14. West
CHAPTER 14
WEST
Nora is a beautiful actress.
She’s sitting opposite me now at the long walnut table in Fairhaven’s dining room. The perfect girlfriend, the attentive guest.
The annoyed Nora she shows me sometimes, green eyes blazing and claws out, is nowhere to be seen.
Now she’s wearing a polite smile, her eyes dancing around the table at my family members. Her hair is back in a low bun, and there’s a string of pearls around her neck. She’s in some kind of light blue sweater and skirt combo.
She looks bright. Brimming with positive energy. The perfect date to show off to the people around this table.
Which is exactly what I asked of her. A statement to my mother. Nora obliged, and still. I look at the mask she’s wearing, and I want to tear it off.
My sister is having too much fun with this. While my mother asks Nora questions and my aunt and uncle regale her with stories of Fairhaven, Amber shoots me too-long glances.
“West,” she says.
I turn to her. “Yes?”
“Can you pass me the salt?”
I hand it to her and hold on to it one second longer. Behave, I tell her with my gaze. Her smile widens. “Thank you, dearest brother.”
She’s never once called me that, and I resist the urge to roll my eyes.
My mother has already asked Nora about Rafe, about her upbringing, her job, what she came here to do. She’s the picture of a benevolent queen in the house she used to live in. Once, this room was in constant rotation, she and my father entertaining night after night.
That was then. Now it’s mostly empty. The family fractured and none of us willing to pick up the pieces. She lives in the city now, closer to friends and the world she can control. The opera. Luncheons. The ballet.
“The house is stunning,” Nora says. I think it’s the third time. “West told me that you oversaw the last round of renovations?”
Mom’s smile is genuine. “I did, yes! About a decade or so ago. A house of this size, it takes a lot of work. The windows had to be completely refitted—and all according to code.”
I haven’t told Nora that. She must have read up about Fairhaven.
“Well, it turned out beautiful,” Nora says. She’s wearing that smile again, the pretty, placid one.
I cut into my steak harder than necessary.
“So, tell me,” Mom says. “When did you two start dating? You’ve known each other for years, surely.”
That’s what she’s here for. Why she ambushed me with this lovely, cozy family dinner that we never have. To find out just how serious this is.
Nora’s eyes shift to mine, and she smiles a little. “Well, it’s pretty recent.”
“Not that recent on my end,” I say. “I wanted to ask you out for a long time.”
Her eyes widen. “You did?”
“Yes. But being my best friend’s little sister, well… It wasn’t easy.” I look at Nora for another long moment before turning my gaze to my mother. “We connected this past winter, when I was at Rafe’s chalet in Switzerland.”
“Yes,” Nora says. “That’s right. I didn’t even know he would be there!”
My sister looks between the two of us. Her eyes, so similar to mine, are long-lashed and glittering with too much fun. “I have to ask you something,” she says. “I’ve never really met one of West’s girlfriends. Well, not the ones past high school, anyway.”
I shoot her a warning glare.
She doesn’t look at me.
“Of course,” Nora says. “What do you want to know?”
“I think I know West pretty well,” my sister says. “He hates when people are late, he thinks he’s always the smartest person in the room, and he has a pathological need to win at everything. That part’s exhausting. The one thing he’s not is sentimental.” Her smile widens. She’s doing this on purpose, to make my life harder. “Tell me. What’s he like as a boyfriend? Do you get flowers, presents? Does he take you out on fancy dates?”
Not helping , I think. But by the glittering of her eyes, she’s not trying to. She’s having fun.
I look at Nora, like the rest do. But I bet they don’t catch the calculated little tilt of her head or how she laughs softly, as if Amber has said something brilliant.
She’s thinking about the right thing to say. Buying time.
“He does. He might not seem romantic, but he has his moments. In fact…” she draws out the syllable, and even my mother leans forward a little, as if she can’t wait to hear the rest. “Last night he surprised me by taking me to see a new movie. A sequel to one of his all-time favorites.”
I reach for my wineglass. One of my favorites, indeed. She’s trolling me while still playing her part.
“West went to the movies?” Amber asks.
“I am capable of doing things other than working, dearest sister.”
