by Sophie Stern
It was a document that was simply titled gala, and I was scared to open it.
There was a reason that Locke hadn’t told me all of this. There was a reason. Maybe he was scared or maybe he was just a jerk, but he hadn’t told me about my dad. He’d been holding it over my head and I’d thought, apparently incorrectly, that he was going to reveal the information when he felt the time was right.
Apparently, the time was going to be right next Saturday night at about 7:00pm.
The document was a speech he’d written exposing my dad, exposing me, and essentially throwing us both under the bus. He was going to catch me by surprise in order to what – horrify me? He wasn’t going to give me a heads up. He was just going to reveal everything in his speech, and that was going to be how he took his real estate company to the next level, I supposed.
It wasn’t a secret that Extrance had been after Locke’s company for years. Everyone knew it. They were enemies, but nobody ever really knew why.
Now I knew why.
Locke was convinced that Reagan killed his little sister, and after sorting through all of the documents he’d collected, I was certain he was right. The kind of guy who would kill someone to stay silent wasn’t exactly a good kind of person.
But Locke could have told me.
Instead, he didn’t. He wanted to keep this secret from me until it was going to hurt me.
The worst part was that he hadn’t trusted me with it. He had invited me to the gala, and he had done so knowing that he was about to reveal wildly personal information in front of other people, and he hadn’t cared.
He’d fucked me in the mansion, and he hadn’t even cared.
Shit.
I wiped my eyes and pulled the flash drive out of the laptop. I closed my laptop, put it back in my backpack, and sat there. My phone rang. It was him.
What the fuck was I supposed to do?
Instead of anything else, I just closed my eyes, and I started sobbing. This was so fucked up, and I didn’t know what I was supposed to do next. My mom would have known what to do. She always knew. She might have been a normal, run-of-the-mill mom, but she would have known. She was always totally controlled.
She always understood exactly how to take care of herself, and how to protect herself. She had been kind, and she had been wonderful.
And I missed her.
I missed her so much.
I wish I’d known what had happened to the money. I wish I’d known what my mother had gone through. She had been through a nightmare sort of situation, but she’d done whatever it took to keep me safe.
She had protected me, and she’d done it all on her own.
I closed my eyes, and I leaned my head back against the seat of my car, and I cried.
And I cried.
And I cried.
Chapter 17
Paige
The post office my mom used to go to was on the other side of town, close to the trailer park I’d lived in for years with her. I walked inside and stared at the row of boxes. There were so many. The lobby was closed, so I didn’t have to worry about asking anyone how to figure out which box was mine. I stared at the key, and then I sighed.
My mom had died too fast. There were too many things I had wanted to ask her, but never did. I never really had a good reason for it, either. It was just never the right time. When she was diagnosed with cancer, it was too late to do anything about it. A month later, she was gone. We hadn’t had enough time to say goodbye.
There had never been enough moments for us to get the closure that we craved.
I closed my eyes, and I started trying the key. For lack of a better starting place, I started with box number one. Nothing. Box two was also a fail. I tried box three, and then I kept going. As I moved down the row of little post office boxes, I was relieved that I was alone, and that there was no one here to see me being crazy. The key had to go to one of the boxes, right?
Rebecca’s notes had said there were checks. Somehow, and I didn’t really want to know how, she’d gotten a copy of an envelope addressed to the post office box, and she’d managed to connect the dots and figure out what had happened. I wondered, for a moment, if Rebecca had actually ever tried to contact my mother. They’d never talked, as far as I knew, and Rebecca’s notes didn’t say anything about speaking with my mother.
She’d been private until the day she died, and apparently, I finally figured out why. As I tried each key, I thought about one of the last days I had with my mom. She had been so proud of me, even then.
“I’m sorry I didn’t do more for you,” she said. She was crying a little. She was always crying.
“It’s totally fine, Mom. You were an amazing Mom. Remember how you always managed to take care of us? You always found a way.” I rubbed her forehead, but it was slick with sweat. She was always hot one minute and cold the next. Apparently, that was a normal part of the dying process. I hated that I was learning all of those things.
I didn’t want to think about my mother dying. I didn’t want to say goodbye to her. It wasn’t fair that we were ending our relationship so soon. I wanted to grow old with my mom. I wanted her to see her grandkids. I wanted her to see great grandkids running around, too. It was unfair.
“I should have done more,” she said. “You’ve always been so smart, Paige. You’ve always been the most important thing to me.”
“Mom, I love you.”
“I love you, too. Paige, listen to me, it’s not too late for you to change things.”
I stiffened. I knew what she meant. Working at grocery stores and gas stations when you were in your late 20s was pretty lame, but I often felt like it really was too late.
“Paige, you can go back to school. You always said you wanted to be a teacher. You can still do it. Paige...”
“What is it, Mom?”
“I did something.”
What had she done? What was she about to tell me?
“I applied for you to go to college right here in Ruby City. I wanted to surprise you, but...”
“Mom?”
“But I’m not going to be able to see you go. I want you to go, princess. I want you to go be a teacher.”
