Chapter 24
CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
Gina
“Yes?” I’m annoyed and can’t hide the irritation from my tone as I answer the phone. “What is it, Tina?”
“Gina, I need you.” She’s crying, and as much as I want to be hard and tell her to figure it out herself, I know that I can’t. She’s still my sister.
“What is it this time? What’s going on?”
“It’s Garth.”
“What did he do? Are you okay?” I say quickly, nervous. If he hurt my sister, I will kill him. I will literally kill him.
“He’s been in a car accident, and he has been arrested. He was driving drunk, and I’m stranded. Can you come and get me, please?”
“Can’t you call Mom and Dad?” I say, because as much as I want to be there for Tina, I’m still hurt. Dreadfully hurt and scared, and I need to talk to Hunter. To explain. I can’t believe Amethyst told him. It was so much worse coming from her.
“I’m sorry. Okay? I’m really sorry. Please come, Gina.”
“This is literally the worst time for me, all right? Tina, everything is just falling to shit, and I just—”
“Please. I’m sorry. You’re the only one I want right now.
You’re the only one I know who will just be here for me and understand.
I know I need to make some decisions. I know this is not a good situation to be in, and I’m sorry.
I’ve been lying to myself, but it’s been hard.
I just always feel like I wanted to be the perfect daughter and have the perfect life because everyone admires you for being someone who marches to the beat of her own drum.
You don’t care what people think about you, and you’re living your best life. And I just thought that what—”
“What are you talking about?” I say. “You have the perfect life. You’re so much better than me. You’re beautiful and—”
“You’re stunning, Gina, and you have the best friend.”
“You have way more friends than I do, though.”
“But I don’t have a best friend like Emma.
You two are as tight as thieves. You’ve always been so close.
You share everything together, and she’ll always be there for you.
I have no one to call. No one. I don’t have those sorts of friendships.
No one cares about me the way that you and Emma care about each other.
“But you’re always hanging out with all those girls.”
“We go shopping. We gossip and talk about clothes and stupid shit. But no one’s really there for me. You’re living the life I could only dream of living.”
“I am?”
“You are. I’ve always been jealous of you. You’ve always been the Spellman sister who is living life to the max, doing whatever she wants to do, and it’s successful and amazing.”
“You have a house and a husband. You have a new Mercedes G-Wagon. You’re going to Tahiti. You’re—”
“Those are material things. You have the things that really matter, Gina.”
“But you’ve always told me that I’m jealous of you. You’ve always—”
“I’m sorry. I’ve been a shitty-ass sister, and I know I’m asking a lot, but I love you, and I respect you. And I just really need you right now.”
“Okay. I’m coming. Send me your location, and I’ll be there.
” I hang up, trying to process everything she’s just told me.
I’m still in shock. She was jealous of me when she had everything.
But it’s true. Emma and I have a really special friendship, and I guess if I think about it, my sister has never really had one good friend as close as Emma and me.
But still, she had literally everything else.
Maybe she was just projecting, I think to myself. Maybe I do have things that she’s never had. Shit. Then I think about Amethyst, and I think about Hunter, and I think about the fact that he knows that I’m a reporter and that I hadn’t told him.
I don’t know what to do. I stare at Amethyst, who’s still standing there.
“You must probably hate me,” she says.
“Why did you do it? Why didn’t you let me—”
“Because you can’t write a story about him having cancer. That crosses far too many lines.”
“What are you talking about?”
“I saw your notepad in the study. The different headlines. His cancer.”
“I didn’t have a headline saying anything about his cancer.”
“But it was on the page.” She shrugs. “I may not be a part of this family, but Hunter matters to me. And that’s crossing a line.”
“I wasn’t going to write an article about him. I was going to tell him I was a journalist. I was going to lose my job because of this, and I was okay with it. You ruined everything, Amethyst.”
“Did I? Or did you ruin it?” I stare at her for a couple of seconds and then rush out of the library.
I have nothing else to say to her. And the fact of the matter is, I’m not even that mad at her.
She had her own comeuppance coming with whatever the Waverlys decide to do about the necklace.
There have been so many times when I’ve wanted to tell Hunter, and I just didn’t.
And I should have. And now she has done it.
I want to go to him. I want to explain. I need to speak to him.
But my sister needs me, and I have to be there for her, even though she’s made me feel like shit about my life for so many years. She is still my sister, and she is still hurting.
“Amethyst, before I go, I need to warn you about Patrick. He’s not a great guy. I know you think that he’s supportive, but he’s not. He was using you.”
“You mean like you were using Hunter?”
“I wasn’t using him, but let’s say that I was, you would think I was a horrible person, right?”
“Yes.”
“So then if you think he’s like me, then wouldn’t that make him a horrible person as well? Would you have stolen it, if not encouraged by him?”
She stares at me, lips thin and I know she’s thinking about what I’ve just said. Even if she’s kooky, she’s not delusional, she has to know that Patrick is a bad guy.
“Don’t make any rash decisions, Amethyst. You can hate me as you want, but as someone who was also duped by Patrick, you can do better.
He’s not a good guy. Just because Preston did you wrong doesn’t mean you have to accept the crumbs that Patrick is feeding you.
” I let out a loud sigh. “That’s all I’m going to say.
I have own mess going on, thanks to you. ”
She sniffs and I can tell from the expression on her face that she feels slightly bad, but she doesn’t say anything.
I’m close to tears and I don’t want to break down in front of her.
Next thing I’ll know she’ll be writing a poem about my heartbreak.
I want so desperately to find Hunter and talk to him, but I have to go to my sister.
Even though, I know in my heart she doesn’t deserve it.
