Paige
four
Hayes shows me the private elevator from his apartment to the club below and without so much as a polite kiss on my cheek, he presses the button and allows the doors to close between us.
The magic of the hour or so I just spent with him dissipates when the elevator doors open back into my reality.
I wander into the foyer of the club, finding my bag and refreshing my lipstick in a mirror before I gather the courage to face the party, and Mama, once again.
“Where have you been?” Mama hisses when she spots me re-entering the party.
“I needed a breather; I was feeling a little warm and overwhelmed.”
Her eyes narrow and I bet she can smell the hint of cigar and man on me.
I raise my chin defiantly, not wanting her to know or shame me for discovering a dark indulgence I was unaware I need so badly in my life.
She would forbid me to ever see him again if she knew where I was.
Not that I’ll ever actually have the opportunity to spend time with Hayes again, but she would rule it out anyway.
“Well, it’s about time you got back. There are plenty of people who want to talk to you and I’ve been making excuses for your untimely absence.
Don’t do it again,” she warns, her hand grasping my arm.
She looks down. “Child, where are your gloves?” she chastises and I feel every bit the little girl she invokes.
“It was warm, so I put them in my bag,” I say, the half-truth easily sliding out in reply. I’ve learned it’s often easier to give Mama a little white lie than the whole truth. She doesn’t want to hear it, anyway.
She clicks her tongue at me and straightens up as we begin moving into the crowd. “No debutante should be without gloves, but I guess this will have to do,” she says under her breath.
My heart hammers as she pulls me from one self-important person to another, forcing me to make small talk and keep a polite smile on my face as they congratulate me on entering society.
“Ah, there she is! This is quite the party. Welcome to society my dear,” Mayor Declan says, pulling me into a hug that’s a little too tight. He’s obviously enjoyed the champagne and free-flowing liquor.
I fight the urge to roll my eyes and smile at him prettily instead.
This party really doesn’t signify a life change the way he insists.
Maybe it would have in the 1800s when a young woman had to be presented as marriage material, but in the twenty-first century, we hardly need this antiquated tradition.
“Thank you for attending,” I reply, my spine ramrod straight and my face smooth and pleasant. “I don’t think we could touch the beautiful event you threw for Margot last month. It was simply stunning.” It was a very nice event, though Mama ensured we would upstage even that one tonight.
“Oh, Mayor, my apologies, I simply must keep Paige moving. It was such a pleasure to have you join us tonight. We are honored,” Mama coos.
“Of course, of course. There’s no end to your duties tonight, right ladies?” he says, laughing at his own comment.
“We will have you and Catherine over for dinner soon. It really has been too long,” Mama says as she once again takes me by the elbow to steer me away, the right people to talk to already mapped in her calculating little brain to make up for my missing hour.
We are nearly to the Prestons, some of Mama and Daddy’s friends from the country club, when we’re stopped by a voice I was hoping to avoid for the entirety of this evening.
“There she is, the belle of the hour. About time you made your rounds after your little disappearing act.”
I stiffen and wipe every trace of emotion from my expression before Mama turns me to face Garrison Daniels.
It’s been years since I’ve had to talk to him or be within a few feet of him.
Up close he’s just as cruelly handsome as he was in high school, though he looks worse for wear, bloated and tired.
It’s like I’m transported back to my freshman year anytime I have to really look at him.
Back when he had first shown me interest, I was thrilled.
How had I, a lowly freshman, caught the attention of the hot senior?
It wasn’t until that stupid party that I realized his motives were self-serving and toxic and I wasn’t special at all.
I learned a hard lesson at his hands, and I vowed never to make that same mistake again.
For seven years I have avoided boys and dating so I wouldn’t be a victim to someone just like Garrison Daniels.
“It’s been a long time. You’re looking real good, sugar.”
I cringe at the smarmy pet name he has no right to call me.
“You look”—I pause, surveying the slight paunch pushing the buttons of his tuxedo jacket to their brink—“like life has been full of decadence.” I carefully tuck double meaning into my words like a true Southerner.
We’re born with the ability to simultaneously compliment and critique with a smile on our faces.
Just take the phrase bless your heart. It means you’re a sweet idiot but sounds so cute, no one can fault you for it.
I feel Mama’s hand tighten on my elbow and know she’s not happy with me.
“Garrison, we’ve missed you around Savannah.
It’s so nice to have you home where you belong.
I’m sure your parents are so happy. Did I hear your daddy saying you went to law school?
” Mama likely knows every answer to any question she could ask him, as she enjoys gossiping with the other parents in her social circle.
He turns to Mama, indulging her. “I just passed the bar, actually. I have a job with Dupree, Athena, and Fisk that I’m starting in the new year.”
He probably let his daddy pull strings and call in connections to get him the job. He never worked for anything when I knew him, letting others do his homework and taking credit he wasn’t due. I can’t imagine he would have changed much if he didn’t have to.
