Chapter 7
Ruth didn’t plan to call her family to explain the Yale situation until three days after she’d moved into the dorms. Picking up the phone in the hallway with a trembling hand, she tried to rehearse what she might say to her mother if and when she picked up.
But just as soon as she raised the quarter, just as soon as she prepared to slide it into the slot and make the call, three other freshman girls stormed down the hallway, calling Ruth’s name and demanding that she come with them to a party.
They looked at her as though she were like them, as though she’d been raised in similar situations, as though she knew what the inside of a country club looked like.
She pocketed the quarter and ran away with them.
Ruth’s ability to slip into the Yale world without notice was all because of Quentin, of course.
She’d spent all summer watching him, learning what kinds of things Quentin’s people talked about and how they dressed.
After coming to New Haven, she’d met up with Quentin for lunch and thanked him formally for his help getting into the university.
He’d told her point-blank that she needed to buy new and different clothes, so she’d taken her earnings from the restaurant and gone on a shopping spree, buying a specific number of dresses, pants, sweaters, and blouses—enough for a kind of capsule wardrobe that she hoped would suggest she came from wealth.
She had to be strategic and make sure not to repeat outfits too often.
Now, walking down the road with Kelly, Reese, and Dina, Ruth wore a miniskirt and a sweater that wasn’t dissimilar to the sweaters worn by the other girls.
Dina was guiding them to a fraternity party she’d been invited to, explaining, “Steve told me to bring all the girls in the dorm! But I only wanted to invite you three.”
The fraternity house reminded Ruth of castles she’d seen in old photographs of England and France, although she never would have said so aloud.
Already, music pumped from both the back garden and the inner rooms. When they entered, they were handed cups filled with alcoholic juice, and Ruth wanted to laugh.
This was just as trashy as any party back in Virginia, but she knew not to tell them that.
Their opinion of themselves had to remain high.
Whoever crashed it in would have to pay for it.
To her surprise, Quentin walked in a few minutes later.
She hadn’t seen him since their formal lunch, as she’d wanted to make it clear that she didn’t expect their little summer romance to continue.
She assumed that he had a Yale girlfriend and a Yale life that had nothing to do with her, and that he’d gotten her the position at Yale simply because he had a soft spot for her. Nothing more.
But the way he looked at her across the fraternity garden told her that she might have been wrong about that. Dina pegged it immediately.
“Why is Quentin Caldweck looking at you like he wants to eat you?” Dina whispered.
Ruth took a sip of her terrible alcoholic juice. “I sort of know him,” she said.
Dina’s eyes widened. “Did you grow up together?”
“No, nothing like that,” Ruth said, but she wasn’t willing to give a better response.
Quentin was already making his way over to her.
After spending nearly every day in the Nantucket sunshine, he was tan in the way of Greek gods.
Somehow in the blur of learning everything else about Yale, Ruth had nearly forgotten how handsome he was.
She told herself to play it cool, but she could already feel how much she loved him, beaming from her eyes.
“You know him! Like, you really know him!” Dina hissed. It was almost an accusation.
But already, Quentin was there, beer in hand. “Hi,” he said.
“Hi there.” Ruth shifted her weight. “This is Dina. And over there, that’s Kelly and Reese. They live in my dorm.”
“Nice to meet you,” Quentin said.
“And you,” Dina offered back.
Quentin leaned closer to Ruth, and he smelled like their gorgeous Nantucket nights. “Do you have a second to talk?”
“I guess so.” Ruth swallowed the lump in her throat and followed him deep into the garden, where they stood beneath an ancient oak branch and gazed at one another.
Little fairy lights illuminated their faces.
Ruth bit her tongue to keep from thanking him again and again for helping her get here.
At some point, she knew, she had to remember that she’d also gotten herself here.
She’d written the essay. She had the brains.
“You look incredible,” Quentin said gently.
“New clothes.” Ruth shrugged.
“That’s not all,” Quentin said. “I knew you were better than any girl I’d ever met at Yale.”
“And now I’m here at Yale,” Ruth said, a little bit of sarcasm in her voice. “Does that make me worse?”
“No. Not in the slightest,” Quentin said. “How are you finding it?”
“I feel like a stranger in a strange land,” Ruth said.
Quentin laughed. “You never answer any question in a normal way.”
“What is the normal way?”
Quentin sipped his beer and tilted his head. “My friends think I’m crazy.”
“Maybe we should take you to a mental institution,” Ruth said. “I can drive you, if you want.”
