29. Close Again

I know it isn't going to be easy making things right with Olive. Even as she agreed to my plan, she isn't talking to me yet, and only does so when it involves the case against Lyle. I also know that it isn't going to be easy convincing Kier and the others to drop the charges against Olive. So, in order to do that, I had to tell the boys my deepest darkest secret, the truth about my life in California.

Feeling like I just ran a marathon, I slump in the sofa of our living room, spent. It's hard for me to remember the things that my mother and I went through living with Lyle, and even harder for me to tell the boys about it. I close my eyes, unable to look any of them in the eye. Beside me, Seb moves, as if he's unable to stop himself from touching me. But I know he wouldn't. He had promised to give me space. Plus, our friends don't know about us yet. I don't know how they will react if they found out that Seb and I were keeping our relationship from them.

The silence stretches inside