“Sailing and traveling,” she says. “That’s it. What movie was it?”
Nora smiles. “ Hot Pursuit II .”
My aunt and uncle laugh. Amber grins, and even my mom looks at me with raised eyebrows. The buddy-cop franchise is aggressively mediocre. I don’t think anyone has ever described it as one of their all-time favorites.
Nora is blinking at me with those long lashes, a soft smile on her lips. Like I’m her favorite person in the world. Like this is all real and true and not a beautiful lie.
“I knew you would enjoy it,” I tell her and turn to the others. “You’d think Nora loves luxury, but she loves a bit of normalcy.”
“You know her so well,” Amber says. “What’s your favorite thing about her?”
I’m going to strangle my sister after this.
But I can’t right now, so I look back at my fake girlfriend. “She’s the most perceptive person I’ve ever met.”
It’s the truth. I saw it the other night, when she was by my side at the party. Perceptive about what other people want from her… and how to give it.
“Ouch,” my sister says.
Even my uncle chuckles. “West, you have to come up with something better than that.”
But Nora just smiles, running a slim hand along the tablecloth. “Thank you.”
“She’s sarcastic, too,” I say. “Beautiful, of course. And she doesn’t shy away from arguing with me. Which… I’m finding I quite like.”
Her eyes flash to mine. There’s surprise there. If we weren’t pretending, if we didn’t have an audience, I wouldn’t have been able to say any of those things.
Wouldn’t have been able to confess that I wanted to ask her out for a long time. She’ll believe my words are just for show.
Mom tops up her wine. “My son needs someone who can speak her mind. What do you like, Nora? About him?”
“You don’t have to answer that,” I tell the woman opposite me.
But she smiles at me again, and damn it, I hate how convincing it looks. Like she really does like me. “He’s funny and caring. He takes really good care of me. Especially now with my… with the security issue I’m having.”
“He is good at that.” Mom tops up her wine. There’s a glint of victory in her eyes. I’m sure she can already hear the wedding bells. “And Nora, how do you feel about children?”
I set down my knife. “That’s not an appropriate question.”
“It’s a perfectly appropriate question,” she says, and skewers her meat. “There’s no right or wrong answer. I’m simply getting to know your girlfriend. That’s not a problem, is it, Eléanore?”
“Not at all,” she says smoothly. “Yes, I think I do want children, but not for a while.”
“Good,” Mom says. “Would it affect your career?”
“If I was still a model, yes, it might. But I’m planning to transition away from that. I want to be a fashion designer.”
“And you will be,” I say before turning to my mother. “You just said good , but before she replied, you said there was no right answer.”
“I lied.” She gives me a short look before looking back at Nora. Her expression is too sharp, too triumphant. I wanted her to back off, and instead, she’s sunk her teeth in further.
I’m going to have words with her after.
“For what it’s worth, I want to get to know you too,” Nora says. “All of you. You’re important to West, and, well… he’s important to me.”
My eyes narrow. That voice was gentle. Like she was admitting something that was hard for her. Both my mother and aunt make soft, happy sounds. Aw.
“I want more details,” Amber says. “You two are the cutest, and Nora, I promise you, this is the first time he’s brought a girlfriend home. Okay… West. What’s Nora’s go-to drink?”
“A negroni,” I answer without missing a beat. Shut up , I tell her with my eyes.
My sister just smiles. “What’s Nora’s middle name?”
“He doesn’t know it because it’s embarrassing,” Nora answers with a little laugh. “Don’t make me reveal it now. Next!”
“What was her first pet?”
“A dog named Titou,” I say. “She took him everywhere.”
Nora’s eyes widen. She didn’t know that I knew that.
Well, I’ve listened to her brother’s stories. She got that dog on her fifth birthday. Rafe went with his mom to pick out the shepherd puppy.
“And what was your first date?” my sister asks. “I mean, I can imagine it must have been hard, with Rafe being one of your oldest friends.”
“Amber, no need to quiz them,” Mom says. She sets down her cutlery. “But yes. Tell us about the courtship.”
Jesus fucking Christ.