“It really is so good to be home.” He leers at me a moment too long and I swallow hard. “I can’t wait to pick up right where I left off when I went away for college.”
“Wouldn’t that be, hmm, I don’t know, too immature? I’m sure you must have grown and developed enough as a person to not want to revert back to your old ways.” I don’t believe a word of that about him but know Mama will shake me if I say anything more cutting.
Garrison just chuckles, which doesn’t bode well for any sort of maturity on his part. His eyes gleam as he slowly looks me over from head to toe.
Nope. Not me in his sights again. That will not happen.
I know better this time around and know just what he’s capable of.
The only silver lining to having been a target of Garrison’s misspent youth is that I do not have a list of heartbreaks, doled out by selfish boys, that would have crushed me.
Instead, he helped me realize none of the boys in high school would be worthy of my time, only full of promises they never intended to keep just so they could get the outcome they wanted.
That was enough to make me avoid the hook-up culture that is pervasive in my generation.
My thoughts wander to Hayes, wondering what it would be like to hook up with him, and my cheeks heat.
I guess I avoided it all too well because now I have a whole new problem of not knowing the first thing about getting what I want when I finally have a man I’m interested in.
I swear I can still smell Hayes’s warm skin and the clean linen of his shirt on my skin.
I bring my wandering mind back to the party and the jerk, who is the opposite of what I want, smiling at me now.
“You should come around more, sugar. I haven’t seen you in ages. Why don’t you hang out at the club or any of the other spots where our group spends time?”
“You could call it tactfully avoiding certain people.” I allow a small smile to soften the words I very much mean. I stay five miles away from anywhere I could possibly run into Garrison or his group.
“Paige, we do not avoid anyone. Be nice, he deserves your respect,” Mama says, a nervous laugh following the squeeze she gives my arm.
I turn to give her a quick glare. “Well, I like to avoid people who have shown me their true colors.“ My voice is low, but I wouldn’t mind Garrison hearing my comment.
Does she not remember what he did to me? Everything that happened at that stupid party and the months after when I was tormented by lies?
Likely not. Even then, she had taken his side when I told her what he had tried, but failed to achieve, thanks to the divine intervention that was Alex stumbling on us.
Mama insisted we didn’t want to ruin his bright future when nothing had actually happened.
Sure, physically I survived intact, but emotionally he had ripped an innocence from me before I was ready.
The sheet had been torn and I began to see there were people who would take advantage of any situation.
It was a violation despite not ending the way he had hoped.
Mama cuts in before I can come up with another snide remark.
“Garrison just bought a condo downtown. Isn’t that nice?
” There’s that Southernism again. Isn’t that nice is her code for you better compliment and congratulate him or I’ll shake you.
“I can imagine he needs to be close to work since he will be so busy putting his new law degree to use.”
“It’s so nice of you to grace us with your brilliant lawyer presence for my little debut.
There are so many other people here that I just have to thank, so we won’t keep you.
Bye-bye.” The sarcasm drips like honey, but Mama can’t do anything because I’m technically being polite.
I glance at her and smile as I feel her frustration tremble through her hand into my arm. I learned from the best.
“Garrison, I do hope you’ll join us for dinner tomorrow night. It’s already set with your mama and daddy. Supper’s at seven.”
A burn creeps up my neck as fury rings through me. She invited the Daniels family to Sunday dinner without even telling me? And to ask Garrison to attend as well? This woman knows no bounds.
“I didn’t know we were hosting a big dinner tomorrow, Mama,” I say through clenched teeth. “Don’t you think this weekend is busy enough?”
Family dinner is a tradition I can’t get out of, no matter how hard I try or what else is going on around it.
It’s the only day of the week Mama actually does the cooking and most weeks my septuagenarian grandmother, Nanny Fairchild, joins us, badgering Mama about something or other just to get a rise out of her.
Occasionally Mama turns it into a bigger deal by inviting a family friend or two, but she saves the big dinner parties for their own occasion, so at least I don’t have to deal with a social event weekly.
“Your daddy and I want to take advantage of having so many of our old friends in town. Besides, it’s just a little dinner.” She turns back to Garrison and smiles sweetly. “I’ll make that roast chicken I remember you were so fond of in high school.”
I turn my head and cover my mouth as I gag.
Ugh, the roast chicken. Garrison had dinner with us before we went to that fateful party.
Mama served her specialty chicken, and when I was violently ill that night after all the alcohol Garrison had forced on me, along with nausea from the thwarted assault, it was chicken that came up and it has haunted me ever since.
“Excuse me, I think I’ve had too much champagne.”
I untangle my arm from Mama’s hands and hurry away as she fusses at me.
I look around for an escape and spot the alcove to the elevator that leads back up to Hayes.
No, I can’t run back to him. Besides, there was a pad for a special keycard to get the elevator to go back up, so I’d likely just be stuck if I tried.
As much as I want to run away, what he said about responsibilities echoes in my head and slows my steps.
Well, shoot. I guess I have to pull up my big girl panties and tough out the rest of this party after all.