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“Let me get this straight,” Mallory said.
I was at Mallory and Theo’s house, and I was being interrogated about the past few days. Years, actually. She should have skipped teaching and gone and joined the police force with our friend, Hunter. They’d listened as I explained the bulk of my life.
“Luke gave you fifty thousand dollars to pay off that dumbass ex, Duncan, because you buried his engagement ring in the woods and have to give it back but can’t find it so you were Luke’s fake girlfriend so you could fix Luke’s social media image so he could get a film role by having you connect him to your mother who is a senator.”
I nodded at her concise, but run-on sentence. “Plus, he intentionally came to Hunter Valley and that bar to meet up with me specifically to gain access to my mother,” I added.
That was what kept me awake all night. Had anything we’d done been real? His dick had been hard for me, no question. A guy couldn’t fake that. But men weren’t very discriminate where they stuck their dicks, so I had to wonder if seducing me was part of it all.
I had witnessed a number of his sex scenes in that first season of NYC ER we’d binged.
Mallory and Theo were on their sofa, and I sat across from them. Their little house didn’t have room for a ton of furniture, but what they did have was really comfortable. I’d gotten the last flight into Bozeman the night before and had bummed a ride to Hunter Valley off of a couple on the plane who were spending a week at the resort to downhill mountain bike. Maybe a dumb idea, but what was one more?
Luke had texted and called a bunch of times, but I ignored all of them, then blocked his number.
“I can’t believe your mother is a senator,” she said, shaking her head. “I’ve known you all these years and I never knew. You don’t even have the same last name.”
I felt contrite and it was hard to look my good friend in the eye. “I’m sorry for not telling you. I really am, Mal, but my parents and I don’t talk,” I explained. “They’re not just a sore spot, but pretty much the basis for all the reasons I’m so fucked up.”
She reached out, took my hand. “You’re not fucked up.”
I sighed. “Yeah, I am. Yes, having a mother who is a senator is a big deal. To me, it’s not. To me, it’s what makes her a total bitch. Then with Duncan…” I sighed. “I didn’t tell you about burying the ring because I was embarrassed, I fell for a guy who wanted my mother.”
“Okay, that’s creepy as fuck,” Theo mentioned.
“Yeah, well, it’s the truth, but not in that way,” I admitted. “Well, maybe. Who knows. My mother expected me to be perfect in order to get praise and affection. So when I messed up, I was shamed. So I kept my mistakes to myself. Duncan just became something I didn’t talk about because I felt… still feel, stupid over falling for him and his lies. Me keeping secrets has nothing to do with you, or Bridget or our friendship.”
“Who is this guy?” Theo asked. I forgot he hadn’t been here back then to remember like Mallory had.
“Duncan Pounder. A guy I dated two years ago,” I explained.
“You dated a guy named Pounder?”
That made my lips twitch. “Yeah. I thought I’d spend my life with him. He asked me to marry him, and I said yes. Then I found out he wanted me for access to my mother. So I dumped him.”
“You do realize your name would have been Aspen Pounder. If you were a middle school boy, it would be shortened to Ass Pounder.”
Mallory stared at Theo, eyes wide, mouth open. They she burst out laughing.
I couldn’t help it either because I never thought of it.
“You dumped him and buried his ring in the woods,” Mallory added, when she caught her breath. “Devious. I’d have gone with you.”
“I saw it as cleansing, something I had to do for myself… and a bottle of wine.”
“You didn’t love that guy,” Mallory told me. “I don’t even think you cried. You were angry, but now I know why. Your parents are assholes,” Mallory said, frowning.
I laughed again. “They really are. I saw them last night at this party. The first time in ten years.”
“My father cheated on my mother with any woman who would have him. The younger, the better. He was an asshole. Top that,” Theo said, as if making it a challenge.
“My father, too, but my mother is fine with it. It keeps him busy and out of her way. My mother expects perfection.”
“Says the woman whose husband cheats,” Mallory muttered.
“When I was six, I took a ballet class and liked it. So I took it all the time. When I didn’t get cast in the Nutcracker that first winter, I had a ballet tutor and went to class twice as much. When I got the starring role the next year, at least for a seven-year-old, I got praised. So I practiced harder to get more. When I was eleven, I was shipped to dance boarding school in Canada.”
