Page 11 of Promise Me Never

Were they really having this discussion now? “Um, well, yes, I’ve always hoped to have them. You?”

He nodded. “Yes. Very much. I’d do things differently than my parents.”

“How so?”

He looked at the sky, silent for a moment. “Everything was about performance with them. My father founded a very successful company, and it was expected that we’d all follow him into the business. My brothers were okay with it, but I was never into business. Every summer from the time we were teenagers we had to intern there. I hated it.”

“That’s awful. Why can’t parents understand that their children are not little carbon copies of them?”

He nodded. “Exactly. All I wanted was to spend summers reading, swimming, and hanging out with my friends. Don’t get me wrong, I was well taken care of, given every advantage. But I felt like neither of my parents really saw me.” He took a sip of his coffee. “If it hadn’t been for Felicia, who knows how I would’ve turned out.”

“Felicia?”

“My nanny. We stayed in touch even after she no longer worked for the family. She was the one who encouraged me to follow my dream. She’s my housekeeper now. Lives on the property.”

Images of English estates popped into Savannah’s mind. “How big is your house?”

“Big enough. But she doesn’t live in the actual house. There’s a guesthouse on the property. She lives there, but when I’m away, like now, she looks after everything.”

“Doesn’t she have any family of her own?”

Bennett frowned. “I’m her family. Just because you’re not related to someone—”

“No, no. I didn’t mean it that way. I just wondered, her moving from Virginia to New York, no husband, children of her own?”

“No kids. Her husband died ten years ago. So when I bought the Bedford property, I reached out to her. She’s been there for the past eight years. But enough about me. I want to hear about you. Tell me about your family.”

“My parents never understood me either. They were always pushing me to do things they wanted. Nothing I ever did was good enough. I was never the favorite, in fact, I was the scapegoat for everything in the family. I couldn’t wait to grow up and get out of that house.”

He shook his head. “That’s so terrible. Parents shouldn’t have favorites. But they do. Mine certainly did and it wasn’t me.”

“Yeah, I would never do that to my own children. Over time I just retreated into my own world. It’s why I spent so much time in my room reading, and then later writing. It was my escape.”

“I know what you mean! My books were my salvation. When did you start writing?” he asked.

“As far back as I can remember. Short stories in high school. Some were published in the school paper. But did my parents read them? Nope.” She shook her head. “Doesn’t matter. I had hoped that one day when I finally got published, they would be proud of me.”

He scoffed. “I thought the same thing. Even now, my mother thinks my writing is frivolous. I was on the New York Times bestseller list for over a year with my first book, and she acts like it’s no big deal.”

Savannah squeezed his hand. “That’s crazy! You’re incredible. Millions of readers adore you. You are the most brilliant man I’ve ever met. I’m sorry your mother doesn’t see that.”

“It’s okay. I’m a big boy now. Families are tough. Are they still hard on you?”

“We don’t speak anymore. Any of us. It’s for the best.”

“Same for me. I haven’t spoken to my mother or my brothers in over a year.”

She took a deep breath. “You can’t choose the family you’re born into, but you can choose the family you make.”

He was quiet for a long moment. “Yeah, that’s true. I thought I had. But then, Poppy, my wife—” His voice broke.

“I didn’t want to ask, but—”

“We were on our way to our house in the Hamptons, out on the yacht. Poppy had been drinking heavily. I turned in around ten. I woke up in the middle of the night, and she wasn’t next to me. I got up and looked for her, but she wasn’t on the yacht. That’s when I started to panic. I called the Coast Guard. They searched and nothing.” He shook his head.

“That’s so terrible. She fell in?”

“Yeah. They found blood on the stern. They think she hit her head and drowned. By the time I realized she wasn’t on board it could have been hours. I sold the boat and the house. I couldn’t bear it.”