I stared at my mom. She was pointing to a piece of mail next to her on the little nightstand, and I picked it up. Opened it. Sure enough, there was an acceptance letter in there, along with registration information and everything I needed to know about getting started.
“You have an appointment with your guidance counselor next week,” she said. “They’ll help you get registered.”
“Mom, this is wonderful, but...”
But how the hell was I going to afford to pay for college? Ruby City wasn’t exactly a cheap place to live, and college, even as an undergraduate, was going to be expensive.
“I have some savings, and I already paid it.”
My mom looked at me firmly, and I knew that there wasn’t going to be any arguing.
“What do you mean?” I asked slowly. “What do you mean, you paid it?”
“Paige, I had some money saved,” she said. “And I paid for your school.”
“Mom...what money?” My entire life, my mom had worked odd jobs. She’d struggled as a single mother. She’d dated a lot, and sometimes the guys were losers and sometimes they weren’t. Sometimes they hired her as a secretary and sometimes she worked retail jobs, but at the end of the day, my mom had never made more than minimum wage. We’d always struggled to pay the bills, so where had the cash come from?
“I’ve been saving for you,” she said. “An inheritance of sorts. Your father left you some money, and I never wanted to spend it until now.”
“Mom?”
“It’s for your college, Paige. You deserve it, princess. You deserve it.”
The key turned. I was jolted back into reality as I reached post office box 98. The key turned, and the door opened, and the inside of the box was stuffed. I reached inside and pulled everything out. There were six bank statements, and there we
re six letters, and there was a statement from the post office saying that it was time to pay the annual fee.
I guess it was a good thing my mom paid yearly, and not monthly. Otherwise, I might not have found the post office box at all. The locks would have been changed by now. I hadn’t thought to look for a secret box. All of her mail had always gone to her house, as far as I knew. I walked to a little countertop where people could open mail, and I opened the mail.
And then I gasped.
My mom had a savings account I didn’t know about, but I was listed as a joint owner. How the hell had I not known I had a bank account like this? If I’d known this, paying Locke back that couple of hundred dollars wouldn’t have been a big deal. Apparently, my mother saved all of the money my dad sent her.
The other envelopes contained check.
Each envelope had one check, each for the same amount, and each signed by the same person.
Josiah Reagan.
If I’d doubted the information before, I now had solid proof about what was happening. The checks were made out to “cash.” So that was how my mom had saved for college. That was how she’d paid for my braces. That was how she’d managed to keep us afloat.
But she had never spent more than she had to, and now I had what probably should have been an illegal amount of money in a private bank account just waiting for me.
“Mom,” I whispered, staring at the envelopes. “Mom, why didn’t you tell me?”
My phone rang again, and I picked it up without thinking about it. I didn’t even look at the name, which proved to be an immediate mistake.
“Paige, where the hell are you? Are you okay?” It was Locke. He was breathless. He was worried. Agitated. I realized it had been nearly two hours since he’d left me at the mansion. I should have been back with him long ago.
I didn’t say anything at first. How was I supposed to address the fact that he’d lied to me? He’d hidden who my father was from me. He’d hurt me. And now, he wanted me to hand over the flash drive that contained all of that information?
Well, he could have it.
“I never want to see you again,” I said, whispering the words.
Silence.
For a second, I didn’t think he’d heard me, but when he spoke again, his words were tight.
“Paige, what’s wrong? Where are you? Tell me, and I’ll come get you. We can talk about this.”
“Are you sure you don’t want to wait for the gala?” I whispered. “So you can expose him for being my father?”
Silence again.
“Paige, we need to talk.”
“I don’t think that we do, Mr. Locke,” I said politely, steeling myself. My mom was a strong woman. She was the strongest. If she could stand up to powerful men, then I could, too. “I never want to see you again. Ever. I mean that. I’m leaving your flash drive in the pencil holder of the post office on 3rd Avenue,” I said. “Come and get it if you want. I don’t care.”
I hung up the phone, dropped the flash drive in the pencil holder, and gathered up the mail. Then I walked out of the post office, got into my car, and screamed.
Chapter 18
Locke
I punched a hole in the wall when she hung up the phone.
I fucked up.
Badly.
I hadn’t expected to lose my flash drive in the tub when we’d been making out like a couple of teenagers. I hadn’t thought twice about shedding my clothes and making love to her. I hadn’t thought that it would be a big deal for us to share that time together, to touch one another. She’d been incredible, though, and that had been the moment when I realized that I really didn’t want to do anything to hurt her.
I didn’t get a chance to tell her I’d changed my mind.
There was no option to tell her I wasn’t going to go through with it, after all. In Paige’s mind, I had invited her to the gala, and then I’d essentially revealed my evil plan to go along with it. It had been nefarious. It had been horrible.
And I didn’t think there was going to be any coming back from that.
I tried calling her a few more times. I still had to do a few things at the office, but I called Caleb and asked if he could come in to help me out.
“Not a problem,” he said.
“Are you sure?” I said. “I’ll pay you for the trouble of course.”
