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“We’re good, but thanks.”
“Okay, but if you need rescuing, just call and hang up. I’ll take that as a signal and be over as fast as I can.”
“Got it. Bye, Nina.”
She’s funny. She’s had so many bad dates, she just assumes mine will be too. Except it’s not a date. I have to keep reminding myself of that.
“Rescue call?” Kyle asks.
“What?” I pretend to have no idea what he’s talking about.
“Was that your friend, trying to see if you needed an excuse to get out of having dinner with me?”
“No, of course not.”
“Liar,” he says as he picks up his sandwich.
I pick up mine too and start eating, not addressing his comment.
“What excuse was she going to give you? Her car was on fire? Her dog ate chocolate and needed a ride to the vet?”
“No.” I laugh. “She doesn’t even have a dog.”
He smiles. “Are you admitting it was a rescue call?”
“Okay, yes, but I told her not to do it. I told her this wasn’t a date, but she didn’t believe me.”
“So is this friend of yours someone in town?”
“Yeah. Nina. As of now, she’s myonlyfriend. All the friends I had in college kind of disappeared, and as for here, as soon as people found out who my dad is, they started avoiding me. Nina’s the only one who’s welcomed me.”
“Are you ready to explain what happened or would you rather wait?”
“I’m ready. But before I start, I need to tell you that a lot of the stuff written online isn’t true. If you look up my name on the internet, the first thing you’ll see is news about my dad, but a lot of those stories are from people my dad stole from, so they’re making up stuff to get revenge. You’ll see a lot of bad things about my mom and me that aren’t true. Not even close.”
He sets his sandwich down, giving me his full attention. “I’ll only believe what you tell me.”
I’m glad he said that and I hope he means it. After I tell him this, I hope he doesn’t turn on me and assume I was part of it. I hope he doesn’t judge me, and think I’m stupid or naive for not knowing what my dad was up to. Those are the reactions I’ve had in the past after trying to explain what happened. Even my friends turned on me.
But I don’t think Kyle will. I barely know him and yet I’m already starting to trust him more than people I’ve known for years.
CHAPTEREIGHT
SAGE
For the nexthalf hour I tell Kyle the story, starting from the beginning, when my dad showed up at my dorm. I end with the day I moved here, which was when I met Nina.
When I’m done, Kyle is shaking his head and I’m not sure why. Does he think I’m lying? Does he think I was part of it? It wouldn’t surprise me if he did. That’s what everyone in town thinks.
“What’s wrong?” I ask.
“I just wasn’t expecting that.” He leans back on the patio chair and laces his hands behind his head.
“What did you think I’d say?”
“You said the town didn’t like you so I thought maybe your dad was from here originally and people didn’t like him for some reason. I didn’t think you were going to tell me he stole hundreds of millions of dollars from people with some made-up investment company.”
“I was completely shocked when I found out. Sometimes, I still can’t believe it. He hid it so well that nobody knew, not even my mom. I think we were both just so happy he’d changed from how he was before that we just ignored anything that didn’t seem right.”
