That made me look up, eyes wide and pulse racing.
“I—”
Madelaine raised her fork to stop me.
“I’ve known since I first met you,” she said. Past the surge of panic and horror, I could just about tell that her tone was gentle. Sympathetic? “I’m not planning to tell him.”
My heart rate dropped a couple of notches.
“No?” I asked, still light-headed. I hadn’t thought…
Well, it wasn’t necessarily that I thought I hid it all that well. I’d been told otherwise before. By more or less everyone who ever saw me and Theo together
It was that I hadn’t thought Madelaine had paid enough attention to me to notice. Or Theo, for that matter. She was the okayest of the Hargraves—Theo excluded—but mostly because she wasn’t actively malevolent. She was neutral and fair, but not necessarily affectionate toward, as far as I could tell, anyone. Maybe her boyfriend, although I hadn’t seen evidence of that, either. They seemed more power couple than star-crossed lovers to me.
Madelaine shrugged easily, as though she wasn’t holding the very fragile hinge on which my friendship with Theo balanced in her hand. “It’s not my secret to tell,” she said. “Besides, what good would it do? It’s not as though…”
She gestured around the table with her fork. I would have thoughtthatwas unforgivably rude, but if she was doing it, maybe not?
“Not as though…?” I prompted.
“Well, this isn’t your world,” she said. “Obviously.”
My heart turned to lead and sank into my stomach. Madelaine knew that about me, of course, but to say it wasobvious…
“What I mean is, you’re not comfortable here. You… it’s so sweet that you tried, but…”
“But?” I asked, heart leaping into my throat this time.Triedmeant I’d failed. I was getting something wrong. Wrong enough that Madelaine apparently felt like she had to tell me so.
“You would almost have gotten away with the cheap suit if you weren’t wearing it like it’s your dad’s and you’re at prom,” she said.
I looked down at myself. To me, this wasn’t a cheap suit.
But then toeight zeroes, it would be. Almost anything would be.
“Not that I care. I would have liked you to show up in jeans and an old band t-shirt toreallygive Mom a weekend to remember,” she added. “I just don’t think I’d be doing you any favors by telling him. You don’t want money like this. You resent it.”
That was true.
I just hadn’t realized Madelaine—or anyone else—could tell from the way I wore a suit.
“I’m not saying this to hurt your feelings,” Madelaine said. “Just?—”
She was interrupted by the sound of Corey’s father banging a spoon against his glass. I’d also been under the impressionthatwas rude, but I couldn’t tell if anyone else noticed or cared. Maybe basic table manners were only for people who couldn’t wear suits right.
“Sorry to interrupt, folks…”
8
THEO
“So I’ve gotpistachio and raspberry, dark chocolate and peanut butter, cookie dough, or salted caramel brownie,” Simon said, tossing four brightly packaged protein bars on the bed. “There’s more where they came from, but those are the only flavors. Take your pick.”
I met his eyes, insides filling with warm, fuzzy cotton wool. He’d brought these for me. He’d brought these for me because he knew I wouldn’t eat in front of other people if I was uncomfortable or upset, and he knew I’d be both at some point while I was here.
“You barely even picked at dinner,” he said, confirming what I’d just been thinking. “You’ve gotta eat something.”
I wanted to kiss him. As relieved as I’d been to close the bedroom door behind me thirty seconds ago, I wished, for a split second, that we were back downstairs amongst the rest of the wedding party, so I could make an excuse to step into his space, put both hands on his face, and kiss him until we both ran out of air.
