Closing my eyes, I savored her scent with several long, deep breaths. I felt suddenly exhausted. Maybe I'd just take a little nap.
I woke up, confused about where I was and why it was so dark. A quick look at the clock told me it was almost nine. I was in Kelsey's bedroom, and I'd slept for several hours.
I wondered why no one had woken me up. Although, the door was closed. Maybe they hadn't realized where I was. I suddenly heard voices coming from the room next door, which belonged to Brooklyn. I wondered if something had happened. I got up from the bed and moved closer to the vent. My sister was speaking to someone, and she was angry.
"I don't want to talk to you about any of this," Brooklyn said loudly. "I can't do this right now, James."
"We have to talk. You can't keep avoiding me," James said.
"This is the worst possible time. My sister is missing. And you can't help me find her, because once again you remember nothing about last night."
"I had too much to drink, and you know why I was pounding it down so hard."
"Don’t blame your drinking on me. You're an alcoholic, James. You can pretty it up by calling yourself a heavy partier or a social drinker, but you have a problem. You've had a problem for years, and someday, I worry…"
"You worry?" James prodded when Brooklyn didn't finish her statement. "You actually worry about me?"
"It's a bad habit," she said harshly. "You should go home. Unless you know where Kelsey is, we have nothing to talk about."
"I don't know where Kelsey is. I wish I did."
"Then you're of no use to me."
"But there is one thing," James said.
"What? What is the one thing?"
"It might mean nothing."
"You're stalling."
"I got on the ferry early yesterday. It was just me and Kelsey for a few minutes. She was practically having a panic attack. She asked me if she was making a mistake marrying Gage."
"You're lying. She wouldn't have said that."
I pressed my ear closer to the vent, as shocked as Brooklyn was by James's words.
"I'm not lying," James returned. "Why would I?"
"Well, what did you tell her?"
"That it wasn't too late to back out if that was what she needed to do."
"You're Gage's friend. You're one of his groomsmen, for God's sake. And you're telling the bride to back out of your best friend's wedding?"
"I'm Kelsey's friend, too."
"Is that all you are?" Brooklyn asked, a bitter, scathing note in her voice.
I stiffened at the question. I really hoped that Kelsey hadn't hooked up with James, too.
"God, yes!" James declared. "How can you ask me that?"
"Because there are so many things you don't remember. And you know what I'm talking about."
There was a momentary silence. Then James said, "I had nothing to do with Melanie's disappearance. I told you that before."
My gut tightened once more. What did Brooklyn know that I didn't?
"But you don't know that for sure, do you?" she challenged.
"Hey, Willow couldn't remember what she did that night, either. We were all drinking. Memories were muddled."
"But Willow didn't ask me to lie for her; you did."
I sucked in a breath at her words. Brooklyn had lied for James?
"You know why I asked you to do that. I couldn't let myself get caught in the interrogation just because I'd blacked out. I was already on thin ice with my parents. They were threatening to stop paying for college because of my alcohol issues. I would have had to leave school. You agreed to do it. You thought it was a good idea."
"I thought you were a good idea," Brooklyn retorted. "I was wrong. And if you had anything to do with Kelsey going missing, I will make you pay."
"Kelsey must have run away, because she doesn't want to marry Gage."
"Of course she wants to marry him. She has been in love with him for years. He was always her dream guy. When he asked her to marry him, she was over the moon."
Hearing Brooklyn call Gage Kelsey's dream guy reminded me I'd looked at Drake the same way.
If Drake had suddenly seen me, wanted to date me, love me, marry me, would I have been so caught up in my fantasy coming true that I might not have seen the real man? Was that what had happened with Kelsey?
"Then what do you think happened?" James challenged.
"I don't know, but I don't believe Kelsey ran away," Brooklyn continued. "Her shoe was found on the dock. That terrifies me, James."
"She could have gotten on someone's boat. They gave her a ride back to the mainland."
"Or something awful happened. If she doesn't come back, I don't know what I'll do. She's my sister, my best friend. I love her so much," Brooklyn said, her voice shaking. "I don't think I could survive without her."
I heard a sob rip from Brooklyn's throat and then James's soothing words of comfort. Brooklyn let him reassure her for a moment, and then she snapped back.
"I don't need you to tell me it will be all right," she said. "You don't know that. And you're a liar, so why would I believe you?"
I wasn't surprised at Brooklyn's attack. Whenever she accidentally let herself appear vulnerable, she overcompensated by going on offense.
"I'm not a liar, Brooklyn."
"Yes, you are, James. You lie about everything, and then you pretend not to remember. You're never going to stop drinking until you can tell the truth, if only to yourself."
"I don't pretend not to remember; my mind is blank."
I could relate to his frustration. My one horrible blackout still drove me crazy.
"You need to go, James. We are done," Brooklyn said with a finality in her voice.
But James couldn't accept that. "We're never going to be done," he said defiantly. "There's too much history between us. And I want to help you now."
"You can't help me. Just leave."
"I might know something else."
"What? What do you suddenly know? Something else Kelsey told you at the ferry?"
"No. But I need to talk to Carter first."
"About what?"
"I think Carter is closer to Kelsey than we might think," James said.
My pulse leapt once more.
"What are you talking about?" Brooklyn asked.
"I think Carter and Kelsey got together last year in Paris."
"Kelsey said she barely saw him."
"That's not what I heard."
"No way. You're lying again. Why are you doing this, James? Are you trying to hurt me?"
"I'm trying to help you."
"Kelsey did not cheat on Gage with his brother. There's no way. And if she had, she would have told me."
"You're pretty judgmental, Brooklyn. I don't think Kelsey tells you everything."
"Get out of my room, James. I mean it. Go."
"I'll go, but I still love you, Brooklyn. You might hate me now, but I still love you."