Page 39 of The Ring
“I also saw you dancing with him. I hope you berated him,” Annabelle teases.
“Not as much as I would have liked to.”
We both smile.
She drinks what's left of the wine in the glass. “Also, what is she thinking? Nate and then TJ? Is she jumping from cousin to cousin? Is Laurie the next in line?”
That comment mutes me because, technically, I did the same.
Annabelle realises why I suddenly went quiet, and my smile faded. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to… but you know it’s not the same with you.”
“Why? Because I don’t really see it.”
“Because I knowyou,” she says gently. “And I know you didn’t do it intending to hurt anyone. If you had, you would have flaunted it like they’re doing, so everyone would know, and he’d feel bad. Which, by the way, TJ deserves after what he did, but you hid it to avoid hurting him.”
She’s right—my amazing, beautiful best friend. She always knows exactly what I need to hear. But that wasn’t the onlyreason I hid it. It was my main reason, but the other one was that I didn’t want anyone to know because, in some ways, it would mean TJ and I are the same. We both slept with people we knew would deeply hurt each other, and we were selfish about it.
I force a laugh. “He did deserve it, didn’t he?”
“He did,” she replies.
We both laugh a little until it fades, and I stare at the horizon, thinking about how things got so complicated and what I’m going to do about Nate.
Annabelle looks at me. “What else is bothering you?”
“Nothing,” I answer.
I hate hiding things from her, but this isn’t my secret to tell, and I only got the information secondhand—for all I know, it could be fake, even though it doesn’t feel like it is.
“I know it’s not nothing, but I’ll let you keep it to yourself for now,” she says, her voice barely above a whisper.
She takes the glass, now empty, and gestures for me to pour her some more wine. I do. She drinks from the glass, and I from the bottle. She leans her head on my shoulder, and I rest mine on top of hers. We stay here in silence, watching the view. It’s not an uncomfortable silence, but a calm and comforting one. One that feels like a cosy blanket.
If there’s such a thing as soulmates in friendships, Annabelle is mine.
Chapter 21
TJ
After the party, I crashed in my room. It’s the same room I’ve always stayed in whenever I’m here, yet it feels unfamiliar. I never spent much time in it. I usually ended up sleeping in Cornelia’s room.
Amelie took the chopper back to the city a few hours ago. She wanted to stay, but even I have my limits. I wasn’t going to sleep with her, in either the literal or figurative sense, especially not in Cornelia’s grandmother’s house. Besides, she’s not my type.
She was pleasant to be around, but that’s about it. And she was a bad plan—Nate barely even blinked when he saw us. He looked a little bothered, but no more than when a waiter gets your order wrong.
I was mostly asleep when I heard a knock on the door. Groggily, I got up and went to open it, but there was no one there—just a note on the floor, written on stationery with the initialsCRMengravedon it.
Meet me in the library in 10 minutes.
—Cornelia
It kind of shocked me to find that note. Since she’s been back, I could almost say she’s been avoiding me—actually, Iknowshe’s been avoiding me. That’s her way of dealing with things she doesn’t want to face. This felt very out of character for her. Why leave a note when she knows exactly where I am?
Normally, when she gets the courage to do something, she has to act on it immediately; otherwise, she’ll overthink it and chicken out. Maybe she’s changed. I hope not—I love her just the way she was. But I’ll love every version of her.
I got dressed quickly and headed to the library. I wanted to be there before she arrived, and it’s a few minutes’ walk from my room.
You could think from how fast I’m rushing over the note hinted at getting back together or something. Knowing my luck, she probably called me there to scold me about Amelie. Still, I’ll take whatever I can get from her.
