The good news is that I no longer feel like I’m on the verge of bursting into tears. The bad news is that now I’m just about to burst.

I mean, how much can I take?

“Oh yeah.” A humorless laugh falls from my mouth. “They were closer than you knew. Very close since Jasper told me yesterday that Gran asked him for information in order to sell the store.”

I assumed when I let that secret out of the bag, the entire Dirty Bird crew would lose their ever-loving minds the way I did, but instead, nobody has much of a reaction at all.

“Wait.” I take a step away from them, a sense of betrayal I didn’t know possible seeping through me. “You all knew?”

“Well, yes.” Mona is watching me carefully, like I’m a wild animal primed to pounce. “But it’s not what you think.”

“Oh, I’m pretty sure it’s exactly what I think.” I stop moving and point an angry finger at all these beautiful, deceitful women. “You were all in on the joke. Everyone has had a hand in molding my life the way they wanted, watching as I dove into the store you knew she didn’t even care about, going on dates with a guy, as what?” The more I think about it, the more awful it all is. “As some sad, pathetic favor for the dead woman he became friends with over the phone?”

The tips of my ears burn with embarrassment as I imagine what Jasper must have been thinking when he agreed to this whole charade. My stomach churns and I feel like I might be sick as I begin to fully grasp the entire situation.

“Drew, stop it.” Collette’s raspy voice scolds me like somehow I’m the one out of line here. “You know it wasn’t like that. You need to listen to Mona.”

I don’t say anything, not because I’ve taken a turn for the obedient, but because there is nothing to say.

Not one single thing could make this okay.

“Alice loved this store and she loved you.” Mona sounds so concerned as she tries to explain the unexplainable. “But she was getting old, she knew she wasn’t going to work here forever, and you—”

“And I loved this store!” I shout, cutting her off. “I loved coming here with her, I loved being with all of you, and now that’s ruined because you all, every single one of you, have been lying to me for months. Maybe even years! And now I have nothing.”

My throat clogs; the tears that I thought were gone now choke me as the dark realization settles around me.

Nothing.

No more Gran. No more Book Nook.

No more Jasper.

I have nothing but tarnished memories and broken promises.