Page 48 of Don't Burn Bridges
Instead, she shook her head. “Never mind.”
“Shylo—”
“Seriously. Forget I said anything.” Before he could argue, she pointed her fork at him. “Let's talk about something important.”
Seth narrowed his eyes. “That sounds suspicious.”
“What's suspicious is a grown man putting ranch dressing on pizza.”
He groaned and dropped his head back against the booth. “We're back to this?”
The argument had started at the bar after Shane's birthday party and had resurfaced more times than he could count since then. Apparently, Shylo considered chicken and ranch dressing on pizza—his favorite—a crime against humanity.
“You brought it upon yourself.”
He listened to her argue about pizza toppings, laughed when she accused him of having the palate of a twelve-year-old, and did his best to convince her she was the unreasonable one.
All the while, part of his attention remained fixed on the look he'd seen in her eyes a few minutes earlier. For a moment, the teasing, opinionated woman he'd spent the evening with had disappeared, replaced by someone carrying a burden she didn't know how to share.
For a second, she'd almost told him something. Then she shut the door and changed the subject. Whatever secret she was carrying, it wasn't small. And he had a feeling that when it was finally out in the open, it would change everything.
Chapter 19
The drive back to the Moody Moon passed faster than Shylo wanted. Conversation flowed easily as Seth steered through the quiet streets of Hazard Falls. The nervousness she'd felt before dinner had disappeared sometime after her first few sips of wine, leaving her more relaxed than she'd intended.
Maybe that was why she'd come so close to confessing.
For one brief moment during dinner, she'd considered revealing the truth. The words had hovered on the tip of her tongue while she stared into her wineglass and wondered what would happen if she finally said them out loud.
Shane Wilson is my brother.
Instead, she'd retreated behind their ongoing debate about pizza toppings.
Now, she sat beside Seth, carrying the same secret she'd brought to Hazard Falls, except it seemed far more complicated than it had a few weeks ago. The more time she spent with him, the harder it became to ignore what would happen when the truth finally surfaced.
Streetlights slid across the windshield as they passed through town. Most of the storefronts had gone dark for the night, their windows reflecting the glow of passing headlights. A few people still strolled along the sidewalks, enjoying the mild evening before heading home. Shylo rested her elbow against the door and watched the town roll past, reluctant for the evening to end.
A few minutes later, the neon sign for the motel appeared ahead of them. Red and blue light flickered across the windshield as Seth turned into the parking lot, illuminating the cracked pavement and row of rooms. The second O in MOODY MOON MOTEL blinked on and off, giving the sign a lopsided appearance that somehow suited the aging property. It wasn't much to look at, but after several weeks, it had become a place she recognized rather than just somewhere she stayed.
Seth pulled into the space in front of her room and shifted the truck into park. The engine continued to idle while a country song played softly through the speakers. From somewhere across the motel, a door opened and closed. Then the parking lot fell quiet once more.
Neither of them moved to get out. Shylo kept her gaze on her room’s door, not ready for the evening to end.
The thought should have bothered her more than it did. A few days ago, she'd been avoiding Seth, determined to put some distance between them before things became more complicated. That effort hadn't lasted long.
Now, she wanted more time with him. She'd missed him during those days apart and had caught herself watching for his truck around town or hoping it was him walking through the doors of Bar None whenever they opened. Tonight only made that realization harder to ignore.
None of that had been part of the plan.
She was supposed to be figuring out how to tell Shane the truth and convince him she wasn't the enemy. And then preparing for the inevitable fallout when everyone learned who she really was and why she'd come to Hazard Falls.
Instead, she'd spent the evening laughing until her stomach hurt and trying not to stare at the man sitting across from her.
The worst part was that she no longer wanted a fight. She wanted Shane to accept her as his sister. She wanted a chance to be part of the family she'd only recently discovered. And selfishly, she wanted Seth to understand why she'd kept the truth to herself instead of looking at her as though she'd manipulated him from the beginning.
Unfortunately, life had rarely rewarded her for wishful thinking.
For a moment, neither of them spoke.