“It’s fine,” he said. “I’m not doing anything today, and I like to think I know my way around the office better than most.”
“It means a lot to me.”
“Boss?”
“Yeah?”
“Is this about Paige?”
Caleb had always been wildly observant. Of course, he would realize that this had something to do with Paige. He would be the one to guess that my wild and random need for him to replace me for the day had something to do with that.
“I don’t think that’s any of your business,” I pointed out.
“Mr. Locke, I know it’s not, but I have some advice.”
Shit.
I needed Caleb, so I wasn’t going to tell him to shove his advice up his backside. He really was the only one I trusted to come in and help with the gala stuff. He knew his way around art, but he also knew his way around caterers and event organizers.
“I’m listening,” I said, gritting out the words. If Caleb was surprised, it wasn’t reflected in his tone.
“You messed up,” he said simply.
“That’s not advice, Caleb.”
“You need to make it up to her.”
“How do you know I messed up?” I asked him, feeling wildly defensive. He didn’t know. He had no way of knowing.
“If you hadn’t, you wouldn’t be calling me on a Saturday afternoon to come talk to people bringing in banquet forms for you to sign,” he said.
“Fine.”
“Mr. Locke, I’ve dated many people, and one thing I’ve learned is that people don’t like to be lied to, and they don’t like to be tricked. It doesn’t really matter what happened. What matters is what Paige thinks happened. What matters is how she feels.”
He was right, and I knew it. I wasn’t about to open myself up for more advice, though. I’d taken what I could handle.
“Thank you, Caleb.”
“Anytime, Mr. Locke.”
“The forms are on my desk.”
“Understood.”
I hung up the phone and drove to her house. Correction: I drove to my house. I hadn’t expected to have someone like Paige renting from me. The fact that she was the girl I’d been looking for, and she was right under my nose, was ironic. That wasn’t lost on me. Her car was out front, so I parked and headed up to the porch. Before I could even knock, the door opened.
It wasn’t Paige, though.
It was her roommate, Fawn.
“She doesn’t want to see you,” Fawn said, crossing her arms over her chest.
“Fawn, no offense, but this has nothing to do with you.”
“Offense taken,” she said, snapping at me. For a girl who couldn’t have been over five foot three, Fawn was a little scared when she was feisty. She was the type of woman who probably bit, I realized.
I took a step back.
“I need to talk to Paige.”
“No.”
“It’s important.”
“No.”
“I need to explain something to her.”
“Haven’t you done enough to her?” Fawn asked.
“We had a misunderstanding.”
“No,” Fawn shook her head. “I think you understood perfectly. I think you knew that you had a position of power, and you held that over your tenant. She also happens to be recently orphaned because her mom just died like, half a year ago.”
“I didn’t try to take advantage of her.”
“Yeah, you did try, and you did it,” Fawn said. “I know that you do a lot for Ruby City, and that’s great, and I realize that we have a landlord-tenant relationship, and that’s fine, but you fucked up when you decide
d to, what, take Paige under your wing?” She shook her head. “You got her hopes up, you fucker. She’s always wanted to know who her dad was, and you dangled that in front of her like a fucking carrot.”
I stared at Fawn. My mouth was dry because I knew she was right. Everything she’d said to me was true. I was a total piece of shit, and I didn’t deserve to see Paige. I didn’t deserve to talk to her. I didn’t deserve any of it, but I wanted her.
I wanted her.
“You ruined her dreams,” Fawn continued. “And you need to leave. I don’t want to see you here again.”
She slammed the door in my face, and then Fawn disappeared.
Fuck.
Chapter 19
Paige
Fawn appeared in the doorway to my room. There were dark circles under her eyes, as though the stress of dealing with me was finally getting to her. I felt bad for my roommate. She’d never been a bad companion. A lot of people had horror stories about the people they lived with, but not me. I’d always been able to count on her.
“Did you hear that?” She asked.
“Yes.” I swallowed hard. I wished I hadn’t.
“All of it?”
“Yes.”
“And?”
“And I’m lucky to have a friend like you,” I told her honestly, whispering. Suddenly, my throat seemed to be on fire. I reached for the glass of water I kept on my nightstand, and I sipped it. Then I set it back down. “I’m lucky to have someone that stands up for me no matter what.”
I was, too. Not every roommate, and not every friend, would have my back the way that Fawn always seemed to have mine. I was lucky to have someone who was willing to go bat for me no matter what.
“He’s a pig,” she said. “And you deserve better.”
I’d talked to her when I’d gotten home, and she’d listened to every damn word. Then she’d taken my side, and she’d told me that she had my back, and she promised to help me through this no matter what happened next.
The answering-the-door thing had been a welcome surprise. I hadn’t been ready to see him. At all. It was incredible that Fawn had been willing to answer and to take care of everything for me. Personally, I kind of just wanted to crawl under my blankets and pretend that my life hadn’t gone in the direction it had gone in. I wanted things to be different. Part of me wanted to rewind the last semester. If I could go back to the summer, I could choose a different college, and then I wouldn’t have to worry about any of this.