“Okay, let’s go inside,” Remi suggested. There’d been no “I told you so” after Keiran’s exit, and Cherisse was grateful for that. She couldn’t handle that being thrown in her face right now.

“What’s going on?” Ava appeared, concern etched on her face. She’d been the most pleased to learn about her and Keiran.

Cherisse shook her head, feeling the burn rising in her throat as she tried to swallow back the tears. She didn’t want to say. Didn’t want to admit how foolish she’d been allowing herself to take a chance on Keiran.

God dammit, they couldn’t even last a few hours. Why did she ever think this was a good idea?

Ava grabbed her arm, steering her away from the noisy chatter, music, and her mother’s hawk-like gaze, into her bedroom. “Sit,” she commanded.

“But...”

Ava pointed to the bed. Remi, who’d followed behind, also sat. “What the hell happened? I don’t know what’s going on with you, but listen, if the stress is becoming too much, tell me. I’ll find someone else to do the desserts. Might be cutting it close, but I’m sure I can figure something out.”

“What?” Cherisse gaped up at her sister. “You don’t want me to do the cake and desserts anymore?” Her stomach churned. She couldn’t take Ava firing her from that major task, on top of everything else.

“No, no,” Ava said, firmly. “It’s not that I don’t want you to do it, but if you’re doing this only because you think that’s what I want and not what you want to do, then you don’t have to. I don’t want you to feel forced into this just because we’re sisters.”

“No, I want to. I swear.”

Ava eased down next to her. “So, what’s going on? Talk to me.”

Cherisse plucked at the sheets. Her sister’s old room hadn’t changed much from when they were growing up. Photos of her life unfolding scattered across the corkboard she had tacked to the wall. There were ones of them as children. Ones with their parents. Ava with her friends. With her fellow teachers and students. Ava and Eric. She figured out of everything Ava would take when she moved in with Eric, it would be that.

“It’s Keiran.”

“Oh?”

She spilled everything. The video, how it all just made her feel so shitty.

“Wait, wait, wait!” Ava interjected. “Keiran and Sean purposefully planned that fight?”

“No, he says it wasn’t planned, but he could’ve told me all about it the minute he found out they were gonna spin it like it was planned. I thought he was different, is all. I thought I could do this with him, but maybe he’s not really the guy I thought.”

“Do you truly believe he kept all that from you for his benefit? Or maybe he did because he didn’t want to hurt you.”

“That’s the problem! He did it for himself, not me. Not really. He didn’t want me to get angry and end it.” She grasped Ava’s hand. “What’s your secret? You and Eric make this whole thing look easy. What should I do?”