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Chapter Six
“So,what’s the next part of your plan?” Em asked, as we picked our way over wet rocks strewn with seaweed, hoping to find empty mussel shells for her to use in her crafts. During the summer, there were a hell of a lot more people looking for shell souvenirs, so it was a lot harder to get a good haul. So far, we only had a handful in her mesh bag.
I stood up and stretched my back. “I’m doing more of a slow seduction. A slowduction. I feel like jumping her would backfire. Plus, flirting with her in public where Wyatt might see is going to do way more damage than hooking up with her behind closed doors.”
Em nodded and threw a shell in the bag slung around her shoulder. “That makes sense. Giving Wyatt the mass amount of suffering is really paramount. Speaking of that, I’ve been pushing his buttons for you.”
I pushed some seaweed aside that hung in front of a rock and met the beady eyes of a grumpy crab. I covered them back up and moved on.
“What do you mean?” I asked.
“Oh, I’ve been subtly talking about Esme and trying to get him to talk about her. He’s not the brightest, so I don’t think he has any idea what I’m doing. So like, I’ll pretend I just happened to see her post on social and be like ‘remember when you tried to ask her out?’ He got pissed and ran to Gretchen’s.”
She grinned and I felt an answering smile on my face.
“Nice.” Wyatt had not failed with Esme just once. Oh no. He had failed many, many times over the years, starting when he was a young teenager. He didn’t know that I knew about all his failures, because his sister had told me. My favorite was when he made an elaborate set-up to ask her to prom and she just rejected him in front of the entire school. It was a wonder he didn’t hate her for it. Nope, it only made him want her more.
“How are he and Gretchen?” It physically hurt me to say her name.
Em and I moved to a new section of rocks, and I got completely lost staring into a tidepool as seagulls wheeled overhead and called to each other.
“Ugh, disgusting. He brought her over for dinner and I had to smile and be nice and try not to stab her with a fork when she tried to kiss my mom’s ass. Fortunately, Mom saw right through her bullshit. I have no idea why she can’t see through her son’s, but whatever. She told me afterward that she thinks Gretchen is ‘a nice girl, but definitely a gold digger.’”
I thought about that for a second. “Yeah, from what I know about her character, it wouldn’t surprise me.” Em’s mom had her own accounting firm, and her dad was a VP at his brother’s insurance company. They had an in-ground pool and hot tub, in Maine, which, in our small town, meant you had to be loaded.
Wyatt pretended he had a job when it suited him, but he played a lot of golf and went to a lot of “business lunches” and was always coming up with some new business idea every six months. His parents would give him the cash, he’d crash and burn, and then lather, rinse, repeat. Blah, blah, blah. He was the definition of “failing upwards.”
Whenever I questioned why the hell I had fallen in love with him, I had to remind myself that sometimes I made bad decisions and that didn’t mean I was a bad person. Plus, you know, the sex.
I really needed to stop thinking about fucking Wyatt or else I was going to text him and tell him to come over for a little throwback Thursday.
“Paige?” Em waved her hand in front of my face. “Where did you go?”
“I was remembering fucking your brother,” I said, and she made gagging noises.
“Don’t ever say anything like that to me again or I’m tossing you in the ocean.”
I shrugged. “You forget I swim in the ocean all the time. It’s actually warm right now.” There were only a handful of humans swimming in the water, and a whole lot who dipped their toes in, screamed at the temperature, and then decided to go sit on their towels in the sun instead. I’d worn my suit under my shorts and tank, so I was going to take a dip before I left.
“Fine, but don’t talk about my brother’s sex life ever again. There is not enough brain bleach in the entire world.” She shuddered.
“Anything else about Gretchen? Is he really into her, or is she one of the only girls he hasn’t destroyed yet?” Honestly, I really should befriend Wyatt’s other exes. I used to see them as potential enemies when I’d dated him. A few had even tried to warn me about him, but he did that thing where he said they were just “crazy bitches” and I let him gaslight me. I wanted to reach into the past and slap some sense into myself.
“Too soon to tell,” Em said, carefully climbing over a rock to make sure she didn’t slip. “She doesn’t seem like the sharpest cookie in the drawer.”
I stared at her for a second. “I don’t think that’s the expression.”
“Well, it’s my expression.”
I snorted and sat down on a rock and tilted my face toward the sun. I probably should have worn a hat, but at least I’d remembered sunblock. In my teen years I’d been all about getting a tan as quickly as possible in the summer, but now I knew better.
“She keeps trying to butter up my mom, but I keep reminding her that Gretchen used to cyberbully me online.”
“Wait, you too?” I thought I’d been one of the only ones.
“I think that’s what she did instead of homework.”
The water in the little tidepool next to me sparkled and distracted me. Such a beautiful little ecosystem. Hermit crabs, tiny shrimp, snails, and even a few small fish all hung out together in harmony. A movement caught my eye and a baby lobster peeked out from behind some seaweed.
