“The record is seventeen, by the way,” Sam said. “Seventeen times in one day, Harper. For someone he supposedly hates, you take up alotof space in his head.”
“That’s because I make his life difficult,” I said, but my voice sounded weird even to me.
“Maybe.” Sam shrugged. “Or maybe he doth protest too much, if you know what I mean.”
“I don’t know what you mean.”
“I think you do.”
We stared at each other for a long moment, and I wasthe first to look away, grabbing my wineglass for something to do with my hands.
Abby broke the heavy silence that had settled on the room. “Okay, I have to know. What’s the deal with you two? Why do you two hate each other so much?”
I twisted my wineglass between my fingers. This was family business. Private stuff. But maybe I could make them understand why this rivalry would never end.
“Our families have hated each other for three generations before we even came along,” I said. “Since our great-grandfathers.”
“Three generations?” Sam’s eyebrows shot up. “That’s?—”
“Insane? Yeah.” I took another sip of wine. “I know. But each generation does something that buries those roots of hatred just a little deeper. Our great-grandfathers were best friends and business partners. They had a construction company together and co-owned some land. And then they both fell in love with the same woman.”
“Oh, shit,” Talia breathed.
“Yeah. According to my family—according to what I’ve been told myentire life—James Dumontier seduced her. She was my great-grandfather Robert’s very serious girlfriend. Supposedly he was about to propose when James betrayed him and convinced her to leave Robert.”
The familiar anger rose in my chest, generations of it passed down like an inheritance.
“My great-grandfather was devastated by his best friend’s betrayal and the loss of the woman he loved, so he cut James out of the land agreement and the construction company. I mean, of course he wasn’t going to work with the man after what he’d done. But the Dumontiers claim theTinsleys stole the land that was their birthright and have been trying to one-up us ever since.”
“Jesus,” Abby muttered.
“So one stole the girl, and the other stole the land?” Sam said slowly.
“Basically.” I drained my wineglass. “And now both families are convinced the other one is pure evil. The Dumontiers think we’re bitter and vindictive. We think they’re liars and con artists. Because they are.”
“But wasn’t that like seventy years ago?” Abby said carefully.
“Doesn’t matter. My dad refuses to hire Dumontier Construction for anything. Drew’s dad apparently does the same with Tinsley Construction. They refuse to be in the same room at community events. Our families won’t even bid on the same projects anymore.” I laughed, but it sounded hollow. “It’s been passed down like some genetic disease.”
“Isn’t it kind of hard to avoid someone when you live in a small town, though?” Sam asked.
“You have no idea.” I picked at the edge of a throw pillow, wondering if I should voice the secret I’ve kept locked away for years. “Drew and I were actually friends once. Sort of. In sixth grade.”
All five women leaned forward.
“You werefriends?” Rachel’s voice went up. “You never told me that.”
“It was barely anything.” I kept my eyes on the pillow. “We got paired for a science project. Turned out we worked really well together. He was actually—” I stopped and swallowed hard, the memory, and the hurt that followed, bringing up feelings I thought I’d long buried. “He was nice and made me laugh. He even helped me when I got stuck.For like three weeks, I thought maybe we could just be normal, like maybe we could be different from everyone else in our families.”
“What happened?” Talia asked softly.
“There was this winter choir concert. I had a solo I’d been practicing for weeks, and Drew had been helping me with it. He’d listen to me practice and encourage me when I got frustrated.” I twisted the pillow fringe between my fingers. “I thought he actually cared about my music.”
I hated that I’d believed he was different. But I hated even more that talking about this now still made my chest ache the way it had when I was twelve.
“After the concert, I went to find him. I heard him with some of his friends. They were teasing him about spending so much time with me.” My throat felt tight. “And Drew said I sounded like a dying cat. They all laughed.”
“Harper,” Ayanna said quietly, trying to soothe me, which only made the hurt turn to anger.
