“What was she doing at the party? Was she even invited?” Lizzy asked.
“It sounds like everyone in town was invited.” Jane sighed. “But we all thought she was still doing that protest on the North Shore, so we didn’t notice when she wasn’t home yesterday morning. Then Donna called and said her niece sent her a link to the video…”
“So everyone’s seen it,” Lizzy said.
“Obviously,” Lydia said, rolling her eyes. “Have you seen the views? She’s up to like eight million.”
“Nine,” Kitty corrected her.
Lydia frowned with a look of self-pity. “So jealous.”
Lizzy turned to her. “Why didn’t you stop her?”
“Since when is thatmyresponsibility?” Lydia replied.
“Didn’t you go?”
Lydia almost looked insulted. “Yeah, for five minutes. Then I realized it was just a bunch of people looking for celebrities but, like, noactualcelebrities.”
Lizzy ignored her and focused on Jane. “Where’s Dad?”
“He’s on his way into the city. We don’t know when she’ll see a judge, but once she does, he should be able to get her out on bail.”
For a moment, Lizzy was tempted to just walk out the door and drive back to Montauk. Crawl into Will’s king-sized bed and sleep until this whole thing was over. But then the image of Will’s face when she left flashed in her head, and she cringed.
Things happened between Jane’s call and climbing into her truck, but Lizzy barely remembered them. There had been a mad grab for her clothes, a rush downstairs as she fielded texts from neighbors and friends. Will had been there, too, always just a step away to pick up the bikini top she’d dropped behind her, the shoes and surfing gear left in her wake. But he was altered, too—that severe line of his brow that had been omnipresent those first few weeks of the summer was back, and he was watching her like he was waiting for the right moment to speak.
That moment came outside, as she scrambled to throw her board and her bag into the bed of her truck.
“Elizabeth,” he’d said from where he stood behind her.
But his voice only joined the jumbled mess in her head, everything too distorted by anger and worry and embarrassment. Shehad to get back to East Hampton, fix this mess before it got any worse and—
“Lizzy.”
This time her name was hard. Clear. Two syllables that ran right down her spine.
She glanced over her shoulder to find him just a foot or so away, arms crossed over his chest, and that hard glare focused entirely on her.
“I have to go,” she said, opening the driver’s-side door. “If I don’t leave now, everything’s just going to—”
“Not before we talk.”
She narrowed her eyes on him. “You want to discuss everything that’s happened over the last few daysnow?”
“No. Jesus,” he growled, head falling forward. It was like he had to get a handle on his frustration before he looked up again. “What do you need me to do?”
Crap. Of course that’s what he meant. Her anger dissolved into guilt, but frustration and fear were still too overwhelming to give it its due.
“Nothing,” she said, shaking her head. “This is on me.”
“No, it’s not.”
“Yes, it is,” she said. “We fix problems for the people we love, Will. That’s what we do.”
The line of his lips turned down to a frown. “Your parents could—”
“My parents could barely keep the bakery running after my dad’s stroke. I did that,” she blurted out, tears suddenly threatening the corners of her eyes. “Just like I got Jane over the worst heartbreak of her life. And I’ll find a way to get Mary out of jail, too. I’ll get Tristan out of our lives and out of East Hampton, and we can all just pretend this summer never happened!”
