Page 76 of Fourth Wheel
A case of diamond tennis bracelets catches my eye. They’re so bright, I feel compelled to pull out my sunglasses to protect my retinas from the way they glisten under the display lights. A bracelet seems too matronly, though. It’s a present a man would buy his sister or his mom, not something he’d buy his temporary summer girlfriend.
I scoff at my own bad joke. Humor always has been one of my favorite defense mechanisms.
We’ve still got more than three weeks until I leave for California, but since we arrived in the city, it feels like time is moving at warp speed. When I woke up this morning, Dempsey had this far-off, dreamy look on his face. I couldn’t help but think about what it would be like to wake up to him every day, even after our summer together is through.
But those kinds of thoughts are pointless. There’s no version of our future where I don’t go to California to finish school and he doesn’t stay in Hampton to care for his mom and brother. My reason for leaving and his reason for staying are equally valid and more than a little similar. We’re both stubborn, yes, but we both have rock-solid convictions at the core of who we are as individuals.
I’ve always dreamed of this big, bold life for myself, regardless of what I have to sacrifice to make it happen. He’s determined to care for the people he loves, regardless of what he can’t hold on to in the process.
I would never ask him to leave his family. I would resent the hell out of him if he dared to ask me to stay. Our fates are cemented in stone: two separate paths that crossed for one summer but will never merge again.
I clear my throat and focus on the here and now, which garners the attention of the salesperson behind the counter. She asks if there’s anything I’d like to see, so I mindlessly point to a pair of earrings to distract myself from my morose thoughts.
When she presents me with the earrings and tells me the price, I almost laugh out loud. There’s no way in hell I’m letting Dempsey spend twelve thousand dollars on earrings. I know he’s loaded, but that’s not the point. It’s way too much, especially compared with just how little I can give him in return.
Every minute we’re together feels more supercharged than anything I’ve ever experienced. I refuse to put a price on what our time together has meant to me.
If he wants to buy me something, it needs to be small. Something delicate and unexpected. Something that encapsulates how brilliantly we burned together this summer, for just a blip in time.
I’m shaking my head and saying no thanks to the earrings as Dempsey smooths one hand along my hip. He sidles up behind me before whispering in my ear.
“The money doesn’t matter. Pick out what you want and let me buy it for you.”
I reach back and take his hand, and we study the pieces behind the glass together as I seek out what feels right. If this gift is the only thing I get to keep when we say our goodbyes, I want it to be something I’ll wear every day. Something that reminds me that what we had was real and true.
I circle back to the middle of the store and ask to see a necklace I noticed earlier. I tentatively accept the little blue cardboard backing from the salesperson, then trace one finger along the length of the impossibly thin chain. I look up to find Dempsey’s focus on me.
There’s a small diamond no bigger than a quilting needle head encased in platinum suspended on the chain. It’s unassumingly elegant.
“This one. This is what I want.”
He takes the necklace from my hand and balks at the price—only four hundred dollars.
“You’re sure?” he challenges, eyeing me skeptically to make sure I’m not just trying to pick something cheap.
I can’t explain my reasoning to him. I won’t. This is what I want because this is how I want to remember us. Years from now, when I think about this summer, I want to remember how it felt to be with this man.
“I’m sure. It’s perfect.”
He puts it on for me rather than having them bag it up, and I savor the way his fingers brush my hair aside and caress my skin as he secures the necklace in place. He pays and insists on purchasing the lifetime warranty plan, which makes tears prick behind my eyes without my permission. Damn him for caring about what happens when we’re done.
Even after we’re ancient history, I’ll still have a lifetime guarantee that I’ll never forget this summer.
I blink back tears as he takes my hand again and leads me toward the circular doors.
“It’s beautiful,” he praises before bending down to kiss me on the forehead. “Come on. We’ve got tickets to the four o’clock showing at The Paris. It’s close enough that we can walk.”
He guides me out of the store and onto the streets of New York, completely unaware that I’m mentally unraveling about the end of us.
Chapter 39
Maddie
We’repressedtogetherinthe same side of a booth at a rotating bar on the forty-eighth floor of a hotel in the middle of Times Square. The fringe of my blush pink cocktail dress tickles my thigh every time Dempsey brushes against my leg. Which is often. So often.
We’re drinking Cosmos at my insistence. He’s been such a good sport this weekend, indulging all my tourist-y wishes and being the perfect guide. I take another sip of my drink and listen intently as he tells me about the time he helped his brother break into the headmaster’s office when they were thirteen so Fielding could steal back the weed that had been confiscated earlier that day.
“Glenn was in on the whole thing. He’s the one who drove us back to school that night for the recon mission.” He smirks before taking another gulp of his vibrantly pink drink. It’s only the second or third time I’ve seen him drink all summer. I like that he feels free enough here to do things he doesn’t let himself do at home.
