by Alexis Bass
“Have you tried asking him yourself?”
“Sure did,” Stewart says. “But damn if that guy hasn’t made staying away from her his first priority. And he’s really sticking to his guns on this one. Won’t listen to me or Theo, doesn’t even seem to care how much money his family will lose if the company goes under. No bueno.”
“But we think he’ll listen to you,” Theo says. “If you tell him to reach out to Rob, we know he could talk her into making the changes to her company that your dad laid out in the proposal to save it.”
“Tell him you’re not going to get jealous and dump him if he calls her,” Stewart adds. “Tell him you don’t want your dad to lose his investment either.”
“Lately he likes to stay out of our parents’ mess,” Theo says. “But if you’re worried about it, too, maybe he’ll reconsider.”
“And you really believe he’d be able to convince her?” I think of the way Rob had looked at Jasper at Hylift, the way she’d said she always wanted him close and her promise that it could be different in the future for them, how she was crying after he’d run into the storm to get away from her. They might be right about Jasper having a good amount of sway.
“She had him followed at Hylift,” Stewart says.
“She still cares what he thinks,” Theo says, and I remember what he’d told me, about Rob hating that Jasper was no longer under her spell.
But I don’t think the two of them know what she has on Jasper or that he has incriminating things to say about her if this ever goes to trial that he’ll be forced to lie about. They have no idea that it’s much more complicated than an old romance that didn’t end well.
“Why the hesitation?” Theo says.
“Unless you’ve got loyalties elsewhere?” Stewart says, and he and Theo exchange a glance. Is Theo still suspicious of me and my reasons for liking Jasper in the first place when I knew about our parents?
“What do you mean by that?” I glare at them, then zero in on Stewart. “Why do you care so much? What do you have at stake?” I can’t get over the strangeness of this meeting, their plan to ask to me to help. It feels like there’s something they aren’t telling me.
“My parents and my grandparents will lose money. We’d have to sell our home in Tuscany if this deal falls through,” Stewart says. “I can’t lose that. It’d be molto brutto.”
“Everyone has different priorities, right?” Theo says to me, shrugging.
“Regardless,” Stewart says. “Getting Jasper to talk to Rob is really the only chance we’ve got to convince her to do the right things to save her company and our parents’ money. Will you help us?”
Forty-four
There are these old cabins in the forest, off the path that leads to the water. They used to be rented out to tourists during the peak season, but I’m told that about six years ago the road to reach them washed out due to heavy winter rains, and the owners never replaced it. The cabins have been vacant ever since.
“Cabin seven is supposed to be the nicest,” Anastasia says as we walk to the cafeteria for lunch. She overheard Theo and me talking about the cabins and instead of telling her the truth, that we’re going to the cabins to listen in on a phone call between Jasper and Rob James, he tells her that I’m going there to be alone with Jasper. It’s clear Theo doesn’t want Anastasia to know what we’re up to, the only secret he’s keeping from her as far as I can tell. When I asked him about it, he said that he didn’t want to risk a leak and get the four of us busted for wandering off campus where we aren’t permitted to go.
“Cabin five is said to be the most spacious,” she continues. “I’ve heard rumors that cabin nine is infested with raccoons.”
“I like cabin three,” Ariel says.
“I’ve heard cabin three smells like mildew,” Anastasia says.
“They all smell like mildew.”
“Well, how would I know?” Anastasia tosses her hair over her shoulder. “I prefer not to hike five miles to hook up with someone.”
“It’s half a mile.”
“Whatever. I prefer not to hike at all.” We get in line for the toasted sesame noodle salad, my eyes scanning the cafeteria for Jasper. “But you should totally go, Collins. If you and Jasper don’t mind the hiking or the smell or the raccoons.”
That evening between dinner and the first night checks, I go to the gym. It will appear regular, me going to the gym, but once I’m there, I leave out the back exit and walk to the edge of the woods, where Jasper is waiting for me.
