Believing Lies by Rachel Everleigh Page B

eyes shut, while absorbing the warmth of the golden sunrays. In that moment, I just knew everything would eventually be okay. I’d lost the man I was in love with, the man who was supposed to be my husband, and I would still be hurt for a long time, but Sophie proved to me today that my life would go on. I could experience happiness again because I had her to help me along the way. To some people, it may seem odd to rely on your cousin so much for your happiness, but we shared an unbreakable bond. Since we were little, she had always been—and would always continue to be—there for me through thick and thin. Just as I had always been—and would always be—there for her too. She meant more to me than any other person in the world.
    Despite the beautiful, perfect summer weather, the beach wasn’t overly busy. There were a group of guys playing Frisbee, some teenage girls sunbathing, a few people on a blanket playing cards and drinking beer, and a handful of scattered parents watching their little kids making sand castles and splashing in the shallow water. Nobody else was in the lake past the point where you could no longer touch the bottom, providing us with the illusion of isolation.
    As we floated in the cool water, our initial small talk slowly turned more serious. We came to the conclusion that it was time for me to officially move out of Trenton’s. I knew it needed to happen but was dreading it regardless. Sophie promised she would come with me, which calmed my anxiety a tad.
    “You really have no choice, Sienna. You especially need your clothes. You can’t live out of my closet forever.” We both knew that was a lie. Her closet had enough clothes to outfit a small army. But I did need to get my stuff, if only to finalize the ending of our relationship. “I can ask Conner if he will help us move the boxes and your dresser,” Sophie offered. “Plus, he has a pickup truck, which would be way better than trying to just use my Jeep or your car. You don’t have any other furniture besides the dresser, right?”
    “Right. Almost everything at the apartment is Trenton’s.” I contemplated her offer to ask Conner to help. “Do you think Conner would mind? I’m sure he doesn’t want to be in the middle of my drama.”
    “I think he’ll be okay with helping. I’ll give him a call when we get back to shore. I told him I was taking you to the beach today, and he was happy to hear I was getting you out of your room. I know you two don’t really know each other much, but he had a similar experience in the beginning of school last year. They weren’t engaged or anything, but he loved her, and she cheated on him with another guy in his frat. He told me that when Adam transferred here, he was glad to get out of the frat house and eventually quit the fraternity completely.” She paused. “So anyway, he knows what it’s like.”
    “He seems like a really nice guy. I’m sorry to hear he got shit on too.”
    Sophie gave me a regretful look, which I thought had to do with our conversation about Conner, but I was wrong. She’d saved the big bomb for last. “Your mom came over yesterday.”
    I winced. “And . . . ?”
    “She was irate that I wouldn’t let her in the building.”
    My eyes popped. “You refused to let her in? Oh my God, this is going to be bad.”
    She let out a dry laugh. “Oh, it was. But I didn’t want her to fuck with you. She reprimanded me through the intercom for, and I quote, ‘being cruel and selfish enough to keep her away from her only child.’”
    “She can be so dramatic.”
    “Trenton apparently called her when he realized he hit a dead end with your phone being off. He tried my phone three days ago, and after a few minutes of me spewing every swear word I could think of, I hung up on him. He hasn’t tried my phone since. He must have turned to her as a last resort.” Sophie took a second before continuing. “Your mom said all men make mistakes and it’s not uncommon for