Page 1 of Dahlias, Sapphires, and Cool Autumn Dusk
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“You snagged your favorite spot today,” Jeremy said as he slumped down in the chair next to me, earning a glare from a woman typing on a computer at the table nearby. Her expression gave a clear message—she was working, so we needed to stay quiet. I might have shot her some attitude if we weren’t in a library.
Instead, I smiled at him, happy he decided to surprise me with a visit. I offered my hand, pleased when he slipped his fingers through mine—will the novelty of it ever wear off?Aloud, I said, “You hate the library.”
Julian loved the library, but his twin wasn’t as much of a fan. It was kind of epic—I got to see what parts of Manhattan each of the four Lent brothers loved, and so far, I found them surprisingly revealing about their personalities. Over the last two months while we explored the city and each other, real life hardly touched us. I’d been dumped here five months earlier—exiled by my aunt in Chicago, who accused me of trying to seduce her boyfriend before throwing me out. I read that he managed to make bail, but he still faced charges for rape inMaryland. Not seeing my family for months didn’t make me sad in the least.
I won’t be upset if I never see any of them again. I doubted I would manage that feat, though. Since my mother’s death, I’d been passed around among relatives. First, Uncle Shane and Aunt Susan got custody, then Aunt Amelia, until they finally stuck me with Aunt Tricia and Uncle Matt. He was never around, and the last time I saw Aunt Amelia was in the Hamptons when she had come in specifically from Chicago to try to ruin my life. Since then, I’d called the Lent brothers’ gorgeous Park Avenue apartment in Lenox Hill home. I’d moved in after their mother—slipping into a slight break from reality, seeing conspiracies in every corner—threw me out of their Hamptons house. All of it would sound so unbelievable, except it happened tome—I lived through all of it.
Jeremy squeezed my cold fingers. “Were you waiting for Jules? He made several of the guys swim laps for getting lazy over the summer. Something aboutnot being in polo shape.”
I shook my head. “I knew you guys were busy today, though. I just came to read and think.”
“Couldn’t do that at home?” He lifted an eyebrow. Jeremy recognized hiding, and I knew it. Then again, I didn't turn off the Wi-Fi on my phone, which meant I knew they could see my location, like I could theirs. They added me to the app that tracked each other after my phone got destroyed when I was shipped away from the Hamptons. Being unable to reach me scared all of them, made worse when they couldn’t find me, so the tracking gave them a level of security… so long as I wanted to be found and didn’t turn off the Wi-Fi.
I hadn’t—so far. Honestly, I absolutely loved knowing I could find them and they cared about my location and safety.
I wasn’t tracking anyone while readingThe Secret Historyby Donna Tartt, though. Hence how Jeremy was able to surpriseme. Julian had handed me the book, claiming it would help prepare me for Pullman. Tomorrow, we would begin school there together—me for the first time. I loved the book so far and wouldn’t complain if it set the mood for the school. It was dark, but it suited my vibe. In response, I gave himJane Eyre, finding it crazy that he’d never read it for school. I didn’t know if it would be his thing. I hoped he would love it. Since getting back to Manhattan, we traded books almost weekly, as his favorite spot was also mine.
Jeremy and Julian started water polo practice weeks ago, despite school not having begun yet. Apparently, it was traditional for Pullman to kick off their season two days after Labor Day. They both seemed so busy and often tired, but then they were team captains. Pullman wanted to win, so even though they both secretly hated the sport, they did their best to get everyone ready. Before they’d met me, they’d spent most of the spring swimming in a club for off-season.
Everyone stayed in shape for the start of their UIL season. They started swimming laps—a lot of them—three weeks before the team even got back together. Exhaustion pulled at Jeremy’s handsome features even as his gaze adored me in the main branch of the New York Public Library.
I still haven’tanswered his question,I realized. “There’s a task I don’t want to do, and I couldn’t bring myself to do it, so I diverted myself here instead.”
He leaned forward. “What don’t you want to do, Princess?”
I loved when he called me Princess. Over time, they’d each given me pet names. For Jeremy, I became Princess, even if I remained both secretly and not secretly thePoor Relationto the rest of the world—in more than fiction.
Julian called me Baby. Sometimes I shivered hearing it. I belonged to him, or that’s how it felt, like he’d given that name toonlyme.
Barrett—who started at Columbia the next day—made me his Sweetheart. If I had my way, the whole world would be sweet to Barrett. Despite no one understanding him outside of his family, he had proved to have the most open and biggest heart out of them all.
Even inside his family, I wasn’t convinced their dads really understood Barrett.
Phoenix just called me Red, the simplest name, because of my long red hair. But when he said it, it sounded like his favorite color, though I couldn’t explain why.
Then again, maybe I read too much into everything?
Whatever.Their nontraditional family core, which had begun long ago, continued when Rosalind secretly married four men. In public, they all called KitDad, but they varied biologically. Barrett was Daniel’s, the twins were Stephen’s, and Eric was Phoenix’s dad. The nontraditional family setup didn’tstartwith their generation, though. Their grandmother, Dina, married four husbands—Nathaniel, Robert, Victor, and Ed. All of them died in a car accident before my guys were born. And Dina hadn’t been the first either. It had been going on for generations, and I didn’t know if even they knew when it started.
Their family existed in the social limelight of wealth, yet they managed to hide their secret lives in plain sight. Apparently, nontraditional families were more common than I ever guessed, with a whole area of Louisiana populated with families like theirs. No one in New York knew the truth. I would keep their secret; in return, they kept mine. Normally, everything went into my work, since I was the writer and creator ofGretchen, the Poor Relation. My stream got popular, though I created it to keep my soul alive despite the hell of my everyday life at the time. They were the only people in the world who knew about it.
“Shouldn’t you be at practice?” I asked as I released his hand. In public, there could only be cautious affection. If someonesaw me romantically connected with all four of them, questions would be asked, which was too much attention. So instead, we lived with a certain amount of caution.
A man walked by wearing a pair of torn sneakers. They appeared otherwise new, save for the hole, which hit my radar. I couldn’t make him out, so I surreptitiously took another peek.What does it mean?Usually, I could tell a lot about a person by their shoes, although the Lents defied my sneaker logic.I should reconsider my system.
“Redirecting me?” Jeremy shook his head. “I’m not distracted. I should be at practice, but my shoulder hurts. Besides, Julian is having them swim, so I left.” He shrugged, but it didn’t look like his shoulder hurt.
I lifted an eyebrow. “Really?”
“Okay.” He sighed. “I justleft. They could throw me off the team, if they wanted. I probably would thank them.”
Despite beginning their senior year, the twins seemed altogether done with school. They would have to go to college, so I hoped they were sick of Pullman, not just done with school. A junior, like Phoenix, I knew I wasn’t nearly ready for the real world yet.
“I need to pick up my Pullman uniform from Aunt Tricia’s. It got delivered to the home of my legal guardian.” I shrugged, pretending a casualness I didn’t actually have, since I constantly feared it would all be taken away from me. “Technically, I’m supposed to be living there. I hope she didn’t do something to my uniform. Do you think she would do something like that?”
He frowned. “I wish you’d said something sooner. No way you’re going over there alone.”
