Well, too bad.
She was cutting off the love of her life to keep them both from losing everything.
“No, I’m not okay.” Moisture tracked down her cheeks and she mopped them up with a Kleenex. “This is my first time being the strong one.”
“Ohhh. I see.”
“So far, it’s not all it’s cracked up to be. I don’t know if I’m going to be very good at it.”
The driver seemed on the verge of answering, but Chloe’s phone rang. Thinking it was Sig, her pulse skipped approximately eight beats. Was this going to be the first time she didn’t answer one of his calls? But no. It wasn’t Sig.
Sofia was calling.
“Hello, Mother,” she answered, holding on tighter to Pierre.
“Chloe. You don’t sound well. Has Boston finally gotten the better of you?”
Chloe dropped her head back against the seat. She wanted to say no. Wanted to lie and say things were better than ever, but she didn’t have the energy to lie. “Maybe so.”
“Aw, my poor dear. I hate to hear that.”
“No, you don’t,” Chloe blurted. And it felt fantastic. Because unlike the evening she’d stood up to her mother at the dinner table, she didn’t hesitate. Didn’t feel guilty for calling out her mother’s passive aggression, either. In fact, she felt capable of letting those words hang between them withoutqualifying or backpedaling. “You don’t hate to hear I’m having a bad time. You’ve wanted me to fail in Boston since the beginning.”
“Oh, Chloe,” scoffed her mother. “That’s not true.”
“Yes it is. Own it. Justownit. Stop pretending to support my independence. You want me to depend on you. That’s how it has always been.”
Ice cubes clinked into a glass. “You were never this negative in the past. It’s that man having this effect on you, Chloe.”
It took the world’s greatest effort to keep her voice even. “Don’t talk about Sig like that.” She thought of him packing memorabilia in his apartment and her throat grew crowded. “You have no idea what he’s done, what he’s sacrificed so I can learn to be on my own.”
Several ticks passed. “Careful, Chloe. You’re letting your feelings for him show.”
Chloe’s skin turned into a layer of ice. Sofia knew. Her motherknewshe was in love with Sig. For how long? How could she know and not say anything?
“Come home now, Chloe, and we’ll forget any of it ever happened. Preferably before any more articles find their way online, hmm?”
A part of Chloe really wanted to run home in that moment. Despite her mother’s toxicity. Despite the resolutions she’d made this morning. She wanted to go back to Darien, put her blinders back on, and pretend she’d been studying in France for six months, instead of dwelling three hours south. But her new backbone wouldn’t let her do it, nor would the heart that had grown ten sizes thanks to the love Sig had filled it with. “I’m never coming home, Mother. Not now. Not ever. I’d rather struggle with my own decisions than have someone else make them for me. Goodbye.”
AFEW MINUTESlater, Chloe stood in front of a very taken aback doorman who appeared more inclined to call the police than buzz Grace’s intercom. And rightly so, because she couldn’t imagine how she must look. Tearstained and exhausted and heartsick. A wreck with a bulldog.
“Is Ms. Shen expecting you?”
“Not exactly, but if you could just ring her and give her my name—”
The doorman cut her off by shaking his head. “She has asked me not to disturb her with any guests, because she’s rehearsing.”
“I respect that. I do.”
“Have you tried calling her?” He mimicked a phone call.
Chloe had considered that. However, the last time she’d spoken to Grace, her mentor had hung up on her, so she’d figured an in-person approach was the best bet.
“I need to speak with her face-to-face.” Her voice was beginning to split, the feeling of Sig’s arms and the sound of his even breathing, layered beneath an announcer’s voice selling silk makeup bags was playing on a loop in her head, choking her up. “It’s complicated.”
Sympathy rolled across his face. “Do you... maybe need a drink of water?”
“Do I look that bad?”