by Piper Knox
I had never been in here before. The act of trespassing made me feel icky. The inheritance, Hailey. Think about the inheritance. The office looked exactly like the rest of the apartment. There was one black oak desk at the end. The gray walls were lined with a neatly organized black bookshelf. Caiden was a reader, even back in high school. That was one thing we had in common. I enjoyed discovering peculiar books I wouldn’t otherwise find on a common bookshelf and it looked like Caiden had varied interests, if his library was anything to go by. I made a mental note to visit the bookshelves later. The office was freakishly clean and organized. Nothing was out of place. A maid, Julie, came here to clean every day. She was efficient and had an uncanny ability of making herself invisible. Maybe I could ask her the next time she came. But what could I ask exactly? Hey, do you have any idea where my husband kept his potentially secret company documents?
I went to the desk drawers. Most of them barely had anything. One had a few pens. Another had a legal pad. The rest had nothing, except for a small top drawer that was locked. Locked drawers usually hid stuff not meant to be seen. I searched everywhere for a key and couldn’t find it. I gave up on the tiny drawer. It was curious, but maybe it had nothing I wanted. There was one other place I could search.
◆◆◆
If rummaging through his office felt like trespassing, going through his bedroom felt sacrilegious. The enormous bed in the middle of the room was intimidating. A thought drifted into my head. Him and I on that bed. Kissing. His lips trailing down my body until they reached my—I shook my head. Now was not the time. I plodded further in and looked around. I doubt I could find anything here, but I tried anyway. Any small sound, and any perceived sound, made me jolt. This did not feel right. I shouldn’t be here.
I went to the bedside table drawer and opened it. I was greeted with a box of condoms. My face flushed, and I closed it with a bang. I opened the one below. It was deeper and heavier. In it was a worn shoe-box that looked out of place in the sophisticated room. What attracted me, though, was not the oddity of it. It was its familiarity. I had seen it before. I took it out and placed it on the table. It felt heavy on one end. I took a deep sigh and opened it.
Inside it was a Polaroid camera I had seen before. Lots of times. My hands shook at the sight. Beneath it were photos. Photos of Caiden that looked like he didn’t know he was being photographed. I smiled. He looked so young and cute in them. My eyes welled. I picked up one. It was of Caiden with a comic book. I flipped it around, knowing there would be a caption. He always captioned his photos with things like, “In this photo, we see Caiden engrossed in a picture book for loser teenagers.” There were other photos of him like this. Some were of him caught mid protest or trying to wave off the photographer. Suddenly I felt like I was transported back to when I was fifteen and innocent. Nothing had happened yet, and he was still alive.
There were others of me as well. Most of them were of me, I noticed. I happily posed in most of them. Some were of all three of us, but those were rare. I rummaged deeper, my earlier trepidation dissipating. Then one that caught my attention. It was of Caiden and I. We were in a library, our school library. He was reading. I had a book in my hand, but I wasn’t reading it. My gaze was focused on Caiden. I clearly looked infatuated with him; you could draw heart-eyes in my irises. Even though they were twins and were literally identical, I always had a thing for Caiden. My heart had beaten for Caiden. I flipped the photo. The caption read. ‘In this photo, we see Hailey likes Caiden. Photographer likes Hailey.’
My hands were trembling so much, holding the photo was difficult. This was the first time I had seen this. He had never told me anything before. I had an inkling that he liked me. I knew that, but I never thought he liked me like that.
Suddenly I saw a hand snaking out of nowhere and it snatched the box away from me. Startled, I turned and stood face to face with the owner of the room standing in front of me.
He looked livid. His eyes glowed with what could only be an urge to kill me. I couldn’t think of any way I could get myself out of this. I wasn’t thinking of that. My attention was focused on what I had a moment ago, found. And to discover this on today of all days.
“Get out.” His voice was low and dangerously calm. He sounded like he was about to strangle me, and he was barely reining it in.
“I’m sorry. I saw—”
“I said get out and never come in here again.”
I wanted to apologize. But even the real reason I was in here was not satisfactory. I dropped the photo and ran out there as fast as I could.
7
I was driving. My vision was hazy. Sitting on the passenger’s side was Liam. He was fiddling with the radio.
“Play something nice,” I said.
“You have shitty music,” he said.
His words were slurred. And so were mine. Then the dream changed. Now he was driving and I was in the passenger seat.
“Play something nice,” he said.
“I have shitty music, remember,” I said. He chuckled. Then a blur of light and a honking of car. “Watch out!” we both scream.
I woke up in cold sweat. This was the first time since I was a teenager, I had had this dream. This was all the memory I had of the night of. It was curious that I was having that dream again, now that Caiden was back in my life.
