Her dad stepped closer and put his hand on her mother’s shoulder. “She’s right, cher. You know what people will say. You know how ugly this would get. I won’t have you putting your mother through that. We’ve come so far.”
Taryn straightened, the guilt spear hitting solid, right in the center of her chest. If this blew up and her mother fell apart again, it would be her fault. After all the work she and her father had done to get her mom stable. But… “I can’t do that. It’s not right to throw blame at Shaw for this. I won’t lie.”
“Because you suddenly have a problem with it?” her mom asked. “Didn’t seem you had much trouble while you were sleeping in that man’s bed.”
The words and her mother’s cold look burned like an electric shock. Taryn shook her head, staring at the parents she loved so much, and she felt the ground breaking beneath their feet. Nothing would ever be the same if she didn’t do what they were asking. This would hurt them. They would never forgive her.
Taryn took a breath. “I don’t know if I’ll ever see him again. I don’t even know where he is right now. But I’m not lying to the press. I won’t do that. And I won’t say he’s a bad person because he’s not. He’s a victim, too.”
Her mother scoffed. “He’s brainwashed you. Sociopaths can do that.”
“Please,” Taryn pleaded.
“Please understand. I never did this to hurt you. I love you both more than anything.”
“We love you, too, but that’s why you need to do what we’re telling you to do,” her father said gently. “It’s not just the best thing for us. It’s the best for you. This man is not worth ruining your reputation over, your program. People will think you sympathize with the killers.”
She met her daddy’s gaze, her heart breaking. “I have to go.”
When they didn’t say anything else, her heart crumbled inside her. She turned and walked out the door.
She’d done everything in her life out of love for her family.
She’d hurt them anyway.
Sometimes love wasn’t enough.
Chapter
Twenty-Six
Taryn sat down in the damp grass, her body feeling empty after the hard sobbing she’d done in the car. After leaving her parents’ house, she’d planned to go home but found herself driving to this place instead. The cemetery was eerily quiet at this late hour, and if she believed in ghosts, she’d be nervous, but the only ghosts haunting her tonight were in her head.
She pulled her knees to her chest and looked at her sister’s headstone. The daisies they’d brought were already drying out. She didn’t know why she’d come here or what she wanted to say, but she’d just felt drawn to this place. Maybe because when she’d have arguments with her parents as a teenager, she’d retreat to her sister’s room, knowing she still had at least one person on her side.
This time, she wasn’t sure where Nia would stand. Maybe she’d think Taryn was nuts, too. Maybe she was yelling at her from wherever she was now. But as Taryn closed her eyes and pictured her sister, she had a hard time imagining Nia reacting that way. Nia had been popular and well-liked by a lot of social groups because she’d been a naturally openhearted and accepting person. She didn’t judge people based on superficial information. Taryn couldn’t imagine her labeling Shaw a bad guy without giving him a chance first.
She also couldn’t imagine Nia being okay with Taryn doing something that was going to hurt their parents. If she told the truth, Taryn was going to lose that connection with them. Her parents loved her. She knew that wouldn’t go away. But she also knew her mother could hold a grudge like a champion. When Taryn was in sixth grade, she’d watched her mom cut a longtime best friend from her life because the woman had said something rude about Taryn’s dad. There was no opportunity for forgiveness or discussion. Her mom was just done with the woman.
Taryn didn’t want her parents to be done with her. She wanted them to be happy, to find some peace. She’d spent so much of her life trying to give them that. She exhaled and rubbed her hands over her face, further smearing her already destroyed makeup. Could she really cut her parents out for the sake of a guy? That seemed so…messed up. She’d seen coworkers and friends in her life give up so much in the name of a man that it felt categorically against her life philosophy to do that. Anti-Taryn.
But was this really about a man? There was so much more on the line than that.
Taryn released a long breath. “I don’t know what to do, baby girl. I’ve messed this all up.”
This time, there were no birds to visit her or signs to guide her. She had to make the decision all on her own. No matter what she did, she was going to hurt someone.
Who was she going to protect?
The answer that whispered through her mind made her ache inside. She didn’t want to do it, but she had to.
She pulled her cell phone from her pocket, found the number of one of the reporters who’d called her, and made the call.
* * *
Shaw had made it to the coast, and after spending a restless night in a hotel, he’d taken care of all the final paperwork this morning for the RV. It was his. He’d emailed Rivers to let him know he was okay, but had otherwise kept his phone off.
That afternoon, after grabbing something to eat, he sat on a bench, staring out at the stretch of beach and the Gulf of Mexico beyond. A family was playing along the sand, tossing a football back and forth. The last time Shaw had come here, he’d been eleven or twelve. His parents had promised Joseph a beach vacation during the summer. Joseph had been begging for Florida, hoping for a stop at Disney World, but his parents had chosen Galveston instead because it was cheaper and Shaw had a competition in Houston. All their family vacations once he’d started gymnastics had revolved around where he had a competition.