Page 298 of Summer Heat
I throw my arms around her neck, surprising us both by bursting into tears. “Oh my God, I’m so sorry.”
She squeezes me back. “Oh, Avery. Tell me everything.”
Over her shoulder I spot a glossy black car with a man leaning against it, a cigarette in his mouth. He notices me looking and gives me a mock salute.
A shiver runs through me. “Let’s go inside.”
Sitting on the floor in the empty living room, sipping our soy chai lattes, I tell her about the horrible court dates, where reporters hounded us on the way up and down the marble steps. I tell her about the convictions, how my father seemed to age ten years overnight as the guilty verdicts rang out. And I tell her about the horrible night I got a phone call from the police telling me my father was in the hospital.
Harper’s brown eyes fill with tears. “Christ, Avery. How could you try and keep all this to yourself? You’re too strong for your own good.”
It all felt like a nightmare, but when I speak the words aloud, they become real. “I guess I was just taking it one day at a time. And for a while Daddy tried to keep a brave face, telling me that he’d fix everything. But they were just words. And after the attack…the doctors say he’ll never really recover.”
“You aren’t coming back to school,” she says, and it isn’t a question.
I shake my head. “There’s no way. Maybe someday in the future I can think about college again, but right now I have to focus on Daddy. He needs me.”
She looks down, fiddling with the lid of her latte. “What are you going to do for money?”
Isn’t that the million-dollar question? “I’m fine.”
“Is that your way of saying you’re totally fucked?”
In more ways than one. “I’m working on something, but I don’t have the details figured out yet.”
Her eyes spark with curiosity. “I’m going to let you off the hook—for now. Tell me what happened with Justin. You texted me that you broke up with him?”
Shame suffuses my cheeks as I remember all the times I told her how handsome he was, how perfect. “No, he broke up with me.”
She looks mystified. “But he was crazy about you.”
“Because of this whole mess. He said he wanted to be a senator one day, and he couldn’t be connected to the James family if he was going to do that.”
A gasp. “That bastard.”
I look away and swallow. “I guess I understand his point. I wouldn’t want to ruin his future.”
“You’re way too nice. He’s a dirty rat bastard.”
My cheeks burn as I share the most humiliating part. “I got the impression I was only going to be a stepping stone anyway. That he never really cared about me. I guess that’s why he was okay waiting until marriage.”
She bites her lip, looking contemplative. “I don’t know about that. He was crazy about you, but he was always pretty spineless. I’m sure Papa Justin wasn’t too pleased about the scandal.”
I raise my eyebrows. “Spineless? You never said anything.”
“I mean he looked good in a tux, but he couldn’t make up his own mind about anything. He’s probably following in his dad’s footsteps because he couldn’t think of any original career path.”
I manage a wan smile. “Well, his senatorship is safe and sound now.”
“He’ll regret it,” she says, sounding sure. “And you’re better off without him. You’ll find someone who cares about you for you—not for your family name.”
Maybe so, but how would that future man feel about how I’d lost my virginity? Even if I tried to keep it a secret, people would talk about it. They’re paying an attendance fee just to find out my identity. After the way the reporters circled my father’s court case, the entire auction might eventually be public knowledge.
I’m not just giving up my college degree or my career. I might be giving up being in love, having a family. Loneliness stretches out in front of me like a desert, Gabriel’s eyes burning like the sun.
He may not be standing outside my house, but he could ask Damon what I’m doing. And he’s the one who orchestrated my family’s fall. He’s like a puppet master, moving me faster and faster until I come apart.
“Maybe it’s better that I’m not engaged. I can’t focus on anything as long as Daddy’s sick.” He needs so much care just to stay alive. I never realized how fragile life could be until I saw all the tubes and monitors attached to his frail body. “He needs me right now.”
