“Where is this coming from?” I asked instead of answering. Neal waved their finger in a circle, pursing their lips.
“This. Something is off. Now, I know I haven’t seen you since Nona’s funeral, but this isn’t the Daisy I know. You’re like a deflated balloon. And every time I’ve tried to talk about your man, you go dark. What’s going on?”
I shook my head and blinked the wetness from my eyes.
“Nothing. It’s fine. Everything is fine. Max is... fine.”
“Fine? Sugar-free energy drinks are fine. Not making it to Kink Night at Bottoms so you have to go to another club is fine. Your fiancé, the man you’re spending the rest of your life with, should not be fine. Daisy, do you even love him?”
I stared at my feet, just barely touching the water.
“I can’t love him. I gave my heart away a long time ago.”
“Okay, to who?”
How could I explain to them that the only man I ever loved was in prison, on death row, for eating a dead woman?
“It started when we were kids, teens really.” I smiled,remembering the good times. “We bonded through our love of literature.”
Neal made an O with their lips and nodded. “Online? You’ve never actually met the guy?”
I shook my head. “No, I did. Once. It was the most magical weekend. He was everything I’d ever imagined and more.”
“What happened? Was he married? Or in witness protection?”
I turned and rolled my eyes. “No, he was perfect. I just told you.”
“Then why didn’t it work?”
I grimaced and opted to give them half truth. “I had to go to school in New York, and he had other plans. He couldn’t come with me.”
“You didn’t stay in contact?”
“No, it would be too hard. To speak to him, knowing that I could never have him again.”
A single tear slid down my cheek. I sniffled and wiped it away.
“Oh, Daisy, I am so sorry. Your first love is always the one of the hardest to forget. I’m sorry he broke your heart. If I was there, I would have kicked his ass.”
I laughed, the tears falling away as I imagined my cousin squaring up with him. Neal was not a large person. They were barely taller than me, and I was an even five feet.
“I would. I’d do it to this Max guy too if you asked me. No one hurts the best ballerina in the Lovelace line.”
“Ha! I doubt that. If Nona heard you right now, she’d give us both a history lesson on our family for hours, proving I am not, in fact, even in the top ten.”
“I’m so glad I got out of that shit.” They laughed. Neal was the first Lovelace in our family to not turn ballet into their profession. Our entire lineage spanned generations andgenerations of ballerinas. I’d made a joke that it was Neal’s announcement of their retirement from dance that killed our Nona. She died a week later.
“Okay, enough sad stuff. If you want to stay with Max, who isfine, then who am I to protest? I’ll support you because I love you. Let’s talk about me some more. You need to come visit my place. I bet I can see your light from my house.”
“Yeah?” I squinted, trying to see the shore on the other side. There were so many large mansions, their place was eclipsed by the other massive homes. I told them so, and their brown eyes lit up.
“Speaking of, get this. My neighbor to the right?” They pointed, and I looked. It was the largest house on that side of the lake. “He’s fucking insane. Last weekend, he threw this giant party all weekend, and then he’s planning another one for this Friday. Apparently, he’s been doing this since he moved in, and no one has even seen him. No one knows who he is, just that his name is Gatsby.”
I gasped, my hands rushing to cover my mouth.
“Gatsby?”
Chapter 10
