Page 13 of Terms + Conditions
Harvey nods toward Elizabeth and leaves, but it’s not long before he’s pulled into another conversation with a different group of partygoers. I imagine that’s how he spends most of his night at a shindig like this.
“We need to talk,” I say in a low voice.
“Rain check.” She hands me her empty glass with a tight smile. “I need to see what Nina wants.”
This girl is more oblivious than I thought. Isn’t it obvious that I was only saying that to get her away from Harvey? Elizabeth should know better. If Nina was looking for her she’d have no problem finding her.
“She doesn’t want anything, but it was the only way not to look suspicious asking to talk to you alone.” I set her empty glass on one of the high-top tables. “Now, walk with me like we’re heading to find Nina.”
“And why should I?” Elizabeth protests when I press my hand to her lower back to guide her through the crowd.
“Just do it,” I hiss with a tight smile.
Elizabeth rolls her eyes but does as she’s told. When we’re finally away from the crowd, she pulls away from me. “What is so damn important—”
“William is going to break up with you.”
“What?”
“I said—”
“I heard you,” she snaps. She steps forward, pressing one of her manicured nails into my chest. Up close, it’s easy to tell the nail has been meticulously dripped with the perfect Christmas red and little Christmas figures hand-painted on each one. “And how would you know that?”
“Does it matter?” It shouldn’t matter. What should matter is the fact that it’s going to happen.
“Of course, it matters!” Her slight outburst catches the attention of two bystanders.
I smile at them before taking her by the hand and dragging her inside.
While the downstairs is bustling with guests, the upstairs is off-limits during these types of events. Her hand tightens around mine as we swim through a dense group, breakingthrough on the other side to reach the hallway to the kitchen. Inside, at least five chefs work at various stations to ensure the food is ready for dinner, which is supposed to take place in the next thirty minutes. We’ll have dinner followed by the debuts of the girls “coming out” in society (whatever that means) and then the crowning of the next Miss Winchester. Not a single chef seems to notice as we pass through to the back staircase. Up the stairs and down the hall, my pace finally begins to slow, reaching one of the alcoves inside of a dormer window.
“Would you let go?” Elizabeth pulls her hand from mine and takes a step back. “Now answer my question! How do you know he’s going to break up with me?”
“He says you’ve been acting weird.”
She scoffs, leaning back against the banister. “Like he’d know.”
“I guess, the distance isn’t helping.”
“Yeah, no shit.” Elizabeth crosses her arms, staring down the empty hallway. It’s pretty obvious her thoughts have moved far away from this conversation. If she’s anything like me, she’s thinking about our impending union. How this conversation goes doesn’t really matter, how William wants to break up with her doesn’t really matter, because the fate of their relationship was sealed last month.
“He wants you to go to Duke,” I say, stuffing my hands into my pockets. I lean back against the wall directly across from her.
“Well, that’s not happening.”
Obviously, or I wouldn’t have to be making a trip to Savannah in the next few months, per the contract.
Elizabeth’s eyes raise to meet mine. The light from the sconce nearby brings out a warmth in them that I’ve never seen before.
“How do you know all of this?” she asks, breaking the trance.
“He uh…He told me about it earlier. Said he wanted to wait until after the holidays.—.”
“That asshole!”
“—because he doesn’t want you to be alone.”
Her mouth opens a handful of times, trying to find the right response, but nothing seems like the right thing to say.
