Ozzo looked sheepishly stunned, like I’d just kicked a puppy. “Uh-oh.”
“What?” I snapped, my anger flaring even though I knew it was misplaced. This kid hadn’t done anything wrong. I was just angry with myself for messing up something I had genuinely been excited about. Ozzo was an easy target.
“You’re definitely getting coal in your stocking,” Ozzo joked.
“Sorry,” I muttered. “You’re right. You’ve got this. I’m leaving.”
“Wait! I thought you were helping out?”
“You thought wrong.”
I huffed and turned away. The kid would figure out the wagon rides. I needed to get away from this place. I couldn’t be around the wholesome family activities that reminded me of everything I had just messed up.
Thankfully, I had my wallet and there was a spare key in the rental.
I drove into town, my mind churning with self-recrimination and anger. I’d finally done the right thing by telling Sylvie the truth, and it had blown up exactly the way I’d known it would. The look on her face when she’d realized I’d been lying to her from the beginning would haunt me for the rest of my life.
I found the first bar I saw on Main Street and pushed through the door, grateful for the dim lighting and the promise of a strong drink to take the edge off. I could be anonymous. For now. As soon as the people in town figured out who I was and what I had done to the Northwood family, grabbing a drink would be a dangerous sport.
I had no doubt in my mind I would be run out of town.
I looked around and groaned. Of course. Because my life had apparently become some kind of cosmic joke, Phineas Withers was sitting at the bar nursing a drink.
Fuck it.
He was probably the only other guy in town that was more hated. And right now, he was probably the only guy I could call a friend.
The old man looked up as I approached and raised his glass in greeting. “Here to babysit me or trick me into going home?”
“Nope. Just here for a drink.” I sat down beside him. “I’ll have what he’s having.”
The bartender—Marcy, based on her name tag—poured the whiskey.
“What brings you to the bottle in the middle of the day?” Phineas asked.
Maybe it was the fact that I’d already confessed everything to Sylvie, or maybe it was because Phineas was one of the few people in this town who wouldn’t judge me based on Bancroft expectations, but I found myself telling him everything.
“I just lost my girl because of my family name,” I said, taking a long drink. “Because I prioritized what my father wanted over what I wanted. Over what was right.”
I explained the whole situation. How I’d come to Northwood to convince the family to sell. Telling the old man how I’d fallen for Sylvie despite knowing I was lying to her. And then how I’d finally told her the truth and watched her heart break in real time.
Phineas listened without interrupting, occasionally sipping his drink, his weathered face giving nothing away.
“So you’re sitting here feeling sorry for yourself because you did what your daddy told you instead of what you knew was right,” he said when I finished. “And now you’re blaming it on your family name, like you had no choice in the matter.”
“I’m not.”
“Bullshit.” Phineas cut me off with a wave of his hand. “This has nothing to do with your family name, boy. This is about you being too much of a coward to do what you actually want to do. You’re hiding behind family obligation because it’s easier than admitting you chose wrong.”
His words were harsh and maybe just a little too spot on.
“You think I wanted to hurt her?” I asked.
“No, I think you wanted to avoid disappointing your father more than you wanted to do right by that girl. There’s a difference.” Phineas took another drink. “The question is what you’re going to do about it now. Are you going to sit here wallowing and then slink back to New York with your tail between your legs? Or are you going to grow up and fix what you broke?”
“How am I supposed to fix this? She’ll never forgive me. My family is not going to give her the investment they need. It’s a losing battle. Everyone knows it except Sylvie. We dump money in, and it just prolongs the inevitable. We lose money. They getto stay on their property a few more years but the outcome will be the same.”
“Probably,” he said.
