The truth—what a complicated word. So subtle, so open to modifications and interpretations. So liable to change depending on who’s telling it.
“I was going to tell you… I was going to tell both of you when you got back to town.” I bent forward and rested my elbows on my knees. “Remember when I called you, Hoyt? You were about to take off for New York… Well, it was about Trey. We ran into each other at the end of last August in Petit Prince.”
Hayley frowned, then started tying together loose threads, then finally understood. She smiled at me, shaking her head.
“In Petit Prince? What the hell were you doing there?” Hoyt was still in a bubble.
“I convinced Harper to go spend a few days there because she was so stressed out. Grandma had just died, she needed to decide whether to sell the bookstore, and she couldn’t do it here with Dad pressuring her. That’s why we didn’t tell anyone,” Hayley explained.
“And what was Trey doing there?”
“Blueprints,” Scott responded, chuckling. “Seriously. I asked him if he could take a look at the house to see if the renovations we were planning were feasible. I didn’t say anything because it was supposed to be a surprise for Hayley. I had no idea Harper would be there.”
“By the way—it was a lovely surprise.”
Irritated, Hoyt blurted out to her, “So it was your fault.”
“It’s nobody’s fault!” I screamed. “What is your problem? You talk about Trey like he was an ex-con and not your best friend.”
“He and I had an agreement: hands off my sisters.”
“Who do you think you are to say who can and can’t hang out with me? What’s next, you want me to ask your permission to leave the house?”
“Harper, you’re being unfair,” Hayley said. “And Hoyt, you’re being a dickhead.”
He mumbled something and crossed his arms, his stare furious at first, then relaxing into a kind of muted worry.
“Sorry, I just…I don’t want anyone to hurt you.”
“I know.” I grabbed his hand, and he pulled it to his heart, which I thought was almost comical. “Hoyt, it’s not what you think. And I was the one who treated him wrongly.”
I could see he didn’t believe me. For him, I was still a sweet little girl who couldn’t even hurt a fly. He clicked his tongue and conceded. “Fine, tell me the story. But spare me the intimate details.”
“You mean sex, or…?”
“La la la la la,” he said, covering his ears. “For God’s sake, I don’t want to hear that word coming out of your mouth.”
I couldn’t help laughing, maybe because the tension between us was finally disappearing. I tried to put my thoughts in order, remembering that he didn’t need to knoweverything, especially what had happened at that party years before. I decided to focus on the essential.
“Trey showed up at the house the day after I got there. It was asurprise for both of us, but whatever, we didn’t think there was any harm in spending a few days together. And we got to know each other better and better, went for walks, had some meals… We got to trusting each other, and in the course of our conversations, he helped me realize I’d always wanted to be a writer and convinced me to stop being afraid. He encouraged me to keep the bookstore and to hell with what Dad thought. He talked about his projects, his plans for the future. And about his mother and how wrong he’d been to reject her.”
“He told you that?” Hoyt asked.
“Yeah, he even took me to meet his grandfather. And so one thing led to another, and…you know. It happened. We came back to Montreal together. We decided to give it a try and see where things went. And honestly, those were the happiest days of my entire life. We had the idea of organizing a dinner where we could break the news to you. Trey wanted to tell you in person, Hoyt, so he could look you in the face and promise you he wasn’t just fooling around.”
Hoyt nodded. That affected him.
“And that’s when you bumped into Dad at the cemetery,” Hayley concluded.
“Yeah, and everything went to shit. I pushed Trey away. I was destroyed. I told him what we had was over, and I never saw him again until that night in the restaurant when he showed up with that girl. So I guess he’s turned the page. I mean, what did I expect him to do? It’s not like I left him with anything to hope for.”
“And you?” Hayley asked.
On the verge of tears, I responded, “I still love him…so much it aches.”
Hoyt cursed, stood, and walked to the window. When he turned back around, his face was full of pain and understanding.
“I can talk to him, Harper.”
