Chapter Forty-Two
When the party wrapped up, Aunt Rose found me in my room in the company of a good book. My dress lay limp across the bed, looking like dead hopes and wasted dreams.
“Can I talk to you?” Aunt Rose asked. Without waiting for an answer, she took a seat on the edge of my bed. She toyed with the hem of the dress.
“I’m sorry,” she said and she looked it. Her shoulders sagged beneath the weight of her thoughts.
“You heard the whole thing, then?”
“Why didn’t you tell me?”
I set my book aside with a sigh. “I didn’t know how, or if it was even necessary. I’d already broken up with him. I was hoping he’d leave us all alone. And I didn’t exactly want to bring it up at a party.”
“How long have you known?”
“Not long. Lexi told me after Eric’s concert. She saw Gage there with me
