Total pages in book: 29
Estimated words: 29029 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 145(@200wpm)___ 116(@250wpm)___ 97(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 29029 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 145(@200wpm)___ 116(@250wpm)___ 97(@300wpm)
I told Mimi about Jenna long ago, but I never told her the whole truth. The truth that I was in love with my best friend all those years ago.
The truth that I love her still.
“It’s an incredible story, but it’s not all happy. Remember about a year ago when that billionaire’s island was shut down, and a bunch of young women were found?”
“Oh my God. You’re not telling me that…” She clasps her hand to her mouth.
“Yeah. I am. Apparently Jenna was one of those women.”
Mimi clasps her hand to her mouth. “Oh my God! And she’s just now getting home?”
“She went through a year of intensive in-house therapy. All the women did. Only her parents knew, and they kept it quiet until now.”
“So you only just found out?”
“Right.” I take another long sip of bourbon. It’s good. A little caramel aftertaste.
“Have you seen her?”
“Yeah.”
“How is she? Is she okay?”
“She seems…resolved, I guess. Ready to move forward with her life.”
“What… happened to her on that island?”
This is classic Mimi. She delights in the dark. She’s the kind who can’t look away from a train wreck.
“I didn’t ask her, of course. But I think we can both guess.”
“She didn’t give you any details?”
“Of course not. Would you want to give details of such horror?”
Mimi finally takes a sip of her drink. “Right. I’m sorry.”
“There’s something else, honey.” I take her hand.
“Oh.” Her hand tenses in mine. “I see that look in your eyes, Max. This is why I needed the drink, isn’t it?”
“I don’t know how to tell you this.”
“For God’s sake, just say it.” With her free hand, she takes a sip of her drink. “You want to slow things down, don’t you? You need to be there for your friend. I understand. I get it. But moving in with me, getting married, doesn’t mean you can’t be there for Jenna.”
I squeeze her hand slightly. “I know that. But there’s something you don’t know about Jenna and me.”
“What is it?”
“I… The day she disappeared, Mimi, we were going to go to senior prom.”
“I know that.”
“Anyway, I had big plans for that evening. I was going to tell her…” I sigh, raking my fingers through my hair. “I was going to tell her that I was in love with her.”
Mimi’s eyes widen. “You never told me that.”
“I didn’t. She was gone, so there was no need to tell you that. In hindsight, I probably shouldn’t have kept it from you, but I meant no harm.”
“Okay. I… Does this mean we’re breaking up?” She pulls her hand away and drops her gaze to the ring on her left hand. The one carat sparkler I gave her six months ago.
At the time, I was fully prepared to commit to a lifetime with Mimi. I do love her in my way. She’s a successful businesswoman, and she and I share a lot of the same values. Neither of us are in any hurry to have children, although we both want them at some point.
And I love her. Not the way I love Jenna, but she’s the only woman since Jenna who I’ve felt anything significant for.
“I guess I thought my feelings for Jenna were the stuff of high-school puppy love,” I say. “That I might never find anything quite the same again.”
“Wait a minute.” She takes another sip of her drink. “Are you saying you don’t love me?”
“No, of course not. I do love you, Mimi. But when I saw Jenna…”
She stands then, and in the next moment, her Manhattan is dribbling over my face.
“I see what you’re saying, Max. I guess I’ll cancel the movers.” She takes the ring off her finger and sets it harshly on my oak coffee table. “It was fun while it lasted. Thank God I didn’t send out those save-the-date notices yet. I’ll see if I can cancel the printing.”
“Mimi, wait…” I blink my eyes against the sting of the alcohol.
But she’s gone.
And though I’m very sad that I hurt her, I’m equally relieved.
I can’t marry one woman when I’m in love with another.
6
JENNA
The next few days pass in a haze.
I spend each morning—the only time I close my bedroom door—looking at my body in the full-length mirror. The clean cut on my face is far from my only scar. Another cut, this one also clean, extends from the middle of my breasts down to my bellybutton, slashing through it to my vulva. Still, I know how lucky I am. During the year in intensive therapy, some of us talked to each other in group sessions. Garnet is missing a nipple. One of the men bit it right off her. Jade has burn scars on her inner thighs. Many more have scarring on their backs from being whipped.
The one man who seemed to favor me didn’t put a lot of marks on my body. Just a few cuts—and I consider myself lucky that they were clean.