Chapter 38 Misty
MISTY
“This is a good thing—you can get your money back.” Sienna rubs my back while I wail on her bed.
“What is wrong with me? How can I be so stupid about men?” I cry.
“I used to be so angry when my mom would parade her loser boyfriends through the house and act like they were the love of her life and the best men she had ever met, and they were for sure ‘the one.’ And every single time, it would blow up in her face, and I’d have to clean up the mess.
Now here I am doing the same thing, except it’s worse because I told Talbot to go kill Austen. ”
“I mean, hey, there’s another silver lining. I don’t have to see Austen at Harbor Hawks functions anymore.”
“Talbot said I changed him, that he wanted to walk away from his life of crime and murder to have a happily ever after with me. I thought I was special. He said I was perfect, and all this time he was just using me. Just like Austen. I’m such an idiot.”
He doesn’t answer when I call him again.
“Maybe he’s in the middle of ‘taking out the trash.’” Sienna giggles.
Austen doesn’t pick up either.
“Why is everyone glued to their phone, yet no one can pick up?” Screaming, I hurl my phone into a pillow and flop back on the bed.
“Someone’s been spending way too much time with GrandPam.”
I sit up. “I need you to take me back to Ryan’s house. I have to make sure Austen is okay.”
“I think we need to let nature take its course on that one.”
“We can’t.”
“Just because Talbot lied to you doesn’t mean that Austen is suddenly back as your soulmate.”
“He’s not,” I grumble. “If Talbot kills Austen, I don’t get my money back.” I stagger to the door. “That’s all my pain and sacrifice, down the drain. I need that money back. I want to buy a condo and sperm off the internet.”
“Whoa, whoa!” Sienna rushes after me. “Let’s not make any hasty decisions!”
“I shouldn’t have drunk so much,” I groan as Sienna’s SUV peels around a corner.
“Love you, support you, but don’t puke in my car. I just had it detailed.”
“I’m going to die all alone.”
“We’ll start you dating in January. You said that billionaire thought you were cute. Sounds like an avenue worth pursuing.”
“No, I need to just lock myself up in my room, Grey Gardens style, and rot. I am not meant to be in a relationship. I am not meant to be loved.”
Sienna slams on the brakes in front of the house as I throw the door open while the car is still rolling.
“Austen!” I yell when I stumble inside the house. “Austen!”
He comes down the stairs as I race from room to room.
“Oh my gosh.” I lean over, my hands on my knees. “I thought you were dead.”
Austen’s face goes blanched white.
“Why? Why did you think that? What do you know, Misty?” He grabs my shoulders, shakes me. “What do you mean you thought I was dead?”
My family is starting to slowly drift over to the commotion. Granny Keagan looks a little too excited to hear the words “dead” and “Austen” used in the same sentence.
“Just, um...” I swallow. I can’t tell him about Talbot. It sounds crazy. Also, I’ll be arrested, and the only thing worse than being broke and alone for the holidays is being broke and alone in jail for the holidays. “I just...”
My mom crosses her arms.
“I had a very realistic dream about your impending death.” I pant, trying to catch my breath.
Austen’s eyes bug out.
“There was this malevolent spirit.” My hands flutter.
“I had the same dream,” Lucy pipes up. “Austen’s walking on Main Street, looking at the shops, then a deathly shadow drops out of the sky, and bam—no more Austen.”
Austen backs away, shaking.
“So maybe stay away from the windows.” Sienna gives him a feral smile.
“No, go outside with a big orange vest on,” Granny Keagan says. “I think there’s one around here somewhere.”
“A sh-sh-shadow.” Austen’s hand, trembling, points behind me.
In the leaded-glass entry door, a shadow appears—dark, big, menacing.
Austen flinches when the doorbell rings, the gongs playing the “Ukrainian Bell Carol” vibrating throughout the house.
I reach for the handle then hesitate. It looks like the shadow is taking a rifle off its back.
I wrench the door open.
Talbot smiles at me. “Gumdrop.”
He sidesteps me as I push out of the door onto the front porch, slam it behind me, then turn on him.
“I want a fucking refund!” I scream at him.
“We’ve been over this. I’m not giving you a refund, Gumdrop. No refunds.”
“Yes, you do. Fitz said—”
His face twists into annoyance. “Oh, you and Fitz are on a first-name basis,” Talbot snarls, derisive. “Let me give you a tip. Stay away from Fitz. He’s not nice like I am.”
“Nice? You’re not nice. You’re a manipulative liar.
I know all about the little scheme that you and your brother—yes, I know about Hudson.
