Chapter 24
I SKIPPED THE PROM AFTER-PARTY, TAKING AN Uber home instead to pathetically fall asleep in Henry’s sweats. I can’t believe he doesn’t even want to try, I kept thinking, and in between those thoughts: Does he have a point about Wharton?
The next day was Friday, but because of prom, seniors had the day off.
Based on her social media, it looked like Kenzie had had the best night (Jared’s Snapchat story caught her and Griff making out), but as a junior, she had to get up and drag herself to school.
I ate breakfast in complete and utter silence, eyes red-rimmed from crying, then marched out to fire up my furnace. My mind needed to go elsewhere.
I felt my phone buzz in my pocket as I unlocked the hot shop door, and for a moment I hoped it was Henry. My heart sank when I saw it was only a text from James.
Morning! he’d written. Per my dossier, last night was prom.
Not in the mood, I wrote back: And?
He took a beat.
AND I noticed you were home pretty early, before midnight.
I rolled my eyes. He’d monitored my location.
I need to keep tabs on you, cuz, he added. Especially now with your enterprise.
Henry and I broke up, I told him.
Typing dots.
Wait, you and Henry were dating? That wasn’t in my notes!
More typing dots.
Who broke up with who?
(Sorry, WHOM per Isa)
Great, I thought. Isa was reading my texts.
Does it matter? I asked. I’m looking for a little compassion.
James sent a hug emoji. I’m sorry, Audrey, he said. But if he can’t keep up with you, he doesn’t deserve you.
That’s the thing, though, I thought. If anyone could keep up with me, it was Henry. If anyone could challenge me, it was Henry.
Thanks, I texted.
If it helps even a fraction, James said, Isa and I loved Ruth’s review. You are a superstar.
I smiled a bit, and when he and Isa asked why I’d paused the listing—of course they’d noticed!
—I lied and said it was because I’d made enough money for Blue Ridge’s tuition.
The carriage house was one thing, but I crossed my fingers and toes that Isa wasn’t browsing bigger Here-to-Stay properties.
After Joel and Lana had booked my house, I’d suspended that listing, too.
I planned to deactivate my properties as soon as the party was over.
James not only texted me congratulations but also sent a goofy video of him actually bowing down to me. I could hear Isa giggling as she filmed. My cousin looked really happy.
It was a good look on him.
Ellie scared the shit out of me later as I was singing along to one of Griff’s hype playlists and spinning my bubble in red frit.
The color was called vermilion, but I’d discovered the shade never turned out quite as expected.
“Holy crap!” I quaked when she snuck up on me. “What are you doing here?”
She looked tired. Not in a bad way, but in an I-had-a-lot-of-fun-last-night way. I hoped that was true. “I wanted to check on you,” she said. “Did you and Henry skip the after-party?”
Ah, so Henry had ditched it too.
I nodded. “We skipped separately.”
Ellie’s brows knitted.
“We’re done,” I said, shrugging when she gasped. “We’re putting our fifty-million-dollar mansion on the market, but I’m keeping the Hamptons house and Henry’s going to rent in Brentwood for a while—”
“Audrey!”
I told her what happened. Henry supporting my glassblowing dream, but not the path I wanted to take to make it come true.
“Let me guess…” I said when she didn’t say anything. “You agree with him?”
Ellie somehow both nodded and shook her head.
“I want you to be able to do what you want to do,” she said.
“I don’t want you to choose college because you can’t afford your dream.
I think you deserve a true choice. That’s why I’m helping with this absurd party.
” She smiled sheepishly. “And because I still feel guilty about hiding your mom’s stuff. ”
I laughed. I’d put everything back in place while waiting for the furnace to hit two thousand degrees, which included intentionally denting the biscuit tin. Not as badly as I’d made it sound on the phone, but… I’d felt obligated to fully commit to my story.
The only loose end was the Tuscan pitcher. Hopefully Pottery Barn would buy me some time.
“Henry will come around,” Ellie added. “To him, you are the greatest person to walk planet Earth. He will do anything for you.”
Something twinged in my chest. I thought of Henry—my fellow foodie, cinephile, and, for a moment there, my heart. “You think?” I asked Ellie.
“Audrey, I’ve spent a fair amount of time with Henry.” She gave me a long look. “I know.”
FIRST CAME THE KEGS. I BUZZED THE TRUCK through the front gate that afternoon, ready to flash my fake ID, but all the delivery guy asked was where I wanted them.
There were a shit ton.
