Page 78 of Unravel Me

Audrey steps closer to me, her arms protectively across her chest. “What?”

A loud bout of laughter sounds from the patio outside the door, a toast of sorts starting, but my eyes are locked on hers.

“Are you moving to New York in a few weeks?”

“Rhett, what are you talking about?”

“Audrey, answer me.” The room is spinning, and she can’t meet my eyes.

“It’s complicated. I was, but now I'm not. I officially declined the offer today.” Her face falls as she whips her head towards her brother. “What did you say, Andrew?” But her brother just throws his hands up.

“I told him the truth, calm down. Thought you would’ve told your boyfriend by now.” He slinks back into the room, away from us.

“You want to tell me what the hell is going on, Audrey?” I snap out louder than intended and she pulls back.

“I can explain everything, but not here,” she pleads with me, but I can’t see past this moment. I need the truth, now.

“No, here. Now,” I bit out, not caring that four strangers were sitting just feet away.

Audrey bites her lip, her face white as snow, and I know she’s fighting back tears. I don’t know what I hate more right now, the fact that I’m the last to know I'm being left or that I'm the one out of everyone here who’s making her cry tonight.

“I was offered a promotion after Jackson and I split, it’s at my company’s headquarters in New York City, and I took it.”

I tip my head back, closing my eyes, unable to look at her, but she continues. “After the breakup I just wanted to get away. From everything and everyone. You have to understand that North Carolina never felt like my home…until you.”

“You need this more than me, man.” Andrew tries to pass the bottle my way, but I shake my head. Audrey grabs my hand, sinking her nails into my flesh.

“We aren’t doing this here. Please, I can explain everything.”

Chapter forty-four

Audrey

Ihear my heart beating in my ears as I pull Rhett through the sea of smiling faces and past the band.

I glance into the crystal blue water of the pool, the lights from the party reflecting off its stillness, and contemplate making one final cowardly act of diving in, just to create a distraction, to buy myself a few more minutes. Because I have an explanation for what Andrew told Rhett. An explanation for the truth. I just am not sure Rhett’s ready to hear it.

The quietness of the house feels assaulting, final, after being outside. I lead Rhett right to the back; through the tight corridor I was in with my father earlier this evening.

The truth hits me in the chest as I keep my eyes on his office doors. This was happening here—in the place I never felt safe in. Here, where I was supposed to assert myself, to show my parents their marionette strings were no longer working, that I’d found a man I loved; and more importantly, one who loved me, for me.

Because I was worth being loved for exactly who I was.

That’s what I believed up until a moment ago at least.

I don’t stop moving until we are inside my father’s study, the doors shutting firmly behind us. The room is nearly soundproof.

Rhett walks to the window, gazing out over the gardens, his hands tucked into his khaki pockets.

“Rhett I—"

He turns slowly, his face half in shadow from the setting summer sun.

“You were never planning on staying, were you?”

Tears spring to my eyes but I push them back.

“I wasn’t sure in the beginning.” My voice is so small, and Rhett shakes his head, betrayal written all over his face. “I was scared, and I didn’t want to make the same mistake twice.” I try to reason, though I know it’s a weak argument.