Hildy flashes me a sardonic smile, “Oh, I asked him the same thing. He said since I share his DNA, that automatically makes me superior to other women.”
I stare at her in disbelief.
“Yeah,” she purses her lips, “I think some girl just pissed him off, but,” Hildy motions down the hill to the pole building, “this is not the brother I grew up with.”
“So, what changed?” I ask.
Hildy shrugs, “He finally found someone he got along with.”
I knit my brow in confusion, “What do you mean got along with?”
“Bo can be…a lot,” she casts me a sideways glance, “he’s the most fun person I know and he always has been. I love him to death—he’s my brother, right? But, when we were younger, he was a complete asshole.”
I nod in agreement at her from my chair, that’s an understatement…
“He was selfish and cocky and got in fights all the time. If it weren’t for Granddad, he’d probably be in prison. He just strung girls along until he got bored and I was usually the one who had to deal with it because then they’d come crying to me about it.”
“Like Hannah?” I surmise.
Hildy shoots me a side-eye, “Bo never had any tact. He liked the attention and he didn’t care what happened beyond that. But then,” she arches her brow, “one day he just changed. It was like he woke up and decided he was going to be someone else, that he was going to be different. And he’s been that way ever since.”
I peer at her with curiosity, “Like how?”
Hildy chews the inside of her cheek, “Did he ever tell you about Emily?”
“Kind of,” I cock my head, gazing down the hill, “only that she ghosted him or something.”
I don’t mention finding her photo in a shoebox in his basement.
Hildy rolls her eyes, “God, he’s such a weirdo. He bottles up so much stuff. Don’t tell him I told you any of this, because it probably won’t go over well, but I think you should know.”
“I didn’t hear it from you,” I say, casting her a sly smile.
“OK, because no one really talks about her anymore,” Hildy lowers her voice, “Bo was engaged to Emily, but I was the only one who knew about it.”
My eyes round, “Why?”
“They were only engaged for a few days before she just up and left. He never even got the chance to tell anyone about the engagement.”
“Like, just bounced, never to be heard from again?”
“There’s more to it,” Hildy admits, “but it was very sudden.”
I glance down at the teal sapphire on my finger, “How long ago?”
“A little over two years ago. Emily and I had been friends since freshman year of college and they started dating during senior year. She came home with me one weekend and it was like a light switch went on. Bo can be nice and polite when he wants to be, but he went out of his way to take us places, do stuff for us, and basically be the complete opposite of himself.”
“Wow, so what happened?”
“They were so good together,” Hildy laments, “but I think she had a lot of problems that just caught up with her and she didn’t know how to deal with them.”
“Like what?”
“Her family was a mess. Once she went off to school, she didn’t talk to them much. That should’ve been a good thing, right—getting away from toxic people? But I think that’s why things moved really fast with Bo. I think she wanted to escape and he was more than happy to let her do it because he would do anything for her.” A pained look spreads across Hildy’s face, “After we graduated, Emily decided she wanted to go to medical school. She was really smart, studied her ass off, and even took extra classes in the summer and fall, so I was sure she’d get in…” Hildy’s tone tells me the story’s about to take a turn for the worse, “but she didn’t. After that, Bo said she stopped taking her meds for bipolar disorder and she started spiraling. She drifted away and stopped talking to everyone until, one day, Bo came over for dinner and said she was gone.”
“Gone?”
“Gone. But she left him a note basically telling him he was the worst person on the planet.”
I stare at Hildy, speechless.
“She did it right before Christmas, too,” Hildy adds with slightly more venom.
“Wow.” It’s the only response that comes to mind.
“Bo was devastated,” she says with an air of contempt, “so it’s probably better that she stayed gone, because I could never forgive her for that.”
“Well,” I sigh, “I guess I can’t blame him for not wanting to talk about all that.”
Hildy takes a breath, “That’s why I’m glad you found each other. He can be a dumbass sometimes, but he’s changed so much and he’s worked so hard for everything he has. He deserves to be happy.”
I admire Hildy’s love for Bowen. Maybe it’s a twin thing or maybe it’s because they’ve never lived more than a town away from each other their entire lives, but I’m envious of the bond they share.
“It really sucked,” Hildy continues, “her leaving like that almost felt like…” Hildy trails off and, after a few moments, turns to me with curiosity, “Did Bo ever tell you about Evie?”
“Yes,” I nod, “he told me what happened to her and how horrible it was.”
Hildy squints into the sun flooding over the hill, “She was my best friend. We were together all the time. We played softball together, got our licenses together, vacations, dances, all that. She might as well have been my sister.”
