I’d almost forgotten that. Quality time in exchange for my favorite trench coat. My quota must’ve been met. “Good point,” I stupidly murmured.
“Although, I think I’ve upped my price,” he said with a grin, drumming his thumb on his knee.
“Huh?”
“The ransom,” he replied matter-of-factly.
Adjusting Georgie’s sweater, I silently vowed to convince her to use the air conditioning more often. “We’ve hung out… three times. Isn’t that enough?”
Not that I was counting.
“I believe the captor sets the terms,” Teddy retorted.
I flushed. He really had no idea how easy it was for him to unravel me—and the thought sent a chill of horror down my spine. Just as I was beginning to wrap myself back onto the spool, was Teddy going to come along and undo it all?
“Whatever you want,” I replied casually. His brows drew together as I unfolded from the couch and sent him an expectant look. “But I think it’s about time to call it a night.”
Teddy seemed to consider his response before standing and following me to the foyer. “Can I walkyouhome?” he asked, bending over to pull on his shoes.
“No,” I blurted out. Then, calling on the three brain cells I had left, I added, “Georgie and I are having a sleepover.”
Teddy straightened to his full height and gave me a lopsided smile. “Just like old times, huh?”
Heart in my throat, I nodded and wrapped my fingers around the doorknob as he shrugged on his coat. He needed to get out of here before he incurred any further damage. After a full night’s rest, I could safely encounter him again, every layer of steel around my faculties back in place.
His eyes lingered on mine for a split second before I wrenched the door open and awkwardly motioned him outside.
“Right,” Teddy murmured under his breath, stepping into the porch light. I was about to bid him goodbye and close it in his face when he asked, “When can I see you again?”
And just like that, I was thirteen, gazing up at him with all the hope in the world as he promised we’d always stick together. That I coulddependon him. That, no matter what, through all the mess and the chaos, he’d be there when it settled.
In the end, though, he successfully proved the one thing my father already had.
“You have my number, Teddy,” I said with a sigh. “You always have.”
His mouth parted, but the sound of Georgie skipping up the creaking porch steps interrupted his response. She froze just behind him, eyes darting from him to me like a baby deer caught in a pair of headlights.
I urged her inside and tossed Teddy a perfunctory goodbye.
“Bye, Teddy!” Georgie called over my shoulder as I slammed the door shut and immediately locked it as if I was worried he’d come barreling back through. She arched an eyebrow at me as I turned to her, back pressed to the wood.
“Can I sleep over?”
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
Istared at myself in the trifold mirror, perched on top of the platform and stuffed into a too-long sample size. I’d never be able to sit in this thing. How was I going to get it off without ripping a Margot-sized hole in the back seam?
Nothing here would fit me. I was the shortest of the three, with a set of hips from my mother that often felt more like a curse.
The fluorescent, overhead lighting didn’t do me any favors, casting an egregious pair of dark circles beneath my eyes. I barely slept the night before—between Georgie, who transformed into a human starfish the second she fell unconscious, and Easton, who insisted on wedging himself between us, sleeping was futile. Then there were Teddy’s hopeful eyes swimming through my mind at the most inconvenient moments, and the knowledge of my father’s presence looming like a growing storm cloud.
Needless to say, no amount of caffeine could save me.
I teetered on the platform and ironed a fold of dark red fabric with my palms. “I still don’t get why this is necessary,” I mumbled, gaze catching on a gaggle of women in the mirror. They did a poor job of hiding the fact that they watched us.
“Let metreatyou,” Serena breathed, rising from the cream, tufted couch behind me. “Or, more accurately, let the Newhouse family treat you.”
If anything, that only made it all feel worse.