I texted Griff. Glassblowing required heavy lifting and constant movement, so my muscles were toned, but I needed backup here.
Griff responded with an affirmative emoji sequence and brought Jason, and the three of us hefted the kegs down into the wine cellar.
I’d read that storing kegs at room temperature wasn’t ideal, and while the wine cellar wasn’t cold, I hoped it would be cool enough.
“This is awesome!” Jason said, looking like a kid on Christmas morning.
I had to remind him that Santa Claus wasn’t coming to town.
I also had to figure out how to keep the guests from getting into the wine. Maybe we’d move the kegs right before the party or store them elsewhere?
The cups arrived next. Lana and Joel had ordered custom plastic pint glasses. They were red with the college crest stamped in the center. fairfeild university, it said in black. cheers to five years!
Yikes, I thought when I noticed the typo.
Nevertheless, the cups were cute.
I wanted to send Henry a photo, knowing he would get a kick out of the typo. “I” before “E” except after “C”! I imagined him responding, but the thought didn’t make me laugh.
Instead, all I texted him was: Will you be here tomorrow?
Because I needed to know… for planning purposes.
And as if reading my mind, Henry replied: Yes, I’ll get ice.
A lump rose in my throat. Together or apart, he was going to help me.
No matter what.
THE FIRST THING I DID ON SATURDAY WAS throw up.
It was a bright, sunny day, but I was so fucking nervous.
Lana, Joel, and their four classmates had checked in last night, so I slept in the carriage house.
Ellie had helped me dust and straighten up as much as possible before we filled my parents’ safe with valuables and hustled the rest over to Fair Winds II.
The co-secretaries seemed nice. Preppy Joel had brown hair and a toothy smile, while blond Lana was tall and willowy.
They’d rented a Porsche for the weekend.
“Incredible wine cellar!” Joel commented when I showed them the kegs, and I explained that I’d be moving the kegs to the pool house for the party.
I also made a mental note to hang a bedsheet or tarp up to hide the cellar’s glass wall. If people went in there…
My friends and I were allowed back into the house to prep for the party.
Ellie, Kenzie, and Mia came over after breakfast, and once they dispersed to start decorating, I had to play it cool when Henry showed up with several bags of ice.
I felt like a jerk for not offering to help him transport the ice into the garage freezer, but I was busy prepping Jell-O shots.
Lana and Joel hadn’t asked for them, but I thought they’d be a fun touch.
“Do you need any help?” Henry asked when he was back in the kitchen, and while I nodded, I didn’t say anything the entire time.
My lungs had contracted so tightly that I could barely breathe, and no matter how much I willed Henry to talk—to say something, ideally along the lines of an apology—he kept his mouth shut too.
Our work was quick and methodical.
Trouble struck around noon, when Henry’s friend Rory called; he and Cam were supposed to be picking up the food from Constellation Catering. “I had them check three times,” he said as I felt the blood drain from my face. “There’s not even a record of the order.”
Oh my god, I thought, pulse pumping. There is no food. We have no food. Who wants to go to a party without food?
“I mean, we can go to Trader Joe’s and get a ton of stuff,” Rory continued. “No one hates those dark chocolate peanut butter cups.”
“Unless they have a peanut allergy,” Henry pointed out, which made me want to slap him in the chest. Not helping!
“Rory, go to Costco,” I said. Lana had reassured me that I would be reimbursed for anything not already paid for. “I know it’s farther out of town than Trader Joe’s, but it’ll have the stuff we need. I’ll text you a list.”
Then I ended the call and steeled myself to look at Henry. His brown eyes were alarmingly steady, while I felt mine could well up at any moment.
I let out a breath. “I have an idea.”
“Never would’ve guessed,” he deadpanned. “What is it?”
I gestured to the fridge, where the Jell-O shots sat on cookie sheets. “Let’s fully commit to this theme.”
He blinked, but before he said anything, I raced upstairs to my mom’s office to grab her laptop.
I needed to peek at her Google Drive, specifically a document titled something to the effect of Jeff’s 40th Birthday.
It had been years ago—more years than my dad would care to admit—and my mom had thrown him a huge party.
The theme had been “Toga Night at Sigma Chi”—my dad’s college fraternity.
Ten minutes later, an on-board Henry texted Rory a list of ingredients. Twinkies? he responded. Seriously?
I stole Henry’s phone and wrote: JUST TRUST ME!!!
Audrey, breathe, Rory wrote, then sent a salute emoji.