Quentin spread his hand across her cheek and bent down to kiss her. Ruth’s stomach was filled with warmth. She couldn’t believe that this was the same man she’d met at the restaurant all those months ago. She felt like she was getting away with something.
A part of her ached with the understanding that one day, probably soon, Quentin would meet someone else.
He’d have to marry another wealthy girl and move on with his life.
But Ruth knew none of that would change the fact that she would have a future Yale degree.
Because of Quentin, and as long as she didn’t mess anything up academically, she was set up for life. It was hard to believe.
The girls from her dorm watched in amazement as she prepared to leave the party with Quentin Caldweck. They’d thought they were four girls, just starting at Yale. They hadn’t imagined that one of them was already Quentin Caldweck’s girlfriend.
Over the next few days, Dina, Reese, and Kelly demanded as many details as Ruth was willing to give.
Although she left out details of where she was from and how broke she generally was, she spoke about Quentin’s sailboat, the Nantucket parties they’d attended, and how enormous his parents’ Nantucket house was.
“What are his parents like?” Dina asked, eyes wide. “I’ve heard they’re very cold.”
Ruth had heard that as well. “They’re fine, if you know how to deal with them,” she lied.
The truth was, of course, that Quentin had never introduced Ruth to his parents, not in all the months they’d dated back in Nantucket.
His father had left the island frequently to tend to matters back in the city, and his mother had an active social calendar of tennis lessons, wine nights, and so on.
But the reason Quentin hadn’t introduced Ruth was clear: she knew his parents wouldn’t approve of her.
The fact that they’d gone out of their way to secure Ruth a position at Yale was, in that way, mind-boggling.
Maybe they saw it as their good deed of the year? A bit of charity?
It was no surprise to Ruth how much she fell in love with her studies.
All day, every day, she read books, analyzed books, wrote papers about books, and then dreamed up stories of her own.
She attended her professors’ office hours, had arguments with brilliant professors who made her think differently about the world around her, and was soon given even more tasks—tasks that would set her up for a bright future in grad school, if she wanted that.
She was told that she could do anything in the world of writing and thinking.
“You can be a professor,” one professor said.
“You can be a writer,” another said.
“You can be a brilliant editor at a publishing house,” another offered.
But Ruth was still in her freshman year at Yale, and everything was still possible. Everything was still in front of her.
Her relationship with Quentin deepened, growing more romantic and complex.
Frequently, Quentin bailed on his “real” Yale friends to spend time with Ruth, either in her dorm room, at the library, or at one of their many favorite restaurants.
Ruth was pleased that Quentin could keep up with her on most subjects, and they spent hours talking about books and ideas.
Sometimes she allowed herself to fantasize about spending their entire lives talking like this.
But mostly, she knew to put those dreams to bed.
Quentin’s friends were not entirely pleased about Ruth’s appearance at Yale, of course.
The few friends she’d met on Nantucket over the summer were confused to see her, as they’d assumed they’d left her behind in that other life.
The fact that Quentin was clearly in love with her didn’t sit well with them either.
Ruth had been right, in that Quentin had had a Yale-based girlfriend last year.
That girl—CeeCee—had gone to France with her wealthy family over the summer and assumed that she and Quentin would proceed with their relationship as soon as they returned to Yale.
That proved not to be so. Unfortunately for Ruth, CeeCee became a sudden and terrible enemy, frequently making up rumors about her and being snide to her face.
Ruth had never been popular, and she’d encountered people like CeeCee her entire life. But that didn’t mean that what CeeCee said didn’t sting.
Once, Ruth encountered CeeCee at office hours for one of her professors.
She hadn’t known they were taking the same class and with the same professor—just at different times of the week.
Ruth said hello before CeeCee did, catching CeeCee off guard with her friendliness.
The professor was charmed. “I didn’t realize my two most brilliant students knew each other!
” he said, smiling through his white beard.
Over the next two hours, CeeCee and Ruth tore through a series of arguments and discussions with the zeal of two professional intellectuals.
They hardly gave the professor a chance to speak.
At times, Ruth guessed the professor knew there was more to this fight than theory.
But she sensed he was having too much fun listening to stop them.
When they left the professor’s office, CeeCee sniffed at her and said, “Good talk.”
“You too,” Ruth said. She felt respect beaming off the woman.
CeeCee licked her perfect lips, then said, “Good luck with the Caldwecks. I don’t mean that sarcastically. I really mean…” She fluttered her eyelashes. “Don’t let them make you feel small. You’re clearly not.” With that, CeeCee turned and walked away from Ruth, leaving her mystified.