“Twelve?” Jasmine said, clutching her chest.
“You don’t walk into another country and disrespect their laws,” Serj argued. “How many times have we talked about this? It’s the first rule of travel!”
Silence fell over the living room.
My head completely emptied. Nothing but white. I was numb. Utterly shocked.
Then a terrible sadness crept in underneath it all. Eddie had a drug problem. One that I didn’t know about because I didn’t really know him. Even though I should because I was his girlfriend.
His girlfriend who was cheating on him with his brother.
I was an awful person.
Poor Eddie.
My God.
As if we were all connected and feeling the same thing, Serj exhaled a long breath and slumped, shaking his head. “Why?”
“My baby,” Jasmine said, swiping at her eyes. “My foolish, beautiful baby.”
“I’ll fix it, Mama,” Serj said in a softer voice. “I talked to thewoman in the consulate office and that attorney I told you about. I’m flying over there tonight. I’m meeting up with Joe and Gordon. I’ll sign the contract and get Eddie out of this mess.”
“Yes, you will,” Jasmine said. She was hurt and worried, but also angry now. “He should not be traveling without you. He has already proved that he is not capable of being mature. This is Christmas all over again. I don’t care about the contract or the festival—hand the reins to Live Nation for all I care. Our child has lost his way.”
Serj shook his head. “I’m not throwing away my life’s work because my son can’t keep his nose clean. I will go get him, the festival will go on, and that’s the end of this conversation.”
A rock had taken the place of my stomach. I felt sick and strange, unable to process what was happening. I turned to Fen, but he was no longer there. When I looked through the shadowy hall toward the foyer, the front door was closing.
He was gone.
Track [22] “Everything’s Just Wonderful”/Lily Allen
Jane
I made an excuse andleft Jasmine to grieve with her family. I didn’t belong there.
A stranger. Interloper.
Cheater.
When I drove away from the Sarafians’ villa, I held myself together until I was far enough down Bluff Road that I could pull over. And cry.
I cried for Eddie, because he never felt close enough to me to tell me his problems. And I cried because I felt the same way I’d felt two years ago, sitting on the dam after he’d rejected me in the woods.
Like I wasn’t enough for him.
Maybe I never was.
Maybe a different girl could have helped him. Seen signs. Pushed him to open up. Instead, once I found out he’d lied to me, I’d just given up on him and moved on to his brother.
Big lies, though. Not just about the drugs, but about an event that changed my life. That was unforgivable. And what he’d done in the Philippines was beyond dumb. But my heart still hurt for him.I imagined how scared he must be right now, and it made me sick.
Eddie.
In the middle of sobbing, I looked up and realized I was sitting in front of the spotted dalmatian mailbox I’d passed on my way to the villa, and on the side, a business name was painted in small letters:KASABIAN DOG RESCUE.
That freaked me out enough to pull me out of my spiraling thoughts. I wiped tears from my face and peered up a long, ascending driveway. Sure enough, there was a kennel and a white Jeep parked outside.
