorway and looked at me. “I’d better go help. You two, stay here, got it?”

“Kyle, don’t you think—”

“Stay here, Lo.” He warned.

Then he was gone.

A door slammed somewhere in the house, reverberating off the walls, and then the screech of tyres could be heard outside.

“Here we go again,” Summer sighed under her breath and I wanted to ask her what she meant, but Kyle appeared in the doorway and his face said it all.

Something was wrong.

Very wrong.