Chapter 39
Conrad
The last of the bright red and orange autumn leaves trembled on their branches and rustled to the ground with every burst of air, setting the scene for the much-anticipated Winchester vs Harvard game.
Every year, the two football teams would face off, and alums were known to tailgate.
Some did it with a Hollywood-style trailer and others with demure tents and catering.
Eleanor and Christian Rutherford did both, hosting what was essentially a gala outside the stadium.
I spotted James and his dad tossing a football back and forth on the green beyond the catering tent, and James’s little sister and his mom sipped hot cider as they flipped through some magazines that previewed the next year’s spring lines.
My vision suddenly went black when a pair of hands covered my eyes from behind and the scent of candied lemons wisped past me.
In the run-up to winter, she smelled like summertime. “Are they always that…”
“Nauseatingly perfect?” I finished for her. The Rutherfords were like a family pulled out of a catalogue, except it wasn’t fake. They all genuinely enjoyed each other’s company. “Yes.”
Malena laughed and whispered in my ear. “You’re going to love the sweater I’m wearing.”
I curled my fingers around her wrist and pulled her in front of me, wrapping my other arm around her waist and taking in the stitching on her crewneck.
RUTHERFORD.
My smile fell. “Take it off.”
“It’s a Lora Piana custom sweater.” Malena’s mouth hung open, like that was a perfectly reasonable excuse for any name but mine to be scrawled across her chest. “And actually, remind me to ask James’s mom how they got Lora Piana to make a—”
“Take it off, or I take it off of you.” I’d told her the same thing the last time she did this. I took a step forward and pushed my hands beneath it. “I swear you do this on purpose.”
Malena giggled and squirmed in my grasp, then looped her arms around my neck.
“Eleanor got it made for James’s little sister. But then she gave it to Ishani and Ishani looked so uncomfortable that I just grabbed it.” Malena waggled her brows. “I’m guessing there’s a story there?”
“Yeah…” I let out a slow breath. “I’m gonna have to tell you that story at some point. For now, ignore it.”
Malena pulled the sweatshirt off and folded it neatly in her arms. “Will do.”
“Speaking of Isha…” I tried to segue, because the Isha/James topic was one I didn’t even know if I was allowed to bring up. “The buyer of that Van Holden doesn’t want to sell, so that’s not an option now. But Isha’s keeping an eye out for anything that comes up at the gallery.”
Ishani told me this morning, but I didn’t want to dampen the mood because Mal was having a nice time at the tailgate. And maybe I was avoiding disappointing her.
“Oh.” Mal set the sweater down on the linen-covered picnic table next to us. “We’ll figure something out. We have time.”
“Oh yeah?” The tension loosened, and I yanked her close.
“Besides, it’s the weekend, and I’d like to enjoy it with you. Especially with how crazy this week has been.”
“How is Sabrina doing anyway?” I asked, knowing she was worried about how Sabrina was handling the scrutiny following the election.
“Okay…” Mal sighed. “She’s been too busy to chat, but we’re calling her again in a few days to see if we can coax her into talking about it. Or about anything, honestly.”
A frown wisped along her lips.
“Maybe she just needs a little time,” I offered.
Just before I could lean in to give her a reassuring kiss, a voice cut between us.
“Conrad?”
Malena’s head turned first, and her eyes landed on a petite blond in a navy-blue sweatshirt, her hands neatly folded in front of her.
“Gemma.” I rubbed the back of my neck.
Malena looked at me for an explanation, but before I could say anything, Gemma strode over and spoke directly to me.
“My mom is saying hello to Eleanor.” Gemma pointed off to the side where her parents were speaking to James’s. Lucy stood in the middle of the group with narrowed eyes, looking between them like she was monitoring a tennis match. “We all might be in Moritz together this winter break. She—”
“Gemma, this is my girlfriend, Malena,” I interrupted, knowing she was attempting to make Mal feel invisible, or make herself seem important. My palm floated down to the small of Malena’s back and I looked down at her. “Babe, this is Gemma, she goes to Harvard.”
Malena’s brows pulled together for a moment. She opened her mouth, but Gemma continued.
“Gemma DuBois,” she said, and stuck out her hand.
“Conrad and I go way back.” She looked at me with a knowing smile and I sighed.
Gemma and I used to slept together on occasion, but I hadn’t even seen her since last year.
Which solidified my suspicion that she was here to stake territory that was never hers to begin with.
