Page 69 of Someone to Tempt
I remember the emotion of that awful night like it was yesterday, but the actual details are muddled after so many years. I confronted Jake, and he told me he and Nick shared responsibility and that his family would take care of things.
My mom ranted about the Byrnes using their money and power to force my brother to lie about being the driver, making it look like Jake’s worst offense was picking the wrong friend. The near tragedy was reminiscent of the secrecy surrounding the accident that claimed the life of Jake’s brother months earlier. If I’m being totally honest, I just assumed…the worst.
It suddenly feels like a portal to the truth of our shared past has opened, and I’m falling through headfirst and hurtling toward my own crash landing.
“Jake didn’t deny the accusation,” I tell Jodi. Like that makes a difference. Like my whole world isn’t tilting on its axis with the dawning realization that something I believed to be true…wasn’t.
“Did he confirm your mom’s story?”
I shake my head. “No, but I didn’t give him much of a chance to. I was so mad. Nick locked himself in his room until the moment they left. Things went from bad to worse at the camp, and after that he was?—”
“What do you mean bad to worse?” Jodi asks quietly.
I’ve told no one about the hell Nick endured under the guise of rehabilitation. Even Sloane doesn’t know. But maybe people should. Perhaps then they would understand why my brother has struggled so much. Why I’ve given him so many chances. Why I’ll continue giving him chances.
“Nick was abused at the rehabilitation center.”
Jodi looks horrified. “Do you mean…”
I shake my head. “Not sexually, but the methods the counselors used were barbaric, to say the least. One of them had it in for my brother, so he was a target the entire month they were there.”
This much I know from what Jake told me after their release. “He was starved, beaten, and made to stand in the sun for hours for whatever minor infractions the counselors accused him of. If he complained or fought back, they threw him into some version of solitary confinement. I’m sure that’s not the worst of it. Nick still won’t talk about that time in any detail.”
Jodi grimaces. “I’ve seen documentaries on those places. Why didn’t someone help?”
“We had no communication with them while they were there.” I shake my head. “Gilbert Byrne had the place shut down after that summer, but he didn’t want any publicity about it. Jake’s dad was an investor in the partnership that ran the center.”
I let that sink in for a moment before I lean forward and ask, “Are you sure about my brother’s role that night? My mom was convinced he took the fall for Jake.”
Jodi examines the granola jar like she doesn’t want to meet my gaze. “No offense, but do you trust your mom to tell the truth?”
My heart twists. My inclination has always been to give my mom the benefit of the doubt, which is half of what made my childhood so difficult. I always believed things were going to change. To get better.
It was long before the term “gaslighting” gained popularity, but my mom was an expert at it, nonetheless. Every time she told me she cared or was doing something for the good of all of us or that I needed to lighten up and learn to have more fun, I trusted her.
I’ve held a grudge against Jake all these years—one he might not even deserve.And that might be the heaviest truth of all.
I struggle to take in a steady breath. It feels like the walls are closing in on me when I think about how my mother’s lies—so much of her behavior—shaped my adult life in ways I can’t seem to control or escape.If Jake wasn’t the villain…what does that make me for believing he was?
He called after they were released because he wanted to explain what had happened to my brother, assuming Nick would suffer in the aftermath. Maybe he wanted to reconnect with me—to give us a chance at exploring the spark from that summer—but I maintained that any problems Nick had were Jake’s fault, and I’d never forgive him.
I always wondered why Nick wasn’t angrier with his former friend. Now I understand—he was taking responsibility, not scapegoating someone else the way I did.
Jake might not have been totally innocent, but he wasn’t the villain my mom portrayed him to be. And I believed her without question, even knowing she’s an unreliable narrator.
No wonder all Jake wants from me now is a temporary relationship, some deep-meaning version of friends with benefits. He can’t trust me any more than I’ve trusted him.
“Even if that’s true…” I grasp the edge of my desk, pressing my fingers against the wood like it can ground me and my tumbling emotions. “I don’t understand why Cy is doing this. My brother isn’t the same person he was back then.”
“Nick’s in Skylark because of you,” she explains slowly, like she’s talking to a toddler. “Cy doesn’t want him here. If Joey wins the election, the assumption is you won’t stick around. And neither will Nick.”
“It’s not fair.” I say the words out loud, but I’m speaking as much to myself as to Jodi. “I’m being punished for my brother’s actions, just like I was for my mom’s choices.”
Then I remember my relationship with a married man. I believed him when he told me they were separated, only together on paper for political reasons. But I should have known better. I should have known not to get involved with him. So maybe I’m not being punished for my family’s mistakes. This is karma kicking me in the teeth formychoices.
I told Jake I deserve whatever bad things happen to me, and this is the universe confirming that in no uncertain terms.
“Fair or not…” Jodi grabs the granola jar and stands. “By this afternoon, there’ll be yard signs and banners with Joey’s name all over this town. He’s planning to host a pancake breakfast at the community center every week until the election?—”
