Page 40 of Don't Hate Me
And the day of my emancipation.
George huffed. “You graduated college, you asshole. That’s reason enough to, at least, take you out to dinner.”
We’d ordered burgers and some beer.
“Guess this means you won’t be coming back to the house anymore,” George said.
I looked at him and tried to gauge his reaction, but it was as if he was purposely playing it cool.
“No. I have a place in Brooklyn I’ll be moving into.”
“Still working for Landen?”
“Not for much longer. Now I’ve got my degree, I’ll start applying at other firms.”
George nodded, and I could see he approved. “You going to ask about her?”
“No. Nothing to ask about.”
I’d told her to move on, and she had. That was one way to look at it. Another was to consider what she’d told me this time last year in Florida. That her father was going to sell her to this guy in marriage.
That day at the airport, too. She’d insisted I shouldn’t believe anything. She’d always love me.
Except, there was also the day back in August. When she’d come into the office and had seemed fine. Not a care in the world. As if she and her father had repaired whatever rift had happened between them.
For me. A slight smile. A wave.
“Something’s not right,” George said, urgently. “There’s nothing normal about them. When I’m driving all three of them someplace, Ash and Evan sit in silence. Then the doors open, and the cameras start flashing, and suddenly they’re America’s sweetheart couple. While Arthur beams at them from behind. None of it is real.”
Yeah, the engagement had been well advertised. It was not fun to go grocery shopping and see the girl whose virginity I’d taken, smiling at me from the page of a magazine with her arms wrapped around some other guy.
“Don’t get me started on Sanderson. There’s something not right about him, either. I take him and Landen to theseclubsin the city.”
“What kind of clubs?”
George shook his head. “I don’t know. It’s not like they ever let me inside. But it doesn’t feel right. They’re doing more than drinking and smoking cigars, I can promise you that. Like they’re taking part in some seedy side of wealthy New York other people can’t even imagine. I’m worried about her. Worried she’s going to get sucked up in all of this.”
“She’s a grown woman, George. She could leave if she wants to.”
Because that’s what I told myself. What I told myself every day. If this wasn’t her choice, she could say no. Give back the ring. Move out of her father’s home. Find a job. All those things were possible.
George shook his head. “You’re so naïve. You have no idea how controlling money can be.”
“Only if you’ve convinced yourself you need it,” I retorted.
“I thought you would do something,” he said, clearly disappointed.
“Do what?” I wanted to know.
“I don’t know. You cared enough to challenge Landen to bring her back from Switzerland. You went to Florida to see her. I thought you two had a chance to be together.”
“There was never any chance,” I snapped. “Never. Not for me. The son of a heroin addict. Landen was never going to allow me to so much as hold her hand in public, and you know it. This is what he wanted. Cameras and social media buzz and a big, splashy wedding to New Jersey’s most eligible bachelor.”
“So, you’re just going to let her go?”
I already had. No texts, no calls. A complete shutdown of communication. Those were her demands and I’d lived by them for months.
I’d also lived with the impact of those demands.
