Total pages in book: 111
Estimated words: 106806 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 534(@200wpm)___ 427(@250wpm)___ 356(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 106806 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 534(@200wpm)___ 427(@250wpm)___ 356(@300wpm)
“Nah,” Savvy says. She has her arms wrapped around herself, rubbing her shoulders like she’s cold. “I already called Smithy. He has a friend who took it in to the shop for me.”
I nod and turn up the heat instead of offering her my jacket. She doesn’t want me to take care of her, and considering everything else, I’m not sure why that’s so hard to swallow. “So, I wanted to ask you about something Rose said to me tonight.”
“What’s that?”
I bite my lip. There’s no way I played it cool. Rose has to be suspicious about me and Savvy now, and I hate that. Almost as much as I hate lying to her at all. “She said that you’re a department store Downing.”
Savvy stiffens then sighs. “Yeah. That was my grandpa’s thing.”
I cough out a laugh. “Your grandpa’s thing. Do you realize that my mother would’ve never treated you like she has if you’d told me that? She would’ve fawned all over you from the start.”
“Just like Charles,” she mutters. “What is up with you people? Do you have a fetish for families with failed dynasties or what?”
I pull into her apartment complex and park the car before turning in my seat to face her. She’s staring out the window, her cheeks flushed from tonight’s bottomless glass of wine. “Savvy? What do you mean, Just like Charles? Did you meet my dad? Did Oliver actually introduce you to him?”
Her face goes slack, and she puts her hand to her mouth. “Shit.” She shakes her head. “Shit, Alec, I’ve had too much to drink. Let’s not talk about this.”
I stare at her, and relief and confusion flood me all at once. “You’re the blonde who he had in his place with him that day,” I say. “Aren’t you?”
She worries her bottom lip between her teeth. “Alec . . .”
“Why would you keep that from me?” My chest aches. How much more has she kept from me?
“I didn’t want you to know I was there because I didn’t want you to know I stole from him.”
I shake my head. “That doesn’t make sense. What could my father’ve had that you . . .” I scrape a hand over my jaw. “Oliver sent you, didn’t he?”
“It was initially his idea, but then he called the whole thing off, and I went through with it anyway. I thought Charles was just some random rich guy. I didn’t know he was Oliver’s father,” she says. “What did I take?”
“I don’t know. My mom was the one who knew there was anything missing at all, and she wouldn’t talk about what was in that chest. How do you not know, though?”
“I didn’t look. The chest was full of stuffed, oversized manilla envelopes. I didn’t tell you before because I believe whatever I took belonged to Oliver. He might’ve lied to me about other things, but I don’t think he lied about this.”
“Well I know that part of the story now, so why don’t you start at the beginning?”
SAVVY
I never meant to tell Alec everything, and maybe if I hadn’t had so much wine I would’ve been able to find a way around it, but once the story is out, I feel lighter. I told him about the clothes, the martinis, about how I truly liked his father and hated taking anything from him.
Alec’s staring out the windshield at nothing. “You saw him the day he died and he was giving you my number?”
“I think he wanted to do right by you,” I say.
“Do you still have it? The envelope with my contact info in it?”
“No. I dropped it into the big purse with everything else and left it with Oliver.”
“My father picked you for me.” Slowly, Alec turns in his seat and meets my eyes. I feel like he hasn’t really looked me in the eye since that morning Oliver walked into his kitchen and dropped the bomb about our past.
“Alec, I’m sorry. I didn’t—”
He shakes his head. “It doesn’t matter. Regardless of what Oliver’s motivations were, my father picked you for me and then fate still brought us together that night in Vegas. Doesn’t that mean anything to you?”
I open my mouth, then snap it shut. Finally, I find words that are neither cruel nor misleading. “I can see why it might seem that way to you. But I . . .” I have to look away. “I don’t think this is fate, Alec. I don’t think fate would want me to hurt you like I have, and like I no doubt would if we really tried to make this work.”
His face goes colder than I’ve ever seen it. “Yeah. I guess not.”
I’m ruining everything. “I should go inside. There’s nowhere good this conversation can go.” I swallow hard. “I’m sorry.”
“Please stop saying that.”
“It’s true. I hate this.”