As a single mom in a small town, there's only one thing I want. Another baby. When all the roads to getting what I want lead to dead ends, I turn to one of my best friends for help.
In my mind, Trent Castillo is the perfect baby daddy. He has good g...
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Thomas calls to tell me the police need to speak to me again about something they discovered. He tells me he doesn't believe it's a big deal, but they have implicated Rhonda in Dan's drug ring. They didn't find anything at the shop, but they got a warrant for her house, and they located enough to charge her too.
Even though it's not, it feels like things are collapsing on my head. Maybe I wasn't dealing drugs, but apparently, I was employing a drug dealer. Tell me that's not going to rub people in Little Falls the wrong way, and I'll call you a liar. Guilty by association.
My mom has gone for a grocery run because she's braver than me, and for better or worse, she's faced this kind of fall out before. Except this time, I didn't do anything wrong, and I'm not sure if that makes facing people scrutiny better or worse.
Worse, I think. To be falsely accused is worse.
Emily's car pulls into my mom's driveway, and I take a deep breath before heading to the front door. I'd hoped she'd understand and stay away, but she's stubborn, so I should have known better.
"Em, you shouldn't be here," I say as she gets out of her car.
Emily doesn't even answer me, she just comes up the front walkway, steps around me, and enters the house.
She's got guts, I'll give her that.
With a sigh, I turn and enter the house behind her.
We stand in the living room, a faceoff, and if she thinks I'm going to be the first one to talk, she'll be waiting a long time. I said everything I needed to say yesterday.
"I just wanted to make sure you're not cutting Amir out too," she says
I hate that I can see, can recognize all the little tells in the way she speaks and moves that tell me how hard it is for her to be here. Having been behind the curtain of her life, I can't pretend I don't know how the show goes on.
"I'd still like to see him a bit," I admit, "not as publicly, but I made a promise to you and him that I'd honor."
"You made a promise to me too," she says, and her voice cracks.
"I'm not doing this to hurt you."
"But the hurt isn't nothing. The choices you've made impact me. A lot."
"I know that, which is why I'm putting some distance between us. You don't deserve to be impacted by them." I run my hand along the top of my head. "And I think we should sell the shop, before it loses too much value. I can't recover from this."
"Absolutely not," Emily says, her spine straightening. "I'm not selling."
"You'll lose money. It'll take years for me to build back the trust I just lost. Rhonda's been arrested for dealing. She worked at my shop. People will think they just couldn't get enough on me and Rhonda took the fall."
