Suddenly Last Summer (O'Neil Brothers 3)

“To tell you this is the hardest thing because I do not want to hurt you, and I know how hard it must have been to say those things to me, but I don’t love you. I don’t love you and I won’t lie to you about that.”

“What about lying to yourself?” His voice was raw. “Are you willing to do that?”

“I am not lying! I have been honest about my feelings. You are the one who has changed.”

“Yeah, I’ve changed. But I recognize that and I’m trying to deal with it. What you’re doing is hiding. When you’re ready to admit that, come and find me.” He turned to walk away and she took a step toward him.

“Wait! You can’t just— Where are you going? It’s family night.” She couldn’t believe that an evening she’d been looking forward to had ended before it had even started.

“Suddenly I’m not in the mood for family night.”

“But Alice is looking forward to it. Everyone will be there—your grandfather, Tyler, Jess, your mother and—I’ll be there, too.”

There was a brief pause and then he turned his head and looked at her. “Do you think this was easy for me? That it meant nothing? Do you really think I can tell you I love you and then sit across the kitchen table and act as if nothing happened?”

“I wish it hadn’t happened. I didn’t want it to happen.” Tears wedged in her throat and stung her eyes. “I didn’t ask you to say that. I didn’t want you to say that. We had an agreement—”

“Yeah.” He gave a crooked smile. “And I broke it.”

“Please don’t leave. You just arrived and—” her voice broke “—you can’t leave. Everyone is expecting to see you. Alice is so excited. Your mother—even Walter. They’ve talked of nothing else all week. The whole family is together for the first time in ages.”

“I hope they have a nice evening.” He turned and strode away from her, leaving Élise standing staring after him feeling as if she’d been run over by a truck.

For the first time in months he’d been intending to join them for family night, and now she’d ruined it. And he’d ruined it. He’d ruined everything.

Her phone buzzed and she saw a text from Kayla.

Where are you? Put your clothes on and get over here :)

Kayla thought she and Sean were—

Feeling sick, she slumped on the chair on her deck.

She didn’t want to go to family night now, either, but someone had to tell them that Sean wasn’t coming.

They’d be so disappointed.

And it was her fault. All her fault.

Knowing she had to get it over with, she stood up and walked slowly toward the house. There was a roar of an engine and she saw a flash of red as Sean’s sports car sped out of Snow Crystal toward Boston.

Gone.

Part of her wanted to chase after him, wave her arms and yell at him to turn around but her feet were welded to the ground and her mouth was too dry to make a sound.

How could he love her?

Sean didn’t fall in love. He didn’t want that. And he knew she didn’t want that.

Shaken, she opened the door to the kitchen and was engulfed by laughter and delicious smells of cooking. Walter was in his usual place at the head of the table, Alice was knitting, Tyler was arguing with Jackson and Kayla was checking her emails under the table. Jess was helping Elizabeth with the cooking.

Maple jumped up and down like a spring, barking a welcome.

They were all there, the whole O’Neil family around the table. Only one member was missing and that was her fault. She was the reason he wasn’t here.

Her legs trembled. She felt sick.

“Come in, dear, we were wondering where you were.” Elizabeth placed a large blue casserole dish in the center of the table. “Sean is late, but I suppose that’s not a surprise to anyone.”