Page 92 of Reply All
It’s not like he doesn’t hate himself, too.
31
IT’S REALLY NOT THE END OF THE WORLD, JUST THE END OF AN ERA
The car ride to my apartment starts off eerily quiet. After I scoot into the spacious back seat of Will’s—thecompany’s—tricked out, gas-guzzling, black monster of an SUV, he wordlessly helps me click my seatbelt into place. Being so close, a wave of his scent falls over me. And it takes a godlike effort to ignore the way it brings back every single incredible feeling to the front of my mind, every unbelievable memory that we shared, but I need to right now. Because I can’t let my feelings for Will—or at least the Will I thought I knew—get in the way of whatever is going on here.
When he pulls away to secure his own seatbelt, it’s a massive relief.
Just like he said, the car—or tank, more like it—has a fully stocked minibar, tucked somehow between our seats. It’s clear from the set-up that this was a very, very special custom model. Will takes enough ice into a cloth napkin he finds on top of the bar and knots it into a makeshift ice pack. With extreme care, he takes my injured wrist from me and gently presses it to my skin. I jump from the contact, but I lie to myself by thinking it’s because of the coldness andnotbecause the touch belongs to the man I gave my whole heart to only to have him rip it to shreds.
Which reminds me…
“I think it’s time for you to explain what the hell is going on.”
“I don’t even know where to begin.”
“How about the obvious part? Your name. What’s your real name?”
He laughs once, humorlessly. “Youknowwhat my name is. Will Jacobs.”
“If that really is your name, then why did they call youLiamStevensonup there?”
He takes a deep breath, seems to ready himself. “It’s… complicated. Kinda.”
“Try me.”
“Right. Well. It’s a bit of a cliché and a really long story, but I’ll start from the beginning.”
“That’s usually the best place to start.”
His mouth barely twitches into a smile, but disappears when I remain cold, brows permanently pulled together.
“So, when Mom married my dad, my grandfather Liam wasn’t super happy about it. Dad was the son of a factory worker and homemaker, had no college education, and had been working as an hourly employee in Stevenson’s HQ’s mailroom. Which, to add insult to injury to my grandfather, is where my parents first met.
“Mom was visiting my grandfather at his office when she ran into my dad in an elevator. She says it was love at first sight.” He shrugs and shoots me a look. “I don’t know about that, but I know my grandparents were far from happy with the situation. Pretty sure my grandfather fired my dad and everything when he found out about them. Mom was used to being surrounded by wealthy men with Ivy League graduate degrees—not ones who came from blue collar families. And my grandfather was pretty clear that if she wanted to continue a relationship with my grandparents, she’d have to fall in line. She was their only daughter, so they had their society’s expectations of her marrying some dude from American royalty, basically.”
I scoff and shake my head. “Classic.”
“Yeah, I know. But that’s how it is with these families. It’s like happiness comes second to what other people in their society think. But who cares about that?” He huffs, frustrated. Either at himself, his family, or this entire situation in general, I don’t know. “In the end, Mom decided to run off with my dad, obviously. They got married and didn’t speak to my grandparents until she found out she was pregnant. Mom had been trying to make things right between them for a while and finally managed to when they realized they would be missing out on having grandkids. So, in honor of their rekindled relationship, she named me after my grandfather.”
I wonder how it made Will’s dad feel to have his child named after a man who had so strongly rejected him. Immediately, the thought makes me sad for Sandra, because it couldn’t have been easy to balance conflict between the people she loved.
“He was elated I was born a boy and named after him because he thought he was going to pass on the family company to me. But I never showed any interest in business.”
“Didn’t you major in Econ?”
“Yeah, but… I did it because my grandfather offered to pay for college, and that was a condition. He said I had to study something ‘realistic,’ something I could apply to business. And I was good at it—you saw all those Mathlete trophies in my mom’s house—which is why I didn’t mind so long as I would be able to double-major in art.
“I never expected him to hold it over my head, though. Paying for school, I mean. But the second I graduated college, he kind of… called on me? To start working with the family company. Started calling me Liam instead of Will. It was like he had this whole life planned out for me. And I hated it. I felt like I owed him so much and almost wished he had never offered to pay for school.”
Money can turn the kindest of people into the worst. While I’m seething in anger and betrayal from what he hid from me, I love the Will that I got to know enough to feel deep sadness for him.
“I didn’t grow up with the best example of what a family’s supposed to look like—you know that—but that doesn’t exactly sound like the kind of love you’d want to receive,” I tell him. “And while there was obvious financial support, there didn’t seem to be much emotional support. I didn’t grow up with much of anyone, but the one grandparent I did have gave me everything. I’m sorry you didn’t have that.”
He nods, eyes sad. “I still have my mom, though. Don’t forget.”
That makes me smile a little, because it’s true. Sandra Jacobs is one of the most amazing people I’ve ever met, and I loved her the second I met her. Since her birthday party, I’ve been to her house two more times (as Will’s official girlfriend) and every time she makes me feel more and more loved, more welcome.