“And we circle each other from time to time.” She laughed, and when met with silence, her eyes locked onto Mal’s. “Teasing, of course.”
“Of course,” Mal answered with the same voice she used around faculty.
Gemma adjusted her headband before speaking again. “I come to this game every year; I’ve never seen you here before.”
“Malena took some convincing,” I shot back, more indignant than anything. Mal could hold her own, but this line of questioning or intimidation or whatever it was… I wasn’t about to let it happen.
“Not a fan of the pre-game tailgate?” Gemma cocked her head to the side. “It isn’t for everyone.”
“Conrad made it sound appealing,” Malena answered nonchalantly, but her muscles tightened beneath my palm.
“He does that, doesn’t he?”
I prayed James could read my thoughts and would take the opportunity to accidently aim the football in our direction.
“Yeah.” Malena’s voice perked up. “Just look at you, surprisingly at ease for someone on enemy ground.”
“Oh.” Gemma’s polite smile straightened and she scrunched her nose patronizingly. “I didn’t realize I was in danger.”
“Whether you are or not is entirely up to you.” Malena crossed her arms, and I stifled a laugh. “I’m only teasing,” Malena added. “Of course.”
“It was nice to see you, Gemma,” I lied, dismissing her in the nicest way I could.
Honestly, it was for Gemma’s own good—I was sure Ishani would make creative use of her perfectly manicured fingernails if she caught wind of any of that. Gemma walked back to her parents, and with a few polite waves, they were gone. I looked down at Mal.
“Ex-girlfriend?” Mal asked, her tone disinterested. “I didn’t think you had those.”
“We slept together a few times,” I confessed. “Last year. That’s all.”
“Okay.” She looked away, her eyes moving over the steady stream of students and alumni passing by.
“Are we okay?” The realization knocked against me like a smack in the head. She wasn’t annoyed or offended.
She was jealous.
And it was adorable.
“Yeah.” Malena’s eyes refused to meet mine. “She doesn’t seem to like me.”
“Who cares?” I sure as hell didn’t.
“Right.” She looked down at her fingers. “Your friend doesn’t like me. I’m pointing it out, that’s all.”
“She’s not my friend. She’s—”
“Protective?” Malena offered.
“Psychotic,” I corrected. Whoever thought that type of behavior was appropriate needed their head examined. “I’m sorry she spoke to you like that.”
“It’s okay,” she said curtly.
“Malena…” I tsked. My heart made a strange leap and my lips couldn’t help but tug at the sides. “Are you jealous?”
“No.” Her mouth pulled in an exaggerated oval.
“My family knows hers and so does James’s, that’s all.”
“Okay.” Her voice climbed up half an octave.
“Mal…”
“I get it.” She waved me off, and when she tried to take another step away, I looped an arm around her waist. “You’ve known each other awhile. That’s all, not a big deal.” If her voice pitched any higher we were going to have to watch for broken glass. “Your families are friends, that’s sweet.”
I watched the endearing fidgeting because the envy was useless. Malena had me. That smile and sharp wit had me pinned for months.
She blew out a frustrated breath through loose lips and took a step back when I didn’t say anything. “What?”
Now I had a full-blown grin. A toothpaste commercial smile. “I’m just waiting to see how much higher your voice can get.”
She smacked my shoulder. “Shut up.”
“Look around, Mal, this is my family.” I jutted my chin in the direction of the green where James and Felix were now tossing the ball, James’s parents off being social on the other side of the tent.
“They’ve spent all day with you,” I added, looking over to Isha and Lucy—both going over what I assumed was the spring line with James’s little sister.
“As much as I like seeing you get jealous, there is really no need.”
“I’m not jealous,” she insisted, and I swore I saw her stomp her foot in the corner of my eye.
“Well, in case you were…” I pulled my arm around her shoulders and dropped a kiss on her hairline.
Eleanor was so taken with her that I was sure she was texting my mom about having met Mal first. I kind of liked that idea, Mal being a part of…
this. “They are the only people who matter, and you fit perfectly.”
She finally looked up at me, her cheeks lifted but her lips still stretched in a line. For a millisecond I was sure her expression glazed over before she blinked it away.
“You okay?”
She looked down. “Yeah.”
“Mal…”
When she looked up again, her cheeks crested so high they pushed up against the bottoms of her eyes. Her lashes fluttered with a few more rapid blinks, but then she finally met my eye. “I’m more than okay.”