All the Secrets We Keep (Quarry Book 2) Read online

  “I’d been dating a guy for a couple years. When he asked me to move in with him, I thought it was a good idea, you know? I thought it was what I wanted.” She didn’t mention that the guy was Wayne, the owner of the company that had bought the quarry.

  Alicia snorted soft laughter. “Let me guess. Not all it was cracked up to be.”

  “Not even close. It was fine at first, but after a while it turned out he was really serious about us. He asked me to marry him.” Theresa’s fingers tightened on the mug.

  “Wow.”

  She nodded. “Yeah, exactly. When I said no, he didn’t take it very well. I’d spent so many years making sure I would never be put in that position again. At least, unlike Galina, he gave me a few days instead of a few hours to get out. That’s when I found out that I couldn’t get an apartment because my credit score was so bad nobody would rent to me. And wouldn’t you know it? I lost my job in a downsizing thing. That was about nine months ago.”

  Alicia shook her head and gave a low whistle. “I don’t understand . . . why are you responsible for this debt? You didn’t open the accounts. That’s fraud, isn’t it?”

  “Yes.” Theresa swallowed around the lump in her throat. “I’d have to file a police report and declare identity theft. I would have to prove I wasn’t the one who’d made the charges. Instead, I consolidated everything into a single payment and closed the other accounts. I’ve been doing what I can, but it takes time to erase bad credit.”

  “Like gaining weight. Easy to put on, hard to take off.” Alicia frowned. “Sorry. I shouldn’t make light. He should be paying, Theresa. Not you.”

  “He sends me money every month toward it, but my father is not . . . reliable,” Theresa said stiffly. “And before you ask me why I didn’t just turn him in . . . he’s my dad, Alicia. I don’t know if I can forgive him for any of this, but he’s still my father. I couldn’t send him to prison.”

  “So you’ve been living in your car?” Alicia waved at the waitress to refresh their mugs, waiting until she’d gone before continuing. “All this time?”

  “Only the past month or so. I stayed with some friends, on and off, although I didn’t want to tell them this wasn’t a temporary thing, so I could only stay for a few days at a time. I stayed with the Sterns for a bit around the time of the funeral.”

  “I wondered why on earth you’d agreed to do that,” Alicia said.

  Theresa laughed. It felt genuine. It felt good. She felt lighter, at least a little unburdened by her confession. “It was a place to stay. Food. I wasn’t too proud to take it. Now you know.”

  “But what about the quarry deal? That didn’t help?”

  “It wasn’t as much as I was counting on,” Theresa said. “It was enough to take care of the debt I’d racked up over the past few months. Money I didn’t want to spend but had to. My cell bill. Car insurance. That about wiped me out, but I need the phone and the car in order to make the cold calls I need to put these deals together. And I’m good at this, Alicia, surprisingly good, but everything is on commission, and so far nothing’s really come in the way I need it to. Until then, I have to keep hustling.”

  Hustle was the right way to describe it, not that she’d admit that to Alicia. The quarry deal had been the best and biggest she’d managed to put together—but only by the skin of her teeth, and her ex-boyfriend’s lovesick hope that helping her out would get her back into his life. She’d been lucky the entire deal hadn’t fallen through when Ilya refused to sell, but as it turned out, she had a talent for this sort of thing. Wayne might have wanted to pull out to spite her once he knew she’d used his emotions to get him to agree, but his partners were completely on board with the hotel and condo plans. Working with them on this had led to other opportunities she hoped would soon pay off.

  Alicia shook her head, frowning. “All of this sucks. No wonder you didn’t look happy to see your dad when he came to the house after Babulya’s funeral.”

  “I hadn’t seen him since I confronted him about what I’d learned. Yeah, that was . . . awkward.” Theresa stretched, rolling her neck on her shoulders. “You’re the first person I’ve told any of this to. Thanks for listening. I guess I needed someone to vent to.”

  “Are you kidding me? I can’t imagine having to deal with all of that. You’ve held it together remarkably well, better than I ever could have.” Alicia leaned across the table. “Look. You come stay with me.”

  Stunned at this sudden and undeserved generosity, Theresa shook her head. “No, I couldn’t . . .”

  Alicia held up a hand. “Don’t even. I’m in that house all by myself—”

  “For now,” Theresa said with a grin.

  Alicia grinned, too. “For now. And for a while, anyway. Niko and I haven’t even talked about making anything permanent, and I have no idea what’s going to happen. But I definitely have an extra bedroom, and you’re going to move into it until you get back on your feet.”

  “I can contribute,” Theresa said at once, already deciding she was going to take the offer. She had to. This was no time for too much pride. “Not a whole lot. But you won’t have to carry me, Alicia. I mean . . . you don’t have a job, either. And trust me, you don’t want to get behind on things.”

  Alicia shrugged. “Honestly, my parents left me pretty well set with the house. I have money left from the sale. It will last me for a little longer. If you chip in for utilities and food, I’m good with that.”

  This gesture was beyond generosity. This felt like true friendship. It struck her, then, why she hadn’t asked her other friends to help her out. It had been more than embarrassment. Shame. It had been a deep-seated knowledge that even if she did ask, none of them would have offered her anything close to what Alicia just had. There were friends, and there were people who would always be more than that.

  When she said as much, Alicia’s brows rose. She shrugged. “Well . . . we’ve known each other for a long time, Theresa. I mean, just because we haven’t been superclose doesn’t mean that it doesn’t count.”

  “It would only be for a little while,” Theresa insisted, but her heart lifted. She didn’t want to cry, but she wasn’t sure she was going to be able to hold back.

  “It would be for as long as it takes,” Alicia said. “Okay?”

  Theresa wiped her eyes. “I don’t want anyone to know about my dad. The rest of it is bad enough, but please, don’t tell anyone what my dad did.”

  “I won’t say anything.”

  “Not even to Niko. Please, Alicia. It’s so embarrassing. And definitely not to Ilya.” Theresa paused, considering for a moment the folly of blurting out that she and Ilya had made out by his front door, and that had somehow made things different enough between them that she cared about saving face. Wisely, she kept that bit of information to herself.

  Alicia looked wary at the request, but then nodded. “I’ll do what I can. And I’ll lend you the money for the storage units so you don’t lose your stuff.”

  At that, Theresa could no longer hold back the tears. She tried to say thanks, but nothing came out. Alicia’s eyes were bright, too. They both sniffled and grabbed napkins to dab at their eyes.

  “Thank you, Alicia. Thank you so much.” Theresa shook her head. “I can’t even begin to describe what this means to me.”

  “Don’t worry about it,” Alicia said. “And, hey, look at it this way. If you’re right across the street from him every day, maybe you’ll be able to convince my stubborn ex-husband to take that deal.”

  “Right,” Theresa answered. Across the street from Ilya. Every day. Every night, too. Her heart thumped harder at the thought. “That would help.”

  CHAPTER FOURTEEN

  Then

  If there’d been men in his mother’s life, Ilya hadn’t known about it. Hadn’t wanted to know about it. The fact that she’d been bringing this joker around for the past couple of months should’ve set off warning bells.

  “She says they’re going to get married!”