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“Of course I do. I used to play there as a child,” she said.
My heart kicked at the admission, the slow beat spreading through my chest. The image of a white bed flashed behind my eyes. Of course. It was Anna’s bed. Through my jumble of thoughts, I couldn’t quite piece together what I was sure was an answer I’d been seeking.
“How could you want to be a part of something like that? Why would you ever even want to be a Richmond?”
“See,” she said, “that’s the difference between you and me. I recognize and appreciate everything our ancestors did to allow us the kind of life we deserved. Just a few decades ago, the Richmonds were the upper echelon of Astoria society.”
I rolled my eyes. Clearly, Anna needed to get out more.
“And what are we now?” she continued. “We’re nothing. There’s only you and me left. One of us needs to take the reins and start rebuilding. And it’s not going to be you. It was never going to be you.”
Hard to argue with that.
“Jace and I are going to relaunch the Richmonds into society.”
“You and Jace?” Rationally, I knew Jace thought Anna was crazy and went out of his way to avoid her. But irrationally? I couldn’t stop the thoughts from rolling through like the blanket of fog we were standing in. If she’d been in his house, had they kissed? Slept together? Again, my emotions careened from the connection I’d just made between Anna and the white bed to my own jealousy. I clenched my hands into fists.
“With all due respect,” I began, in a voice that could cut glass, “I’m sure that’s not true. Jace wants nothing to do with you, and he never will. It doesn’t matter if we’re together or not. He wouldn’t touch you with a ten-foot pole.”
I expected more vitriol. I expected her to try to slap me—if she could reach that high. But she didn’t react, except to smile. Garbage waddled across the field behind her. The goose stopped and looked in our direction before moving past us, deciding this was a kind of crazy he wanted no part of.
I wanted no part of it either, I decided. Without another word, I stalked past Anna and made my way back up to the house, shutting the back door forcefully, hoping the awful squeal was loud enough for her to hear from the field.