◆◆◆
“I’m sorry.” I said. Caiden’s face was tense. The grip on the steering was so tight, his knuckles were white. He said nothing as he focused on the road. I turned away from him and stared listlessly out of the window. He had been quiet ever since the incident. If I had been avoiding him before, seeing him was made even harder now that he too was avoiding me. It was clear he wanted nothing to do with me. I hadn’t found an opportunity to apologize to him this morning when he had told me to, “Get ready. We’re going to brunch.” And that was it. I immediately put on my best clothes in record time and met him in the parking lot. Until now, there hadn’t been a single word uttered between us.
Maybe if I asked something neutral, he would respond. “Where are we going?”
Nothing. More silence.
We were driving towards the Hamptons I later recognized. Moments later we arrived at a beautiful blue and white beach house. Several cars were already parked outside. Dread filled me. He said brunch, so I should have expected it. But I didn’t think that it was going to be an entire party of people.
“I thought we were visiting someone. I didn’t think it was going to be a large group of someones.”
“It isn’t. Just a few of my friends.”
His friends. Of course that’s who we were meeting. He parked the car next to a sleek black Aston Martin. I got out and hurried after Caiden, who had hopped out as soon as he stopped. We strolled over to big double doors that had been left open and I trailed after him as he marched into the foyer as if it was his house. It looked empty at first glance, but I could hear sounds from beyond the living area where there were giant French doors that opened to a beautiful beach front. Outside, a party was in full force. About ten people dressed in garden party attire were gathered around a large picnic table that was full of food and no one was eating it. It looked like it had been set and they were settling down. Most of the women held a glass of mimosa in hand. They were talking and laughing and seemed like they were having a good time. Their easy-going nature didn’t ease my dread, though. It was the same group from the wedding, only now they were in their element. I looked to Caiden, but his attention was on a woman coming to greet us.
“Caiden,” she said, giving him air kisses, “What took you so long? We were about to start without you.”
“I was held up by something.”
She turned her attention to me. She was a beautiful curvy woman with light brown skin that glowed under the sunlight. Her yellow floor length sun-dress that flapped around her with the wind. She wasn’t part of the crowd I knew. She didn’t have the silver-spoon-shoved-in-the-mouth vibe that most of Caiden's friends
had. That I probably have. “And is this the person who was holding you up?'' She gave me a naughty smile and went in for a hug.
“Mya,” Caiden said, “this is Hailey. Hailey. Mya.”
“I’m so sorry I couldn’t come to your wedding, but I really wanted to attend.” Mya looked like a pleasant person and her excuse sounded genuine.
“Mya Wytte is an interior designer. Works for Wytte-Blanc hotels,”
I didn’t miss the surname being the same as the name of the company she worked for. Or that it was also the same group of hotels owned by a friend of Caiden’s. “Nice to meet you, Mya.”
“I have heard so much about you. Finally, glad to put the name to the face.” I doubted she had never seen me before considering that I was once named, ‘the most photographed yet inconsequential person of the year’ by a certain rag magazine. At most she was being kind, which I liked.
As she spoke, a tall, handsome man strolled over to where we were and took Mya’s hand as he approached us. Him, I knew. Nathaniel Wytte. He had hung around the rest of Caiden’s group as well, “Where were you guys!” he had a glass in his hand, “We were all like sitting ducks waiting for you.”
“Hailey!” he said, giving me a big bear hug, “It’s been what? Since college we last met?” he said when I drew out.
“I think so, yes. How you’ve been.”
“Being bad people and not attending your wedding. That’s why we thought to throw this brunch for you. An awful excuse for a present, but I hope that you’ll like it.”
“Thank you.”
The jovial reception ended when we all went over to join the rest of the party. For me, at least. Everyone greeted Caiden with the same fervor, I got cold greetings. I soon realized that most of the party was pretty much coupled up. Apart from Mya and Nate, Caiden and I, there was also Sophie and her husband. Ax and two other women, Kailey, and someone else I couldn’t recognize, were the only ones single. I had been friends with Kailey in high school, but we had drifted when she took school seriously and became a powerful lawyer while I was getting sloshed in St. Tropez. She gave me a distant hello.
The other woman looked familiar, but I couldn’t place her. She had long, thick, beautiful blonde hair that made her look like she was a model of a hair commercial. Her face had hints of surgical enhancements, but I couldn’t tell exactly what about her had changed. Whoever her surgeon was, the doctor was a connoisseur.
“Long time no see Hailey.” When she greeted me, that was when it clicked. It was Dumpy Dana. Dumpy fucking Dana, of all people! I couldn’t believe it was her. She had been one of the people I had bullied when I was in high school. Being fat, wearing frumpy clothes and general awkwardness, had made her an easy target. Shame washed over me when I thought of the terrible ordeal I had put her through. I mean, everyone at school had taken part, including everyone at this table, but I was the one who had done the worst harm. I gave her that nickname after all.
