Chapter 3
“Wake up!”
I groaned as Anna chirped the words into my ear. My head was throbbing, my mouth felt furry and dry, and my stomach turned uneasily. I’d never had a hangover before, but I was pretty sure I was experiencing one now. It was enough to put me off alcohol for life.
As much as my body hurt though, the most visceral pain was the one in my heart.
I didn’t want to be that girl. You know the one—the girl that fell hard and fast and then struggled to get over a guy.
That was exactly how I felt right now. Like I would never fill the void Noah had left in my chest when he broke up with me.
I wasn’t ready to face reality just yet, and the thought of opening my eyes made me bury my head under my pillow.
Before I could smother myself, the pillow was unceremoniously ripped away from me.
“Anna,” I groaned.
“Isobel,” she replied, mimicking my tone.
I slowly blinked my eyes open so I could scowl up at her. She was already dressed for the day but not in her normal casual Sunday attire. Instead, she was wearing a floral summer dress. It wasn’t low-cut, and it actually fell below her knees, so I had to wonder if I was still dreaming.
“What are you wearing?”
Her bright face turned stormy as she glanced down at her dress. “Ugh, don’t remind me. Cress lent it to me. I didn’t have anything appropriate to wear, and she insisted I’d probably get detention if I wore my regular getup.”
I stole my pillow back out of her hands and hugged it to my chest. “Appropriate for what?”
“Please tell me you know about the garden party today.”
“Uh…”
“Seriously?” She shook her head. “Well, I guess you know now. Every year, the principal hosts a garden party the morning after the ball because a lot of the parents and alumni are still in town. It’s always torture, but seniors are expected to go.”
I let out a sigh and slowly eased myself up. My head spun at the subtle movement, and I knew I was in for a rough day. “We don’t have to go though, right?” My head wanted nothing more than to return to the pillow it just left.
Anna shared an understanding smile with me. “Just show your face, and then you can come back here and bury yourself under the covers again. Cress has gone to get us coffees, so hopefully that will help.”
I’d probably need a whole lot more than coffee to get through today, but it certainly wouldn’t hurt.
Anna’s expression softened slightly before she continued. “How do you feel today?”
I knew she was asking about Noah rather than my hangover, and my heart clenched painfully at the thought of him. My pounding head might be bad, but it didn’t compare to how hard it was to think about last night.
“It feels like it didn’t really happen,” I said. “Like I experienced some terrible nightmare.” I shook my head. “I don’t want to think about it.”
“Well, if there’s one benefit to being dragged to an early-morning garden party, it’s that you’ll hopefully be distracted.”
Unless, of course, Noah was there. Despite my warring feelings about whether I wanted to see him again, I’d decided it was a blessing I hadn’t bumped into him at the after-party last night. The thought of seeing him again today caused all the same uncertainty to flow through me once again.
“So, jump in the shower,” Anna said. “Cress will be back with coffee soon, and then we need to get going.”
I understood why Cress had gone to get the coffees and left Anna to wake me up. Anna didn’t look like she’d take no for an answer, and I didn’t have it in me to try to convince her otherwise.
I let out a sigh and nodded. “Okay, fine. I’ll be quick.”
“That’s my girl.”
There were so many reasons for me not to go to the event, but as I got out of bed, I began to think of one that might make it worthwhile: Matthew might be there.
It was the first time I’d ever found myself actually wanting to see my father, but we had a lot to discuss.
Before Noah had brought my entire evening crashing down, my father had opened up to me about his past relationship with my mom.
After thinking he’d wanted nothing to do with me my whole life, I now knew he hadn’t known I even existed.
His parents had prevented news of my birth from getting to him and tried to pay off my mom.
Despite the shock, I believed my father, and it left me unsure how to feel about him.
That uncertainty had only escalated later in the night when Cress shared what she knew about the decades of rivalry between my father’s family and Noah’s.
How my father would supposedly stop at nothing to destroy William.
I’d only just met my father, but he didn’t seem like the kind of person who would try to destroy another person. I had no idea if Matthew would be attending the garden party, but I had so many unanswered questions after last night I knew I needed to speak with him.
When I entered the bathroom, I was surprised by just how bad I looked.