I know who runs the company. I know you’re just pretending to care about me, pretending to love me so you can keep my money.
Fitz told me everything. Also, he thinks that you’re basic for taking girls to Crested Butte. ”
Talbot’s face turns to concern. “Gumdrop, those billionaires are liars. Also, with all that money, they just get bored. They like to toy with people. Don’t believe him.
I love you. You’re the best thing that’s ever happened to me.
I want to marry you. I want to spend the rest of my life with you. I told you that.”
I want to believe him, want to work hard to make that future he promises a reality, but for once, my brain slaps my heart down.
The words are hollow.
“How could I not see it?” I dig my fingers in my hair.
Talbot’s face grows concerned.
“See how full of shit you are,” I choke out.
“It’s the same way Austen used to talk to me, the same way my mother’s old boyfriends would talk to me when they were fake trying to be my friend just because they wanted to get with my mom.
You’re talking down to me just like them, just telling me what you think I want to hear, what you think I’m insecure and stupid enough to believe. ”
“I don’t think you’re stupid.”
“Yes, you do, or you would have given me my refund when I asked for it instead of charging me before you even completed the job. Fitz says—”
“God, I don’t give a shit what Fitz says,” Talbot snarls at me. “You’re a new client. The rules can’t be bent for you.”
“And there it is! I knew it!” I shout. “You don’t care about me. You just want my money. You have been using me this entire time, and I just let you do it. Guess all it takes for me to betray my family is a handsome guy who pretends like he likes me. I should have known.” I throw up my hands.
Talbot breathes out harshly, his breath crystallizing around his face. “I do actually care about you, Misty. But yeah, I also have a job to do. Guess what? I don’t have a rich stepfather who just gives me whatever I want. I actually have to work.”
“Oh, and I don’t?” The angry tears prickle my eyes.
“You sure seem to have an awful lot of free time to do things for Austen and Brielle and your mom,” he sneers.
“It’s called being a good family member.”
“No, Gumdrop, it’s called being a pushover.”
“Fine. I’m saying no. I’m saying no to you, I’m saying no to the assassination, and I’m saying no to you gaslighting me about the refund. How’s that for a backbone? I don’t want to hear from you again unless it’s to give me my money back.”
I turn around, the tears welling in my eyes. I want him to turn, run to me, sweep me in his arms, spin me around in the snow, tell me that I’m wrong, that he loves me, he wants to run away with me right now, that we’ll spend Christmas away in a secluded cabin just the two of us.
“Whatever,” he mutters under his breath.
I want him to get on his knees and beg me for forgiveness, swear he’s different, swear I’m the only thing he loves in the world.
But instead, all I hear is the snow crunch as he heads back to his car.
I wait a breath. Another.
His truck cranks up.
I feel sick. I want to curl up and lie in the snow until I’m so cold and numb I can’t remember the warmth of Talbot’s touch, can’t remember the way his breath danced across my skin as he whispered, “I love you.”
How can a man just lie like that? But it’s every man in my life. Austen. Talbot. My dad. They all lie and say they love me because they want something.
Tell a woman you love her, and you don’t have to buy her fancy jewelry or even show up showered and dressed for a date. It’s the cheapest lie you’ll ever tell.
I can’t believe I fell for it. Again.
The wreath on the front door mocks me. I can’t bear it, can’t face my family. Another horrible Christmas.
My family scurries away from the windows, launching themselves into chairs in the living room when I slam the front door behind me.
“Refund for what?” Brielle stands in the middle of the foyer, blocking my way to the stairs.
“Move. I need to... I don’t know, pack a bag, find a new place to live. Probably should go work at the café.”
Brielle doesn’t budge. “Refund for what?” she demands, tapping her foot in her designer shoe.
“Nothing.”
Brielle scoffs. “I knew something was off with you. You’re dumpy and mousy and awkward.
Guys like Talbot don’t like girls like you—they want girls like me.
You know what I think? I think it was all fake.
I knew it. That’s why you wanted a refund from him.
You paid him to be your boyfriend. You were always a weirdo in school, and you would totally hire some convict to be your ex. ”
“She didn’t hire him,” Sienna rushes to my defense. “Maybe he’s with her because he didn’t want some gold digger like you.”
“I didn’t pay him to be my boyfriend.” Not technically a lie.
“They don’t have photos together as a couple,” Brielle complains to the rest of the family. “He just appeared one day at my engagement party. That’s the first anyone ever heard of Misty being in a relationship? It’s way too convenient.”
“Why are you so obsessed with her?” Lucy shoots at Brielle.