I look around the table. This isn’t something I’ll force her into telling. “Like I said, we were both in Switzerland over New Year’s. Rafe, James, Alex and I were only skiing for a few days. Nora showed up with her girlfriends.”
This part is true enough. But we only crossed paths for a day, nothing more, and there was almost no conversation between us. She smiled at us all, kissed Alex’s cheek, hugged James. Gave me a short look that had none of her pleasantness or soft smiles.
A real look.
“On the last day I asked her to ski with me,” I say. “Rafe had business to attend to; Alex was hungover, and James had already left. No one knew that we headed out, just us.”
“It was unexpected,” Nora says. Her eyes flick up to mine, and there’s a challenge there, too. “I wasn’t sure if he’d be able to keep up with me on the slopes.”
My lips curve. She’s got the Alps in her blood. “I kept up.”
“He didn’t tell me it was a date until we were down the slope,” Nora says. She’s looking at my mother, smiling. “As for my brother… we spoke with him together a month later.”
Mom makes a low, thoughtful sound. “Interesting. How did Rafe take it?”
“He was surprised at first. But ultimately, he’s supportive,” Nora says. Her smile doesn’t waver, but her voice grows tighter. “He wants me to be happy.”
He would never react like that.
But the others don’t need to know that. Nora’s hand is tight around the glass when she lifts the wine to her mouth, like she heard the lie as clearly as I did.
The servers come to clear out the dessert course. My mother looks around the table. “Shall we move to the living room?”
“Let’s,” my uncle agrees. “Do you still have some of that whiskey, West?”
“I do. Help yourself.”
I stand behind my chair and roll up my sleeves, waiting for when Amber has to walk around and pass me.
“What,” I mutter, “the hell was that?”
She smiles. “I was just showing an interest in my brother’s love life.”
“Well, stop being interested.”
“I’m just having fun,” she says. Her face is all innocence, and I give her a glare. “If you’re going to perform for Mom, why can’t I?”
“You’re a brat,” I tell her.
She pats my shoulder and glides past me. “Yes. And you love me.”
That leaves just me and Nora, who’s standing opposite me, at the large dining room table. She’s flanked by the two large French doors behind her, closed to the patio and the ocean beyond.
Her face isn’t placid or soft anymore. She glances over her shoulder and takes a step closer. “I hate negronis,” she says in a low voice.
I shift to rolling up my right sleeve. “Too bad. They’re now your favorite drink.”
“West, we don’t know anything about each other!”
“I think you did very well,” I say dryly. “I’m never going to live down Hot Pursuit II being my favorite movie.”
“When we’re together, yes. But before we sat down, when you were in the other room, your mother asked me a million questions. And I’m sure that as soon as we walk in there with the others, your uncle will ask you things too. And we won’t know what the other has said.”
I take a step closer, catching her scent. Oranges and something else, something floral. “You’re saying we need to get our stories straight.”
“Yes,” she says. “Our first date was skiing?”
“You would have let me win, too, wouldn’t you?” I brace my hand on the back of the same chair as hers. Only inches away. “Just like you said yes to a shit movie yesterday and ate candy you didn’t like.”
Her eyes narrow. “Tonight isn’t about me and my… issues. It’s about you and yours.”
“What did my mother ask you? Before dinner.”
“How serious we are. If I’m planning on living in the US permanently.” Nora’s voice lowers even further. “If we’ve spoken about marriage.”
My hand tightens on the back of the chair. “She asked you that?”
“Yes.”
“What did you answer?”
“I said no. We’ve only just started dating,” she says. “But I said that I could see a future with you.”
The words sink like a stone inside me. She’s looking at me with narrowed eyes, annoyed at the situation I’ve put her in. She doesn’t mean the words. Didn’t mean them when she said them. And I’m certainly not fit for marriage.
And yet. I could see a future with you.
“You’re the prettiest little liar I’ve ever seen,” I tell her, and lean in closer. Like I did the other day, when she didn’t push me away. When she looked at me like she wanted my lips on her.
Like I wasn’t alone in wondering what it would feel like.
Her eyes narrow. “Save the compliments for our next practice date.”
“Tomorrow,” I say, “we go over our stories. We get them straight, and we’ll do it while we box. We can work on your issues while we work on mine.”