I knew I felt like crap, but my skin was pale, my eyes were puffy, and my curls looked limp and sad.
Even my eyes were a duller shade of blue this morning.
I had hoped a shower would help, but once I was done, I still looked like hell.
I tamed my hair as best I could and even put a little makeup on, but it didn’t seem to make much difference.
I emerged from the bathroom to find Cress had returned and was waiting for me, coffee in hand. She was wearing a similar style of dress to Anna, but hers was cornflower blue, making her reddish-brown hair pop. She smiled as she offered a coffee to me. “How are you feeling?”
“Like death warmed up,” I replied. “Thanks for getting us coffee.”
“It’s no problem. I figured we could all use the caffeine boost after last night.”
“Definitely.” I took a deep swig of the drink, relishing the feeling of it warming me from the inside.
“Here, put this on,” Anna said, passing me a dress that looked similar to her own. “Of course, it came from your magical closet that has every outfit a girl could ever need.”
I took the dress, somewhat relieved I didn’t have to try to figure out an outfit for myself. I had no idea what to wear to a garden party, and with the way I felt right now, there was every chance, if I was allowed to dress myself, I’d be leaving the room in sweats.
I slipped into the closet to quickly change. If my closet had been stocked with a perfect dress for the party, then maybe Matthew did know about the event and would be attending.
“Perfect,” Cress said as I stepped back into the bedroom. She had to be lying because I felt far from perfect. I looked like a zombie dressed up in an unconvincing disguise.
“We should probably go,” Anna said. “We’re already running late.”
I clutched my coffee cup tightly and followed Anna and Cress from the room. We weren’t the only ones running late, and there were lots of other girls out in the halls and on the quad rushing to get to the event.
The garden party was held at the principal’s cottage on the school campus, but when I saw the gorgeous stone house the principal lived in, I thought cottage was a little bit of an understatement.
It looked like something out of a fairy tale.
Vines almost completely coated the facade, and a wide array of bright and perfumed flowers bloomed in the front garden as though the house had been stolen right out of a picture book.
The soft sound of a string ensemble could be heard as we made our way out to the lawn behind the cottage, but it was hard to hear the melody given the chatter and laughter that overpowered the music.
It sounded like the party had drawn quite the crowd, and I wasn’t sure if I was mentally prepared to deal with so many people this morning.
Hopefully, Anna and Cress would handle most of the socializing.
I certainly didn’t feel up to small talk or putting on a happy face.
A marquee was set up on the lawn with round tables covered in white linen dotted beneath the canopy.
The area was already packed with students, parents, and teachers.
Everyone was dressed far more casually than they had been for the ball with the women mostly in bright, modest dresses, similar to the one I wore, while the men tended toward slacks and button-up shirts.
As waitstaff weaved their way around the area with trays of canapés and drinks held high above their heads, I scanned the scene closely for signs of my father. I couldn’t see Matthew among the crowd, and I felt a wave of relief when there was no sign of Noah or his grandfather either.
I quietly followed the girls as we went to grab seats at one of the tables.
They were all laid out beautifully with fine china teacups and towers of sandwiches and appetizers in the center of the table.
I was glad my friends didn’t want to walk about and socialize with the adults.
I could think of nothing worse right now.
I gratefully sank in my seat and started to nibble on the end of a sandwich.
Anna and Cress were chatting, but I wasn’t really concentrating on what they said.
I was too focused on trying to make sure I could stomach my sandwich.
Even the small bites I was taking didn’t seem to sit well and swirled uneasily inside me.
I wasn’t sure if it was my hangover, the chance of seeing Noah, or potentially confronting my dad for answers that had me so queasy.
It was probably a combination of the three.
“Hey, Isobel.”
I swallowed the small piece of sandwich I was chewing and glanced up as Lily came to sit next to me. “Hey, Lily. How was your night?”
“It was pretty uneventful,” she said. “I only made a quick appearance at the ball before I went to bed. I’m really not a fan of this weekend. It’s all about schmoozing, and I’m absolutely terrible at it.”
“Me too,” I agreed.
“How about you? How was your night?”
“I’ve had better,” I quietly replied. “Noah and I broke up.”
Lily’s eyes went wide with surprise. “Seriously?”
I nodded.