Page 93 of Knot a Bad Idea

She sniffles and nods.

“Things would have been different if we had just talked about what we wanted from the beginning,” I admit. “I think we had a lot of opportunities to do that, but we never did. And look what happened.”

Skylar shoots me a sympathetic look, one that I hate.

But it doesn’t make what I said any less true.

If we had all been honest from the beginning, maybe the outcome would have been different.

Devyn pulls her face from my shirt, which is now covered in her tears and snot. Her eyes are red and puffy as she looks at me, her expression serious. “I don’t want Ben to lock me up in my room,” she says, her voice low.

I sigh, and Skylar turns her head and stifles a laugh, covering it with a cough.

It’s really not funny, but I can either laugh at Devyn’s ridiculous sentiment, or cry.

And I choose to laugh.

“So,you go back to work tomorrow?” my mom asks me as I hand her a cup of tea.

“Yup.” I sit down with a mug of my own, joining her on the couch. She has a baking reality competition show on the television in the background, the sound muted with subtitles on.

“And it’s really over between the three of you?” she sounds skeptical. “I thought there was a wedding you were attending.”

I scoff into my tea. “That’s done,” I mutter.

“And no one is going to show up at our door this time?”

I meet her disbelieving expression. “They better not.”

“April.”

I sip my tea, savoring the rich cinnamon notes. “What?”

“Are you going to tell me what happened? Or do we need to do the guessing game again?”

I stare into my tea. “Mom, please, I don’t want to do this.”

“What did they do, April?”

I shake my head. “Its…complicated.”

“The whole situation has been complicated, honey. Nothing you say will surprise me anymore.”

I scoff. “You just need to know it’s over, and that’s it.”

But I can feel her staring at me, and I roll my eyes. “Mom,please,” I groan. “Let’s just watch the show.”

“You know your friend Devyn has a big mouth, right? I’m sure she’ll tell me what happened if you don’t.”

I gape at my mother. “Are you seriously going to pull the Devyn Card?”

She raises an eyebrow. “Kiddo, I’m dying for just a scrap of knowledge about your life. I’m ready to do anything I can for it.”

My heart clenches at her words and guilt pierces me.

My mother loves me, and for the thousandth time, I feel like I don’t deserve her.

The least I can do is open up to her a little.