He grimaced again so forcefully his shoulders crawled up toward his ears. His face softened, and he slipped a hand—ice cold—onto mine. This time, I let it stay there.
“Katie...”
“Did you lie to me on the beach? Do I mean something to you?”
He was silent.
“Do I?” I said.
“Katie, stop.”
“It’s such a simple question.”
“It’s... I...” He pulled back his hand. “Get the fuck out of here, Katie. Enjoy your stupid fucking Valentine’s Day. And tell your loser boyfriend I said hi.”
I dropped my basket to the floor, forgetting my Chapstick, the cellophane, the conversation hearts. Forgetting everything I’d come here for. “What the hell is wrong with you? Why are you so fucked-up? Why do you keep doing this to me? Why can’t you just leave me alone?”
He closed his eyes.
“I don’t know,” he said. “I’m so sorry. I really don’t know.”
71
Katie
Present Day
The Hamptons
I woke up that evening to a note from Tyler on his nightstand. He’d gone to his eight o’clock meeting in town but would come straight home after, and then we could do whatever I wanted, like watch the originalGossip GirlI’d permanently downloaded to my tablet, or make a coconut cake, or even go skinny-dipping in Meredith’s algae-infested pond.
I chuckled, then crawled out of bed, splashed cold water on my swollen face, and headed into the main house to find something to eat. Meredith was sitting at the breakfast nook with a glass of wine, readingWuthering Heights.
“Katie,” she said, rising to her feet. “Are you all right?”
I shrugged, forcing a smile. She tilted her head.
“Your mother called,” she said, walking toward the island. “I didn’t pick up, of course, but Maurice spoke to her at least five times. She seemed beside herself.”
I fussed with the hem of Tyler’s shirt. “Did she leave a message?”
Meredith nodded, sliding a piece of paper across the counter. Maurice’s handwriting.Katie’s mother. Does she have last year’s headshots as individual PNG files? Cannot find them on shared drive.
I read the note twice. When the letters still hadn’t arrangedthemselves into the sentences I’d been expecting, I scoured it again. But every syllable was exactly the same. It was just my mother doing what she’d always done. Showing me what she’d always been. Or, at least, what she’d been for a long time.
Meredith tilted her head a little more. “Did something happen, dear? Are you and Tyler all right?”
The paper crumpled under my tightening fist. “Yeah, we’re fine. It’s nothing.”
Meredith frowned. “Have a seat,” she said. “Please, sit down.”
I whimpered an affirmation, scrunched myself onto a stool, and poked around that ball of paper for a long minute. The muscles around my mouth spasmed.
“Katie,” Meredith said. “What happened? What’s going on?”
“It’s—it’s nothing. I got in a fight with my mother, that’s all. I’ve never really fought back before, and...”
Meredith clicked her tongue, then leaned against the marble. Pinot swished by, wove his spine between her shins, and settled at her feet. She took a long sip of her drink.