We trudge along the path as the sun goes down. The rays slice through the trees with the sounds of the ocean’s waves lapping at the shore in the distance. When we reach the third big curve in the trail, we leave the path, going right instead of left, and walk toward the birch trees a few yards away. We go straight until we’re past the birch trees and come to the thicket of younger pine trees. Brushing through them, we see the wide clearing, with a few small one-room cabins. Theo said to go in the one with the blue door—cabin two.
The door sticks on the first attempt to open it, but Jasper puts his weight into it, and it pops open. Theo and Stewart are already there, sitting at a small square table with a lantern in the middle. On the opposite side of the room, there’s a short couch that’s been covered with a plaid blanket. The floor is dotted with dirt and dried leaves, and it does smell like mildew. But Theo lights a candle and sets it on the counter of what would be a kitchenette, if all the appliances and cabinet doors weren’t missing. The smell of oranges starts to fill the room.
“I do what I can,” he says, nodding toward the candle. He turns to Jasper. “Are you ready?”
“I still don’t think I’m the answer,” he says. “But sure.”
“Just tell her what she wants to hear and you’ll be golden. Très bon.”
The four of us sit at the table, around the glow of the lantern. Theo thinks we should all be there for the call, to hear in real time how she responds to Jasper’s pleas and to guide Jasper in how to steer her toward accepting the proposal, depending on what her arguments against it are. Jasper’s phone is positioned in the center. Theo has a notepad and pen for communicating with Jasper while he’s on the call.
“She’s expecting you?” Theo asks—something he got clarification on before we came here, when Jasper texted Rob to ask if they could talk and made the arrangements. It’s the first clue that Theo is in fact very nervous about how this will turn out.
“Yes,” Jasper says. “This is the time we agreed on.” He glances at me and I give him the slightest nod so he’ll know I’m ready. From inside the pocket of my sweatshirt, I hit the button on my phone, setting it to record Jasper’s conversation with Rob.
Jasper and I have our own plan.
“Let’s get on with it then,” Stewart says.
Jasper dials her number and puts the phone on speaker.
“Hey,” she says, answering on the second ring. “I’m glad you wanted to talk.”
“Me, too,” he says. “Is this still a good time?”
I’m struck by the casualness of their tones. Her voice isn’t rigid, overtly professional, nor is it dripping with desperation. His is void of the usual defensiveness he exhibits when he talks to her.
“Yeah, now works,” she says. “What’d you want to talk about? Calling to tell me you’ve reconsidered? You still think about what I said about the future? You know I hated every second I saw you with Jacob Pruitt’s daughter at Hylift. Did you do that on purpose to drive me insane? Because it worked.”
Jasper moves uncomfortably in his chair, his eyes shifting to meet mine. He’s thinking what I’m thinking: she’s walking right into our trap. We want what Theo and Stewart want, for Rob to accept my father’s proposal. But we also want her to stop blackmailing Jasper.
“Speaking of Jacob Pruitt,” Jasper says.
Theo covers his face with his hands like he doesn’t think Jasper is being smooth at all.
“Oh, what?” Rob says. “Did you finall
y figure out your mother was sleeping with him?”
Stewart’s eyes get big. Theo shakes his head at him, but I know they’ll have to explain it to him later.
“Her latest arrangement. Did it upset your new girlfriend?”
Jasper pinches his eyes closed. “No, nope … that’s not what I’m calling about, Roberta.”
“I assume you’re calling to apologize.”
Jasper takes a deep breath. Stewart and Theo are nodding profusely at him.
“That is why I’m calling,” he says. “And to say, I miss you.”
Rob doesn’t say anything right away. All of us hold our breaths waiting to see if she takes this bait. Theo and Stewart are hoping his confession will soften her, make her more likely to listen to Jasper’s suggestion about the proposal. Jasper and I have something else in mind.
“Well, you know Jasper, you were a great intern. You’ve got an innovative mind and you’re very intuitive. I still see a future for you at Robames.”
“With you,” Jasper interjects.
