“Me too, actually.” I look between Tanner and Marie. “Will you two be okay for a moment?”

“Go, sweet girl; we will be here when you get back.” Marie shoos us away with her hand.

In the bathroom, Sophie rounds on me, desperation in her eyes. “Kinsley, please, I’m begging you. What is going on? Where is Jesse?”

I close my eyes, one final attempt at wishing this all away. When I open them, I catch a glimpse of my reflection in the mirror. I’m still wearing the same clothes; the crimson stains on my jeans are a telling sign something has gone very wrong.

With Sophie perched on the bench, next to the sink, I lean against the hand dryer. “Soph, I — I don’t even know where to begin …”

Threading her fingers through mine, she squeezes. Somehow, I manage to keep my emotions buried deep inside. It’s almost as if I’m living in one big dissociation, looking down from above and narrating the events of the past twenty-four hours.

Being woken up by Lou-loo with Tanner standing in my bedroom, finding out my dad was alive and then having Jesse bleed out on my lap. It sounds ridiculous to say it all out loud. Soph just listens, absorbing all the information, as the colour slowly drains from her face.

Chapter Forty-Five

Kinsley

“Thank you both so much; I wouldn’t have been able to do that alone,” Marie whispers. As she steps back, my heart sinks a little from the loss of her embrace.

“Are you sure you don’t want to come and stay with us tonight?” I ask her. “Or I can stay here with you?”

Marie shakes her head, a single tear falling down her cheek. “No, Meadow, dear. I think I need to be alone tonight. I will phone you first thing in the morning though.”

The left side of my mouth turns up in a half hearted smile, it’s all I can muster in this moment. “Promise?”

“I promise. Now go, I’ll speak with you in the morning.”

Each step I take towards the car, a thundering vibration surges through my body; the finality of today begins to settle into my bones. When I reach the passenger door, I look back over my shoulder one last time, Marie’s chin dips with encouragement and I climb in. Tanner squeezes my thigh as we reverse out of the only place that still felt like home.

Rolling hillsides melt into multi-storey buildings as we make our way back into the city. Tanner hasn’t said a word since we left Jesse’s childhood home, even though I’ve seen his eyes flicker my way whilst driving.