Behind Every Lie(28)
I didn’t stop to think. I didn’t have a plan. I just made it up as I went.
“Come on, I’ll drive you to the airport,” Jacob said when I was ready. “My dad’s sleeping. He won’t even know I’m gone.”
I locked the door behind us and followed him in the direction of his house. Jacob still moved in that familiar way—long strides, lazy gait. Like he didn’t have a care in the world. He didn’t take anything seriously. With a dad like his, how could he? He was the kind of guy who dumped bubble liquid into the city’s water fountain one night and randomly drove up to Canada to use his fake ID the next. He was a classic Peter Pan. But Peter Pan was a lot more adorable as a teenager than he was at thirty.
Jacob beeped the alarm to unlock his car while I texted Melissa, letting her know I was going out of town and would get her car back in a few days.
“You still have the Trans Am?” I asked, incredulous.
“I don’t really drive it much.” He shrugged. “Only when I’m back here between photography assignments. She’s had a few new engines, a lot of new tires. I keep her in good shape.”
“It must be, like, twenty years old now. You bought it with money from your first photography sale, right?”
“Yep. Best purchase I ever made.” He patted the roof of the car, smiling. A navy-blue paint chip crumbled onto the ground.
“I’ll never forget when you brought it home. It was the night before the homecoming game, and we were just driving around and you—”
“—decided to dig up a tree and plant it on the football field.” He laughed as he opened my door.
“No-o.” I buckled up while Jacob started the car and pulled onto the quiet street. “You didn’t ‘plant’ the tree. You cemented it into the middle of the field!”
We burst out laughing, but I stopped abruptly, feeling guilty. How could I laugh right now? I bit my lip and stared out the window. The rain made grimy tracks down the passenger window as Jacob drove.
“What do you think you’ll find in London?” Jacob asked.
“I don’t know. Maybe this David Ashford guy will know why we were in danger and if that had anything to do with her murder.” I pushed my fingers into my aching eyeballs and shook my head. It was all so much to take in. “I wish I could just remember that night.”
Why should the detective trust me when I couldn’t even trust myself?
“Why don’t I go with you?” Jacob said. “Maybe I can help.”
I almost agreed. It would be nice to have him there, someone to help me figure out what to do. But I knew I couldn’t say yes. I had a fiancé now. And Jacob never stuck around for long. I should know.
The night we slept together flickered briefly through my mind. There’d always been an unspoken rule that we would keep it platonic. And mostly we did. Except once, when I was in college. I’d just gotten home from my weekend job waitressing downtown. My roommate, Holly, was out for the evening. Jacob dropped by and we ended up drinking a bottle of red wine, and then another, and watching Monty Python. We were laughing uproariously and then we weren’t; we were kissing, tearing each other’s clothes off.
The next morning I woke with a mother of a hangover. A note from Jake was propped against the clock on my nightstand saying he’d be in touch when he returned from Peru. I tried not to take it personally, but the rejection had stung. Shortly after, I was attacked and lost my youth, my future, my confidence, the person I was supposed to become.
I glanced at Jacob, his still-familiar profile lit by the intermittent glow of streetlights as he drove, turning to look back at me. “I’ve missed you, Eva.”
“Jake …” I said, my voice a warning. There was so much Jacob didn’t know, so much I hadn’t told him. The girl he used to know was not the same woman sitting next to him now.
“No, I don’t mean like that. I miss my friend.”
I looked at my hands. “I miss you too,” I admitted.
My phone rang then, Liam’s name flashing on the screen. I stabbed End.
“Sorry. My boyfriend. Fiancé …”
Jacob held my gaze for a long moment before his mouth quirked with amusement. “Aren’t you glad thought bubbles can’t appear over your head?”
I laughed, relieved, and just like that the moment passed.
Jacob threaded his way through traffic and pulled into the drop-off area at Sea-Tac Airport. The airport was crowded, a Ferris wheel of cars constantly zipping in and out.
“There, right there!” I pointed at a free space.
“I can’t fit there.”
“There’s another one!”
“Would you just let me drive?”
I rolled my eyes and flopped back in my seat. Jacob flawlessly parallel-parked between two hulking Land Rovers, letting the car idle.
“There, see?” He turned to me with a smug grin. “I know how to park. I think it was you who failed parallel parking in driver’s ed, right?”
“Only ’cause you lied about how big eight inches was,” I shot back.
His eyebrows shot up, and he laughed. “I don’t remember you complaining!”
“You didn’t give me a chance,” I replied sweetly. I grabbed my backpack, keeping a smile fixed on my face, even though the hurt was still sharp despite four years apart.