I want to be better than her. I was almost positive she would never be there for me, but I didn’t want to be her.
I want to make sure she gets out of that situation and that she doesn’t go back to Garth.
That she doesn’t put up with it. She deserves better.
I decide to call Hunter on my way out because I know there’s no way that I can pack up all my stuff and go to my sister.
I’m surprised when he answers, but I’m grateful.
“Hey,” I say.
“Look, what is it?” His voice is cold.
“I really want to explain to you.”
“Pack up your stuff and go.”
“Tina was in an accident.”
“Shit. Is she okay?” His tone immediately changes. “Are you okay?”
“She’s fine. I guess Garth was driving drunk, and anyway, he’s been arrested, I guess for a DUI. She’s stuck. I’m going to go and pick her up.”
“Just go,” he says. “Do what you have to do.”
“I won’t be able to pack my stuff before I leave, though.”
“That’s fine. Do it when you get back.”
“Will you talk to me, Hunter? Will—”
“You are a reporter, Gina. You lied to me.”
“I didn’t tell you I wasn’t a reporter.”
“You never told me that you were one. I thought you were special. I trusted you. You don’t understand the things I thought.” He pauses. “I feel like a fool.”
“I was going to tell you. There were so many times I was going to tell you.”
“I wish I could believe you.” His voice cracks. “But how can I?”
“I guess I fucked up,” I say as I hurry toward the front door and to my car. “I guess I deserve you not listening to me, but—”
“No, Gina, I was stupid. I let my guard down. I let you into my heart, and you were the wrong person. I wanted to believe you, but I should have believed the you that I met that very first day. You’re just a liar. A con artist.”
“I’m not. I’m not. Please don’t say that.”
“What do you want me to say? I thought this was really special, Gina. Honestly, I thought this was more than just fun. I thought this was—we were—”
“I love you,” I say softly. “I know you probably don’t want to hear this right now, but I love you, Hunter.”
“I love you, Gina. I’m not going to lie and say that I don’t. I love you, and I love the you that I thought that I knew. But I don’t know you. I don’t know the very basic things about you. So how could this ever really be real? You were writing a story about me.”
“No. I’ll admit it,” I say as I start the car. “I came to get an undercover story about you. Initially, I thought it was going to be about your engagement.”
“So that’s why you kept asking me if I had a girlfriend and if I was engaged. Not because you cared yourself, but because of this story.”
“No. Truly, no. I liked you, and I liked kissing you, and it just felt weird that maybe I was enjoying kissing and being with someone who was with someone else. And yeah, it was—I don’t know what to say.
I was conflicted for a while. I did come here for a story, and I thought if I was a good journalist, I would get the story. And then Holly was calling me—”
“Who the fuck is Holly?”
“My editor in chief. And she was like, I’m going to lose my job if I don’t get the story.
And I was like, I’m going to get the story.
And then I got to know you, and I fell in love with you, and I didn’t want to write the story.
I didn’t even want you to tell me your secret because I didn’t want you to ever think that that was why I was here.
Or that it was the reason I got close to you.
I’m just not that person, Hunter. I’m not that person.
I wanted to tell you. There were so many times it was on the tip of my tongue, and then it didn’t feel right.
I was going to tell you the night my sister called, and then I was going to tell you the night that the paparazzi were following you.
And I was like, I can’t tell him now because he’s going to just think I’m as bad as them. ”
“You betrayed me, Gina. This is the worst betrayal of my life. You’re someone I’ve given my heart to.”
“It’s not what you think, though. I promise you. I wasn’t going to write a story about you.”
“It’s easy for you to say now,” he says. “But I could never believe that. So, you do what you’ve got to do, Gina. You need the story to keep your job. You write the story.”
“I don’t want the story, Hunter. I want you.”
“Well, you don’t have me, Gina. There is no us anymore.
You don’t have to be my fake girlfriend.
You don’t have to write this fake, cutesy story about my grandparents' love story—which we now know didn’t really exist. You do you, Gina.
And if you want to write a story about me, about my cancer, about me falling for you, about my fucked-up family, you write whatever the hell you want.
Because I know you’re just going to do it anyway. ”
“Is that really what you think of me?”
“I don’t know what to think of you anymore. I don’t know what to think, period. All I know is I fell in love with a girl that doesn’t exist. I fell in love with a girl who gave me her heart and a beautiful smile and a touching story. And it really meant nothing, right?”
“It didn’t mean nothing. You don’t mean nothing.”
“I wish I could believe a word that was coming out of your mouth, Gina. But hey, at least you got the scoop you wanted.”
“I didn’t,” I pause. “I didn’t get the scoop that I wanted, Hunter. What I want is you.”
“Well, I guess then we’re both shit out of luck, because you don’t have me.
” He hangs up the phone, and tears stream down my face.
I fucked up. I blew it. This is all my fault.
I knew there is nothing I can do to make it right, because the fact of the matter is, I came here for the story, and I didn’t tell him.
Even though I’d fallen in love with him and vowed that I would never betray him, he didn’t know that.
And given his history—the fact that his last girlfriend had dumped him for such a horrific reason—I know he has no reason to believe me. To trust me. And that breaks my heart.
It breaks me in ways I’ve never felt before in my life.
And I don’t know what I am going to do. For the first time in my life, I truly understand what it is to be broken.
I truly understand what it is to lose something.
And I know I will never be the same again.
But I know that in this moment, I have to be strong because my sister needs me.
And she is going through something absolutely heartbreaking, as well.
I don’t want to dump my emotional baggage on her.
Right now, she needs to be strong if she is truly going to leave Garth.
And I’ll have to be her support. I’ll call Emma later. I know she will be strong for me when I break down.