“You saw him before?”
“Of course I did.” Her voice pitched up another octave, reflecting her annoyance with me. I was very familiar with that tone.
I squeezed my eyes shut and rubbed my forehead, but it did no good. I was as confused as ever. “Allen wouldn’t have killed himself.” He was a selfish ass and as narcissistic as my mother. There wasn’t a depressed or self-sabotaging bone in his body.
“I never said he did,” she snapped. “I called to tell you. The funeral is in two days. I expect you to wear the black Armani in your closet. I cannot believe I have to dress in black. You know how it washes me out.”
“Then wear something else.” Dealing with my mother was exhausting.
“Don’t be absurd. And, Hailey.”
“Yes?” I slumped over the island, weary with her brand of crazy.
“Don’t embarrass me by being late or failing to show up.”
Three beeps sounded.Unbelievable. She’d hung up.
“What happened?”
Trey’s deep voice startled me, and I jumped, lifting my head from the island’s cool marble countertop. So wrapped up in the call from my mom, I’d forgotten Trey and Sofia were in the room with me. They were both frowning, and Trey’s expression was fiercer and more protective than curious.
I waved my hand over the phone then swiveled to face them. “That was my mom. She called to tell me that Allen is dead.”
“You said something about suicide?” Concern swam in Sofia’s warm brown eyes, replicas of her brother’s.
“It seemed that way when she’d said he died from exhaust inhalation, but that doesn’t make sense. For one, Allen would never kill himself. And he would have smelled the exhaust and refused to drive the car.”
“Are you all right?” Trey’s hand rested on my shoulder.
“Yeah, it’s just a shock.” I tried to smile, but it was weak at best. “Well, I don’t have anything to worry about from him any longer.”
Trey squeezed my shoulder before dropping his hand. “Let me make a few calls. I’ll see what I can find out about what went wrong with his car and whether it was tampered with.”
After Trey left to investigate in his office, Sofia led me to the couch. “Are you sure that you’re okay? Can I get you anything?”
“No. I mean, I’m fine. I don’t need anything.” I worried my lower lip with my teeth, debating what to do. “I need to make a call.”
“Do you want me to give you some privacy?”
I shook my head. “It’s fine. I’m just going to try to reach a friend of mine. He’s been hard to get ahold of lately.”You’d better pick up, Justin.
Sofia pulled out her phone and started to scroll through her emails while I pressed the contact button for Justin. It rang three times. I leaned my head back against the couch, resigned to talking to his voicemail.
“Hello?”
Justin’s familiar voice snapped me back to the call. “You answered!”
“Hailey? What’s wrong?”
“What’s wrong?” I laughed, and Sofia’s gaze jerked my way. I avoided looking at her because even I’d heard how deranged I sounded. “You’ve ghosted me.” Fury colored my words, and I was more than fine with him hearing the emotion. “I don’t care that you told Allen. I know why you did.I know you. But not taking my calls…”
“I’m sorry.” It was quiet. Heartfelt.
All my pent-up aggression fizzled but didn’t dissipate completely. “You’re forgiven. For that. But I’m still mad, and I need you to go somewhere with me.”
“Okay?”
I welcomed that edge of snarkiness. I wanted things to go back to normal between us, but they wouldn’t yet. I tried to bridge the gap from my anger at him to what mattered deep down. “I’ve missed you.”