Chapter 19
NINETEEN
Rhett
Fifteen Years Ago
“ S o, don’t kill me,” Lainey said as I answered the phone and held it to my ear, “but I have some bad news.”
I was halfway down the stairs of my house and halted. “What kind of bad news are we talking about?” I focused on the front door and how I should be walking through it rather than standing in the middle of the staircase. “I’m literally on my way out to come pick you up. Does that mean …”
My mind was spiraling.
Going to Timothy’s beach house had been the plan for a couple of months. We were going to spend a few nights there before we all flew off to Europe for two weeks.
But by the sound of Lainey’s voice, something told me that at least half of that plan was going to change.
“Don’t laugh, okay? But my hairdresser just called, and she had a cancellation, so she can squeeze me in. Like, right now. If I don’t take this appointment, she can’t get me in until after we leave for USC, and I don’t want to wait that long to get my hair done, Rhett. I want my highlights fresh for Europe.”
Highlights fresh for Europe—check.
But that didn’t answer any of my questions, so I said, “I’m not sure what you’re telling me?”
“Instead of going with you in the boat, Pen and I will meet you at Timothy’s beach house. I’ll just drive us there, which means I’ll be driving us home, too, rather than taking the boat back with you.”
The logistics weren’t something I cared about. I’d been driving Dad’s boat since I was a kid, and I was more than comfortable going alone.
“So, you’re not canceling the trip?” I pressed.
“Heck no. I would never do that. But it does mean you’ll be going there and back alone, and even worse than that, I won’t be there to help you pack the boat with all our stuff or unpack it once you get to Timothy’s.”
I exhaled a long sigh of relief, and I rushed down the rest of the steps. “That’s nothing. Don’t worry?—”
“I’ll help,” Penelope said in the background.
I immediately stopped walking.
“ Ohhh , yes. I like this idea a lot,” Penelope said. “Instead of waiting around for you to drive us to Timothy’s, I’ll meet Rhett at the dock. I’ll help him pack the boat, and I can help him unpack it at Timothy’s. He shouldn’t have to do all that work alone.”
Fuck.
That wasn’t what I wanted at all.
“Rhett?” Lainey said. “Are you okay with that?” When I didn’t say anything, she continued, “Pen was going to be coming with us anyway, so you’d only be missing me instead of both of us.”
How could I tell her I fucking hated her plan?
The last time I had been alone with Penelope, she’d confessed her love to me. I knew the chances of her being fucked up today were high, and I didn’t need a repeat of that night in any way.
But I wasn’t going to mention that to Lainey. Just like I hadn’t told her about what Penelope had said to me.
Maybe one day, I would, when we were deep into our years at USC and enough time had passed and I could blow it off.
Not now though.
“Rhett, are you cool with Pen going with you?”
I exhaled. “Yeah, yeah. Whatever.” I walked out the door and got into my car.
“Are you headed to the boat now?” Lainey asked.
I started the engine and put on my seat belt. “I’m pulling out of my driveway as I speak.”
“Pen, he’s leaving now,” Lainey shouted, like she was standing downstairs and Penelope had just run upstairs.
“Is that Rhett on the phone?” I heard Lainey’s dad ask.
“Yes,” she replied.
“I’d like to talk to him,” he said.
My hand tightened on the steering wheel, my breathing deepening.
Her dad?
Wants to talk to me?
Now?
“Rhett, Dad wants to talk to you, so I’m going to give him the phone,” Lainey said. “Call me before you guys take off on the boat, okay? I’ll just be sitting there with foils on my head, so I’ll be able to talk.”
I sucked in more air. “All right.”
Prom was the first time he’d let his daughter stay the night with me, and Timothy’s beach house would be the second. But before we’d left for dinner, which we went to right before the dance, he had pulled me aside and laid down the law, letting me know I was responsible for his daughters and that I wasn’t to let anything happen to either of them.
I didn’t tell him that one of the twins was completely out of control and no one was capable of being responsible for her.
I made him a promise instead, and I’d kept my word.
“Rhett,” Mr. Taylor said, “I’d like to speak to you about this trip to Timothy Barden’s beach house. Lainey told me you’ll be staying two nights and there will be approximately eight of you there, the same group who will be going to Europe—am I right?”
“Yes, sir.” I slowed at the light.
“And from what I understand, you’ll be taking my daughters there by boat—your father’s boat, I assume?”
I adjusted my hand since the steering wheel was getting sweaty. “Those plans have changed a little. Now, Lainey is meeting us at the beach house, and I’ll be taking Penelope by boat.”
“Will there be drinking?”
I glanced in my rearview mirror as if I could see the trunk, where there were at least five cases of beer and four handles of booze packed away. Of course, that didn’t count all the weed I’d stashed in my bag and whatever else the others were bringing.
If I told him what was in my trunk, there was a chance he wouldn’t let Lainey go. The dude was extra strict when it came to his girls. Which was funny as hell to me, considering how wild Penelope was when it came to partying.
But there was a workaround to his question because he hadn’t specifically asked if there would be drinking at the party or on the boat.
His statement was broad.
So, I replied as if he’d asked if there would be drinking on the boat, and I said, “No, sir.”
“That’s the answer I wanted to hear.”
I accelerated through the green light, feeling like shit that I’d semi-lied, my pulse going as fast as my speed.
“I want to remind you, son, that I only have three angels in this world, and you’re going to be responsible for two of them at the beach house and again when you all go to Europe. We’ll talk more about that trip later, but while you’re at Timothy’s, do not—I repeat, do not—let me down.”
“I won’t, sir.”
“I know.”