“Wow, you look good Dana.” I didn’t know what else to say, “You’ve lost weight.” She was reed-thin now, and you could have never guessed that she spent her high school days a victim of bullying.
“Years of being fat-shamed is a good motivator.”
I deserved that. I quietly took my seat at the table. It was the only one left and unfortunately; I got to sit opposite Dana. Great.
It didn’t get better from there on. It got worse. They spoke only of topics familiar to them and in jokes. Dana started talking about a recent trip most of them took.
“Paris was as amazing as you said Cade,” she cooed, extending her hand towards Caiden. She had been giving him the eye ever since we came. Had they dated? It sure seemed like it, especially with the way people around the table had been darting their gazes between the three of us the entire time. A slight pang of jealousy struck me. “We went to the place. The place. And you’re right, it’s quite an experience.” Everyone laughed. What was ‘the place?’. Mya leaned over into my ear noticing my confusion. She said, “it’s this restaurant we all go to whenever one of us goes to Paris. There’s this chef, he’s funny. It’s a thing.”
I nodded and smiled, but it was obvious I didn’t get what they meant. Their inside jokes and references continued like this. Mya tried to bring into the conversation by choosing a topic that was general, but it would always end up veering to something else.
I eventually took a back seat and observed the group. Dana had certainly changed since she was no longer the shy teenager I knew. She took control of the conversation each time and everyone hung on her word. I glanced at Caiden. He seemed fascinated by her as well. Her conversation captivated him, more so than anyone else’s.
I was merely a forgotten toy when Sophie’s husband, a large block of a man with a huge square jaw, asked, “So you never told how your honeymoon went?” I stared at Caiden. ‘You take this one,’ my eyes said.
“We never went,” he shrugged, “been a little busy recently.” He said it so casually you would think he asked him about the weather.
Everyone around the table went quiet.
“Surely your new bride would love to go out somewhere with you,” Mya asked, “Will you be going later?”
“No,” he said. It was flat and decisive. A statement that closed the door to any further inquiries. My cheeks flushed, and I wanted to hide beneath the table until this dreadful party was over. I don’t know why I cared, but I did. I didn’t want these people to know that it was a sham marriage, as they were already suspecting.
Ax looked like he was enjoying my embarrassment as he smirked in my general direction.
But it was only starting. I didn’t know it, but it was about to get worse.
As the brunch went on, Dana felt more emboldened. Our seating shifted after the food went away and the drinks came. She was now sitting beside Caiden. She would continue to lean into him and whisper stuff into his ear. He would respond. He laughed at every little joke she made. I seethed inside. I don’t care; I kept telling myself. I do not care.
◆◆◆
After brunch was over, Mya called for everyone to change into their swimsuits and go for a volleyball match. Everyone then went over to mingle on the beach as the nets were being prepared. I saw Kailey and Sophie, my former best friends talking to each other and naturally, I made my way to them.
It had been a while since we had called each other best friends. Or simply friends, so I didn’t know what to say to them except the most generic things like, “What a beautiful place Nathaniel got.”
They were talking about some function they had attended, and apparently Swedish royalty had been there. They stopped talking and looked at me. I thought they were going to say something and instead went back to their conversation.
“I’m telling you we had a connection,” Kailey said to Sophie.
“No, you didn’t,” Sophie replied, “That’s how he is with everyone. He’s a bit of a flirt. God, he flirted with me.”
“Who?” I asked.
They turned to me again and then Kailey said to Sophie, “Do you hear something?”
Sophie said, “No. I don’t.” They both took a turn and increased their pace, going back to where the volleyball pitch was being set up.
“What did I do wrong?” I said after them. I thought they would ignore me again, but Sophie turned to me and said, “What are you talking about?” She looked like I had said something ludicrous. I knew that look. I had perfected the art of fake obliviousness.
“This is the first time you responded to me.”
They looked at each other, and then Kailey responded. “We aren’t ignoring you, if that’s what you’re implying.”
“So, what’s the problem? I remember we used to be close once.”
Kailey rolled her eyes. Sophie crossed her arms and sighed, sounding exasperated. I darted my eyes between them, trying to decipher the reason for the new hostility.
Kailey finally said, “I find it funny that you destroy peoples’ lives, act like a spoiled child
, come back and try to act like everything is hunky dory between us.”
What the fuck were they talking about? I scanned my brain for anything that had happened between us. Problem was, it was filled with a ton of drug and alcohol stained gaps.
“Wh-what do you mean?”
Sophie shook her head. “Of course, you forgot. You were drunk, after all. Isn’t that your excuse?”