“What about Charlie?”
Jane sighed. Lizzy knew her sister wasn’t done prodding about Tristan, but she also knew that Charlie was probably the only topic that could delay that conversation until later.
“I haven’t seen him yet.”
“Well, he’s got to be here somewhere. It’s his house.” Lizzy craned her neck up to look over the crowd.
Her gaze found Charlie on the other side of the pool’s illuminated dance floor. He had caught sight of them, too, though it took less than a second for Lizzy to realize that it wasn’t so much the two of them that held his attention, but Jane. His omnipresent smile somehow grew even wider, while his expression… Something in Lizzy’s heart ached at the way his eyes softened, how his chest rose slowly and fell with a deep breath, like there was relief mixed in with his happiness. As if, despite the music and drinks and impending fireworks, this moment was what tonight had always been about.
She wondered if anyone would ever look at her like that.
Before she could squash the thought, Charlie was weaving through the crowd toward them.
“You made it,” he said, stopping within a few inches of Jane. The words were said in one long exhale of breath.
“You invited me,” her sister replied.
“I did, didn’t I?” It looked like he was trying to tamp down his grin, but it was a losing battle.
Lizzy bit back her own smile and melted into the crowd before Charlie had time to realize that he had completely ignored her. She didn’t want to be a third wheel. Not that they would have noticed anyway—they were caught in each other’s orbit, and Lizzy almost wondered if the whole house burned down right now, whether either of them would even notice.
Once she found her way to the other side of the dance floor, Lizzy pulled her phone from her bag again. No new text messages. She told herself to lock her screen and just have faith that Tristan would text. Unfortunately, she had never been good at waiting, which was why she typed out another quick message.
LIZZY
Hey! Party in full swing. Have you left the city yet?
She pressed send before she could think better of it.
The DJ transitioned seamlessly from song to song as Lizzy wandered through the party, chatting with familiar faces and bobbing her head to the beat. A waiter walked by with a tray of various cocktails, and she grabbed one with a yellow umbrella, walking to a quieter corner of the party and taking a small sip. It was bitingly sweet and she cringed, just as a deep voice spoke from behind her.
“Hello, Elizabeth.”
She turned to glance over her shoulder. Will Darcy stood near the edge of the yard, half-hidden in the shadows. Had he just been skulking around the perimeter all night?
“Hello,” she replied.
The party was a cacophony of sound, but somehow she couldstill feel the weight of the silence between them. She wanted to walk away—they had exchanged pleasantries, so there was nothing keeping her here. Still, she didn’t move. Neither did he.
“Hiding again?” she finally asked.
“Debating it.” A moment passed before he asked, “What about you?”
“What about me?”
“Are you leaving again?”
“I’m an East Hampton native, remember?” she replied with a plastic smile. “I laugh in the face of linen button-downs and disdain.”
He almost looked amused. His mouth was still a grim line across his face, but something in his eyes seemed to dance. Then he nodded to her glass. “What about rum and cocktail umbrellas?”
She rolled her eyes. “Well, this isn’t exactly a Hamptons staple.”
“None of this is,” he murmured. “It’s the same party, just in a different place.”
As much as Lizzy hated to admit it, she knew exactly what he meant. The party was beautiful and fun, but it was a bit like this house: impressive but impersonal, devoid of everything that made the Hamptons so special. They could have been anywhere in the world having the same drinks, listening to the same music. And tomorrow it would all go away again, leaving everyone with the same memories.
“If you hate it so much, why do you keep coming out here?” she asked.
