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“Yeah, Sam turned twenty-five. It was a good time. Small group. Kendall Jenner showed up for a little bit.”
“Spare me the namedrops, please.” Tori rolls her eyes. “You know I don’t care.”
He grins and cocks his head toward me. “Maren might.”
“You think you’ll win her over by bragging about celebrities you’ve partied with?”
She looks to me as if she expects me to roll my eyes too, but I don’t want to be rude.
Instead, I pick up my menu. “What’s good to eat here? I’m starving.”
Barrett laughs and reaches over to share my menu. “For lunch, I prefer the lobster and endive salad or the grilled salmon, but get whatever you want—it’s on me.”
“Try all you want, but this isn’t a date if I’m here,” Tori comments as she browses her menu.
Barrett looks wounded. “As if I would bring Maren here for our first date.”
I know it’s just a game they’re playing, trying to rile each other up, but it still leaves me shifting in my seat, unsure of what I’m supposed to do. Play along? Act offended? Flirt right back?
Barrett is cute, and I think if he asked, I would accept an invitation for a date, but not while we sit at a table with Tori. Fortunately, he’s smart enough to realize that. Instead of pushing the subject, he asks his cousin about her weekend.
“Did you go sailing with Nicholas and Rhett?”
“Yeah, it was really fun. I hadn’t been since last summer. It felt good to get back on the water.”
“Did you and Nicholas hang out after?”
I frown, wondering what he means. I did see them talking outside of Rosethorn on Sunday evening.
Tori shakes her head, not bothering to look away from her menu. “No, he had to get back to the city.”
Were they supposed to do something else? Go out together alone? My confusion must be evident on my face because Barrett laughs. “Maren, haven’t you heard? Tori and Nicholas are a thing, at least on paper. She’s practically been engaged to him since she was born. Cornelia and Lydia have been planning their wedding for years—Newport royalty. I hope I get a front-row seat at the wedding.”
“Is that true?” I ask on bated breath.
I knew they were close, but I didn’t realize it extended beyond friendship. Now that I think about it, though, it does make perfect sense. They’ve known each other forever. They had similar upbringings, and they clearly care a lot about each other.
Tori takes a sip of her drink, seemingly bored by the subject. “Oh sure, it’s what everyone wants.”
“Is it what you want?” I ask again, needing to know, as if the answer is suddenly a matter of life and death.
She laughs sadly. “No one ever seems to ask that question.”
“Do you guys want to split an appetizer?” Barrett asks, completely disregarding the conversation at hand.
Tori’s attention shifts out the window, to the marina with the sailboats bobbing gently in the calm water.
Her reaction to my line of questioning isn’t at all what I would have expected, and her mood only seems to worsen through lunch.
It’s not the first time I’ve noticed Tori draw inward. It’s so obvious to me the way her face—with its angular jaw and fine bones—can sometimes look like a mask.
I try to catch her eye across the table, but she turns her attention to our waitress as she comes by to take our order. After that, the moment is gone, swept away by Barrett’s antics. He’s good at lightening a mood, and Tori lets him carry her blues away. She launches into a discussion about a garden party she’s planning for Friday.
“You’ll come, won’t you?” she asks me. “Barrett can pick you up on the way.”
“Yeah. We can get a drink beforehand, if you’re up for it,” he says, showing more sincerity than he has all lunch. I can tell from his tentative smile that he really wants me to agree, so I nod and then wonder what exactly I’m getting myself into.
At dinner that night, I bring up the garden party to Cornelia, to get her permission to go more than anything else. I know she likes that Tori and I have become friends, but I’m not sure where the boundaries lie—if there even are any—and I’d rather be cautious than presumptuous.
“If you need help with something that day, I don’t have to go. Barrett mentioned taking me out for a drink beforehand, but—”
“Sounds like you’re going to have a lovely time. We’ll have to make sure you have something nice to wear. It’s not too late to get something new. We can always have Vivien tailor it quickly for you.”
I think of the ever-growing contents of my closet, and I can’t imagine a scenario in which I don’t have a single dress that could work for the party. If anything, I have too many options.