“The company could always use someone like you,” she says without missing a beat.
Shoot. Jasper looks at me, sharing in my frustration.
Theo taps him impatiently on the shoulder. He scribbles BRING UP THE PROPOSAL NOW on the notepad and holds it up to Jasper.
Jasper nods at Theo. He says, “From what I’ve heard, you won’t have much of a future at all because of this lawsuit.” She inhales sharply. He continues, “I didn’t mean that to sound like a threat. I want to help you. I want you to get out of this unscathed, you know? I still believe in you.” Theo and Stewart are nodding their approval. He glances at me, and I nod also. He’s doing exactly what he’s supposed to do. “If you accept Jacob Pruitt’s proposal and enact his ideas, that should get the Justice Department off your back and spare you from going to trial. They wouldn’t have the chance to publicly tear down everything you’ve built. You’d get to keep moving forward with Robames. You’d still be doing what you love, and that’s what I want for you.”
It’s quiet for so long on the other end that we all lean forward, straining to hear if she’s still there. Finally, Jasper says, “Hello?”
“I’m here,” she says. Then she laughs. “That’s what you want for me, is it?”
Jasper looks to us when he notices the new harshness in her voice. Theo and Stewart start nodding emphatically, instructing him even though he doesn’t need it from them. Only from me. Under the table, I link my ankle around his.
“Yes,” Jasper says. “Is it so hard to believe that I want you to be happy? Would you believe that I still love you—doesn’t a part of you still love me?”
Theo grimaces like he thinks Jasper said the wrong thing again, maybe took it too far. But this is the confession we need from her in case Jasper really can’t convince her to authorize the proposal.
“It is very hard to believe that my happiness is something that crosses your mind,” she says. “Especially because not going to trial would sure make your life easier, wouldn’t it?”
Jasper starts in quickly. “It would make your life easier, too,” he says. “It would be better for both of us. Now and for the future.”
“Did she put you up to this?”
“Did who put me up to this?” There’s malice in his words because she’s either talking about me or his mother, and either way, he doesn’t like it.
“Or was it your brother? Worried for his family’s crippling debt and trying to be the hero you could never be?”
Jasper lets loose. “If authorizing Jacob’s proposal can get the lawsuit dropped, I don’t understand why you won’t do it. It doesn’t make any sense.”
“Do you even know what’s in his proposal, Jasper?”
“Yeah, I do,” he says. But he sounds unsure. He hasn’t seen it. Neither have I. Theo writes RESEARCH on the notepad, but Jasper shakes his head. We aren’t sure what that means or what he’s trying to say.
“You have no idea what it’s asking of me,” she says. “And it doesn’t get the Justice Department off my back or dissolve the lawsuit. All it does is stop it from going to trial. Protect the precious company image. But I’ll have to give up my own life’s creation.”
“You’re twenty,” Jasper says. “You have plenty of time for another life’s creation. You have time for ten of them! Maybe next you’ll choose to invent something that’s actually feasible.”
Jasper’s hand flies over his mouth like he’s startled at what came out. He’s still seething, though, his other hand gripping the edge of the table as he talks to her. The three of us stare at him, a new heaviness to the air now that Jasper is becoming unhinged.
“And you have plenty of time to apply to other colleges,” she says. “If any of them will take you after they find out what you’ve done.”
Theo drops the pen he’s holding. He’s starting to understand how complicated it is between Jasper and Rob, how there are things Jasper hasn’t told him.
“At least I go down alone,” Jasper says, abandoning the plan Stewart and Theo came up with to convince her to accept the proposal, abandoning our plan to get her to admit that she was involved with him. “You’re screwing over so many people. It’s incredibly selfish.”
“I believe in fighting for what’s mine,” she says. “Something I used to think you understood. But now I know you don’t. You’re a coward. Have a great life, Jasper. Don’t try to reach me anymore; I won’t be taking your calls. If you want to talk to me about this again, you’re going to have to discuss it with me in person.”
