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“And if I never feel the same?”
“That’s fine too. I just need you to be completely open and honest with me Bree.”
“You think you deserve honesty and openness after what you did? “
“Sabrina really. You’re one to talk.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
He shakes his head. “You're going first. What did I do that you can’t forgive?”
“Your father framed my dad. And you helped him.”
“Excuse me?” He sits up, incredulous.
“Oh please! Don’t act like you’re innocent. Your father, through Tim Hadfield, offered Daddy a shitload of money to move us far away because I was distracting you. Daddy refused the bribe but he advised me to let you go, that you— your family wasn’t good for me.”
“I, like a demented, lovesick fool, dug my foot in and convinced him to meet you.”
“Bree—” Jordan begins.
I put my hand up. “Let me finish. Apparently, we have no lack of fools in my family because my parents both fell in love with and couldn’t get enough of you.” But Drew always knew and never ceased to warn me.
“Until the fraud news broke. On the day he was fired from work, Tim told Daddy that if he didn’t admit to the crime, one of my friends would wind up dead and I would be framed for it. He had to choose between protecting himself or protecting me.”
Jordan has been unnaturally still the whole time. I look back to see him hunched over. His eyes are unfocused and he looks as white as a sheet.
“What, like this is news to you?”
“It is, but keep going," he says emotionlessly. “I don’t see how I’m involved in this yet.”
“Well, it turns out everything you told me was a lie. A lie that was useful in sealing the coffin.”
“What lies?”
“Oh come on now.” I throw my hands up. He says nothing, waiting for me to continue.
“Because of you, I started applying to UConn and Yale. And it made the whole fraudulent fund diversion seem more plausible because it would be assumed to be used to pad my college savings. Turns out you had no plans to go to Yale after all. And you disappeared on the very day the news broke.”
“And apparently you now draw. You never once drew a line and all of a sudden you’ve got loads of sketches and one of them is supposed to be me. And you want to know something funny, I believed you about the sketch, but I bet that was a lie too. Just to get in my pants.”
“Hang on, this is getting ridiculous,” Jordan says. “You asked me to come here! And I was already here when I told you about the sketch.”
“Yeah, after you paraded another woman in front of me, knowing it would get this exact reaction out of me. Tell me that wasn’t the reason why you brought her. To manipulate me.” The Farrington way.
Jordan rubs his temple as if he’s suddenly got a migraine. He says softly. “I brought Letty to protect myself because I knew I wouldn’t be able to resist going after you. Seeing how you kicked me out the last time, there’s only so much hurt I can take. And yes, maybe I wanted to get you a bit jealous, to see if you cared. Is that such a bad thing?”
“Maybe not, but you still lied and manipulated me and helped to sink my father.”
“Bree. Almost everything you’re telling me now is news to me. I didn’t know about Tim’s bribe or his threats. All I know is my father showed me evidence of the fraud and told me Bobby confessed. As a condition for dropping the charges, I had to leave town immediately, otherwise he would destroy your family. That’s the only reason I left Henderson.”
“You’re telling me your father blackmailed and threatened you as well?”
He nods. “I stopped speaking to him when I returned from the army and found out Bobby never recovered from going to prison. But no, I didn’t know your father was framed outright and made to choose between his freedom and his daughter’s. I can't tell you how sorry I am that loving me came at such a high price, and for leaving you when you needed me most.”
I wrap my hands over my belly and hunch over. It hurts all over again.
"It's too late. Damage's done. And I don't love you anymore."
