I stare at her for a long moment, my heart pounding, knowing I’m about to make a deal with the devil. And I know, in that deal, I’m going to lose something…someone important, really important.

But Casey…

I take a deep breath.

Then, I pull the door open wider and stand aside, letting the devil in.

I step out of the car and then thank the driver as he hands me my overnight bag.

It’s Sunday morning, and I’ve just gotten back home from Malibu.

When Adam walked out of his bedroom, leaving me there, I went back to the guest room and stayed there. I’m ashamed to say I hid in that room all night. I spent a lot of time staring at the wall, longing for him, with the smell of him still on my skin.

Finally, I forced myself into the shower and went to bed early.

I lay awake for a long time, listening for any sound of movement in the house, but there was nothing. I didn’t know if he was still there or not, and I was too afraid to go check. I must’ve dozed off at some point because I awoke to the sound of an engine revving early in the morning.

My first thought was that it was Adam, that he was leaving, and my stomach sank.

I quickly left my room and went downstairs. There was a note waiting for me on the coffee table.

It said that he had to leave early, a problem at work, and a car would be here to pick me up to take me home at ten a.m.

I knew the work thing was a lie. He just didn’t want to be stuck in a car with me for an hour, and I couldn’t blame him for that, no matter how much it hurt and how sick it made me feel.

He had told me that I could either tell him the truth or let him go.

My silence was my decision.

Why would he want to be around me after that?

Honestly, I don’t want to be around me sometimes.

So, I got dressed and went for a walk on the beach because I didn’t know what else to do until it was time for my ride home.

I unlock the front door to our apartment, letting myself inside. Dad’s sitting at our little dining table, newspaper spread out on it with his coffee to the left, his hand curled around the mug.

The sight brings a small smile to my lips.

Everyone reads the newspaper online nowadays, but my dad still likes to go and buy his morning paper and read it with a coffee.

“Hey,” I say. “Where’s Casey?”

“Still sleeping. She was out last night.” He looks up from his paper. “Uh-oh. What’s wrong?”

“Nothing.” I put my bag down.

“That’s not your nothing face. That’s your something-has-happened face. The same face you had a few weeks ago after you’d seen Adam for the first time in ten years. Only, this time, you look worse.”

“So, basically, you’re saying I look like crap. Gee, thanks, Dad.”

I sit down, reach over, and take his coffee mug from his hand. I take a sip and then give it back to him.

“You went to Malibu with Adam, didn’t you?”

I told Dad that I was going. I just didn’t say it was with Adam. That was why I had Adam pick me up outside the building, so Dad wouldn’t see.

“Mmhmm,” I answer noncommittally.

“And you’ve been seeing him all this time, haven’t you?”

“Mmhmm.”

“And you haven’t told him the truth about why you left, and now, it’s all come to a head—hence, the face.”

“You got me bugged or something?” I open my jacket up, examining it.

“Funny. But, no, I’m just know a dad who knows his daughter.” He folds his paper up and puts it aside. “It’s time to tell Adam the truth, Evie.”

I give him a look. “I can’t.”

“Can’t isn’t a reason.”

“Fine. I don’t know how to tell him.”

“It’s simple.”

“No, it’s not. I made a deal with Ava. I can’t go back on that. What if I do, and Karma bites me in the ass for it?” I know Dad doesn’t believe in that stuff, but I do. I believe every action has a consequence. Every wrong will be righted, one way or another.

“I’m pretty sure Karma has Ava on its list—high on its list—with this very reason right by her name. I think you’ll get a free pass with Karma on this one, Evie.”

“Yeah, but…” I blow out a breath. “In a twisted way, I owe Ava, Dad. She saved Casey’s life.”

“She didn’t save Casey’s life. She gave us the opportunity to be able to. And it’s not like she did it out of the goodness of her heart. She took from you as much as she gave.”

He’s right. I know he is, but…

“How do I tell Adam? How do I even start?”

“You start at the beginning.”

“I just…” I drag a hand through my hair. “I don’t want to hurt him any more than I already have.”

“You’re hurting him right now.”

“Dad…” I wince.

“No. I’m sorry, Evie, but you need to hear this. If Adam is the same kid I knew ten years ago, then you’re hurting him. That kid loved you. He loved you like I loved your mom. It’s that once-in-a-lifetime kind of love.”

“He doesn’t feel like that anymore.” I shake my head, my eyes starting to fill with tears.

“That kind of love doesn’t die because of time or distance, Evie. Believe me, I know.” There’s an ache in his voice, which makes me hurt more. “It’s always there, burning away. And Adam’s might be hidden and buried under a lot of anger and pain at the moment, but it is still there. He just needs to find his way back to it. But that can only happen with you being honest with him.”

“But what if—”

“There are no what-ifs, Evie. You should have told him at the time. I should have made you and stopped what was happening. Maybe we could have done things differently. Got Casey that treatment some other way. If I’d—”

“No. There was nothing you could have done. You had already done everything you could. Bending to what Ava wanted was all I could do. She held all the cards.”

“But it meant that you lost everything.”

“I didn’t lose everything. I still had you and Casey. That was the most important thing.”

“You had to make a sacrifice, one you shouldn’t have had to make. Not at your age. Not at any age.”

“I’d do it again in a heartbeat. I would never choose differently.” No matter how much it hurt. It would have hurt more to lose Casey.

At least I knew Adam was out there, living and breathing, even if it was without me.

Dad lets out a hard sigh because he knows I’m right. He would have made the same choice if he were in the same position. He’d have done it without a thought.

I might have made the choice, but I did think about it, just for a second. I paused because of how much I loved Adam.

“Just…tell him the truth, Evie. He has a right to know.” My dad picks his coffee mug up and gets up from the table. “I’m going to make some pancakes. Casey will be up soon, and she’ll be hungry. You want some?”

“No, I’m good. Dad?”

He stops by the kitchen door.

“What if I tell him, and he doesn’t understand why I did what I did? What if he doesn’t forgive me?”

“How could he not? You chose to save a life over having one with him. He would have done the same.”

“I know, but…I should have told him sooner.”

“Yeah, you should have. But we all make mistakes, Evie. Just stop looking for reasons not to tell him and start looking at all the reasons you should.”

I sit there, tracing patterns on the tablecloth. Left with Dad’s words in my ears, I think about Adam, think about what I should do.

Then, I think about what I saw at the beach house in his old bedroom.

Getting up, I go to my bedroom. I open my closet door and reach up, getting the shoebox I keep on the shelf.

I open it up, looking down at the mementos I kept. There are old ticket stubs from movies Adam and I saw together, the receipt from the meal he took me to on my birthday—that night was the first time we had sex—and the pencil I used to sketch that first picture I did of him, the one that hangs on his old bedroom wall with the others. Then, there’s our wedding photo. We got two copies—one for us and an extra for Dad to have.