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Amy grinned and cocked her head.
“So you do know then?”
“I told you. It’s not true. There is nothing to know.”
“Then why is she going to England after graduation?”
My head went blank. My brain probably stopped working to compensate for my heart which was hammering louder and louder with every second I spent replaying the sentence.
She’s going to England. She’s going to England.
Fuck. That’s it. She’s going to England.
“She says it’s for an internship, but come on,” Amy continued her theory about the affair. “Why would a fifty-year-old guy ask an eighteen-year-old girl to move across the world for an internship? She’s not that good. I bet there are thousands of girls in London that are even better. She’s sleeping with him”
“But how?” the other girl asked. “If he’s in England and she’s here?”
“He’s famous and he’s loaded. He probably visits.”
I knew that part wasn’t true. Clementine wasn’t having an affair with him. But the leaving for an internship part? That was something she would do to run away from her family and to run away from me. That was something that could make her distance herself from me.
I left the others and started roaming the hallways. I had to find her immediately.
“Is it true?” I smashed my palm on her locker. Her eyes were big and sad, and I had to fight my need to make her feel better and actually grow a pair and demand answers for a change.
“Is what true?” she asked breathlessly.
“London?” that’s all I could say without raising my voice. But it was enough. I saw it on her face. It was true.
I stumbled backwards.
“I can’t believe you did that” I shook my head. “Were you planning on telling me or you were just going to string me along until graduation and leave without a word?”
Tears started streaming down her face. She didn’t answer. What a surprise, huh?
I was aware everyone around us was looking. I didn’t care.
“Answer me, damn it!” I shouted. I felt someone’s hands on my shoulders pulling me back. Then I heard Chase’s voice.
“Leave it, man.”
I shook off his hands and took a step towards Clementine.
“You really are a coward, Clem. You’re so scared of letting go of your secrets that it ruins everything and everyone around you. You will never find what you’re looking for in London. What you’re looking for has been living next door your whole life. But I don’t have it in me to make you see that.”
I left her crying in the hallway and stormed out without a second look.
Chapter Twenty-Two
Clementine
Four years ago
I was looking at my outfit in the mirror. Dad’s assistant said it looked amazing on me when we bought it in the summer while I was visiting him in Seattle.
She was extra nice, super young, and had a guilty look on her face every time I tried to look her in the eye, so my guess was she was screwing my dad.
She was dedicated to the task of making me feel good and have fun using my father’s credit card. She took me to a hairdresser. Then we did our nails. If I knew from the beginning that she just wanted to please me, I would have asked to dye my hair pink. But, unfortunately, I figured things out much later. When we were shopping.