She hangs up.
Jasper stands aggressively from the table, knocking over his chair.
Stewart tries dialing her back on Jasper’s phone, but it goes straight to voice mail.
“I told you that wouldn’t work,” Jasper says.
Theo folds his hands over the notebook. “So she’s blackmailing you,” he says calmly.
Jasper looks down. He lifts his chair off the floor and straightens it in front of the table. He nods.
“And you knew about this?” Theo says to me.
“She’s the only one who knows,” Jasper says.
“Dude, what does she have on you?” Stewart says.
No one says anything, and I wonder if Jasper will be forced to confess to them about cheating in the decathlon, if they’ll demand to know the entire truth.
“I was recording the call,” I say quickly, revealing our plan because what’s the use now that it didn’t work. “If we could get Rob to say something about her and Jasper being involved, something to support all those rumors and hearsay, it would discredit him as a witness. He wouldn’t be asked to testify. She wouldn’t be able to blackmail him into lying.”
“She doesn’t want anyone to know about me—about us,” Jasper explains. “She never did. Not until I was in college. She wants to be taken seriously, and her involvement with me jeopardizes that.”
Theo watches Jasper with sad eyes. He’s putting together that it was more than the stress of being on the deposition list that made Jasper have such a hard time sleeping.
“I guess the real question is, what do you have on her?” Theo says. He reaches out and touches Jasper’s hand resting over the back of the chair. “It’s all true, right? What they’re accusing her of? And you know because you interned there?”
Stewart groans and puts his head on the table even though Jasper doesn’t answer.
Jasper told me Rob was a liar and a fraud. Guilty of everything they’re accusing her of.
“Why wouldn’t the proposal dissolve the lawsuit?”
“Robames isn’t being sued,” Theo says. “The lawsuit isn’t against the company. It’s against her.”
“Oh.”
“She lied about everything,” Jasper says. “I saw what she did. She lied about money. She’d fabricate results. I saw the reports saying her invention wouldn’t work. No amount of additional research will change that.”
Rob’s speech over Labor Day fil
ls my thoughts, how she spoke about believing in yourself, about never giving up. And I think of what Theo said about people wanting to trust in her, and that it’s this persona she emulates that got so many investors behind her. They believed in her idea, but they also believed in her—her direction for the company, for the Roba-Fix. My father is almost never wrong—and he’s certainly never this wrong.
“The Roba-Fix isn’t real,” Jasper says. “It seems too good to be true because it is. It’s an impossible invention.”
My heart starts to race.
“Do you get it now?” Stewart says.
I nod slowly, disoriented from the news and the weight of how dangerous Jasper really is to Rob if he’s allowed to testify, why she has to be savage to make sure he lies. And why revealing their former relationship is not an option for her.
“You don’t have to worry,” Theo says to Jasper. “I’ve read the proposal many times, and it’s really her best option. Even as stubborn as she is, she can’t deny this. We’ll figure out a way to convince her. If you have to meet with her in person like she wants, so be it. It was a good idea to try to discredit yourself. But our family still needs this investment.”
“I don’t know if anything I say will make a difference to her,” Jasper says.
“You have to try again,” I say, suddenly filled with panic now that I know the whole story, the real pressure Jasper’s under. “Call her or email or her something—say you’ll do it, you’ll talk to her about this in person. And when you’re alone with her try again telling her you believe in her and getting her to confess that you used to be involved. Pretend you still want her. Tell her you want that future with her and that you still love her. Remind her of all the good things you bring out in her. If she won’t admit to a past love affair, we’ll set her up for a current one. Let her see that you’re the one who shines a light on the good parts of her and makes her forget all the bad parts.” The words are heavy in my throat. It’s not my advice. It’s Rosie’s. “We’ll record it or we can plant cameras or—”
“Are you losing your actual mind?” Stewart says. The three of them stare at me with wide eyes, but my thoughts are still reeling, still producing ideas to save Jasper from this no matter the cost.