Page 49 of Trust Fund Baby

“But?”

“But then I let him back in. I shouldn’t have done it, but I let my guard down, he turned on the charm. Said all the right things. Made me feel like I could trust him again, and that we could get back on track after all this time. And it worked. We slept together last night, in the boathouse. It was amazing. Incredible. At least, I thought so. I fell asleep on his chest, and then when I woke up, he was gone. I feel so betrayed, but I only have myself to blame. I should have known he couldn’t really change.”

Hallie stared at me. I knew it was a lot to take in. I didn’t blame her if she didn’t know what to say, or how to help.

“I don’t know whether to be angry on your behalf, or heartbroken,” she said, softly. “But I do know that you are so much better off without someone like Sebastian in your life. A teenage mistake, I could maybe understand. But we’re all adults now. And walking out on you like that is totally unacceptable. Unforgivable,” she finished.

“I know,” I said. But I couldn’t say anything else because tears were threatening to spill from my eyes.

Hallie must have sensed how I was feeling, because instead of talking, she picked up the remote and hit play on our show, handed me my discarded glass of wine, and nodded toward my dinner.

“Eat. You don’t have to think about it anymore tonight,” she said. “He isn’t worth it.”

“I’m just so goddamn tired,” I told her, one tear slipping out.

“I know,” she whispered, reaching over to squeeze my hand.

17

Seb

My phone wouldn’t stop buzzing on the coffee table across from the couch where Roxie and I had fallen asleep.

At first, I ignored it and buried my face deeper into the crook of my arm, trying to memorize the shape of her body as it curled into mine. Or file away the smell of salt air mixed with Chanel No. 5 that now filled the boathouse.

But then it vibrated again. And again.

I twisted toward the edge of the couch, careful not to wake Roxie as I grabbed the phone.

Dad.

The name glared at me, lit up with three missed calls and a new text message.

Dad:Family breakfast. Your mother will be here. Don’t be late.

I stared at it a second longer before quickly sliding off the couch, pulling on yesterday’s linen button-down, and tiptoeing toward the door. Leave it to my father to let me know last minute about a family gathering (something that rarely ever happened), expecting I would be there. Of fucking course. I couldn’t wait for the day when I could stand on my own rather than being at his beck and call. When I could tell him what to do.

I glanced back over my shoulder just before I slipped out.

Roxie was still asleep, half-wrapped in the blanket we’d dragged down from the back of the couch; her cheek pressed into the pillow I’d abandoned. One arm was flung over where I’d just been lying moments ago.

She looked so peaceful and unburdened. I wanted nothing more than to crawl back onto that too-small couch and waste the rest of the long weekend with her in my arms.

But I couldn’t ignore a call from my father, no matter how much I wanted to. I’d learned the hard way that he would get his way in the end. He always did.

So now I was forced to leave her lying there looking nothing short of perfect for a job that felt like it was sucking the soul out of me. Forcing me to fit myself into a box that I was never meant to fit in. Rather than letting me show up exactly as myself so I could elevate the company to something better.

I hesitated in the doorway for one more second, letting my eyes memorize everything—the way the early light touched her hair, the soft curve of her mouth, as if she were smiling in her sleep.

I’d spent the better part of the last decade trying to forget her.

Now, with one night, she was all I could think about.

I tore my eyes away before I changed my mind and crawled back under the blanket with her, letting the world keep spinning without me.

But that wasn’t reality. I couldn’t see any paper to leave her a note, so I crept back to the record player and put the needle back on her favorite album and left.

Outside, the air was cool, the scent of the bay still lingering in the breeze. I quietly made my way through the house and up to the guest room, where I made quick work of packing up my belongings. Within five minutes, I was behind the wheel of my car and backing out of the driveway, to head back to the city. I let the Hamptons fall away behind me as I tapped on my father’s name on the screen of my car to dial his number.