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“Sure you don’t.”
“I don’t, I swear.
I stumble over a nail on my way back down the gangway and hear Logan chuckle. If I’d face planted I would have made his day. Why did I ever waste one minute of my time hanging out with these people?
“Wait,” Penny pleads, catching up to me in the parking lot. “Sarah, please don’t cut me off. You…You’re my only friend.”
Her skin is mottled red, the way you look after you’ve been crying for a seriously long time, but I still can’t help but lash out at her. I’m mad on Liam’s behalf, and I am so jealous that Penny had something with Liam, too. “What are you even doing here, Penny? Looking to get back in with Parker now that I’m officially out of the picture? Do you realize how sad that is? How pathetic you are?”
Her mouth opens and closes before she whispers, “No. I’m just here to clear my stuff out. I don’t want to sail anymore.”
“Well, good luck with that.”
The words are bitchy and mean, and I can feel my stomach twisting with guilt before I can cross the lot and lock myself into my car. I settle in and look back to where we were just standing. Penny is still there, eyes cast down to where she’s kicking pebbles with her foot. I remind myself of what she’s done, fight the urge I have to console her.
There’s no going back. Yes, she was my one true friend, but that was then and this is now.
Chapter Eighteen
LIAM
When Mike called and told me what he overheard at the boathouse, I already had a good idea of who was behind this.
He taped them, so I got to hear everything. It was no consolation to hear Parker express just the slightest bit of remorse when one of his buddies told him I was probably going to be charged with a felony. When he saidNo way, his friend explained that,Apparently, a case of lobster tails is expensive.
But these kids wouldn’t know that. They’d have no idea that a few cases of Maine lobster would put you well over the limit for felony burglary in the state of New Jersey—a low-level felony, but a felony nonetheless.
“Losing his job is one thing, I don’t want him going to jail. I mean, I’m not a dick,” he said in his own defense.
As if falsely accusing someone of a crime isn’t bad enough, as if that alone doesn’t make you a pathetic excuse for a human being. Yes, Parker, you are a dick.
I guess people like Logan and Parker would never even think to take a ride to the store to buy lobster tails. And they’d probably gag on the flash-frozen crap people like us splurge on at Costco for the really big occasions, like weddings, Communions or graduations. Lobster tails for some random house party? In my neck of the woods, the biggest events warrant no more than a six-foot hero.
The plan was to pin it on someone in the kitchen. They weren’t picky, anyone would do. Just drop an accusation and lead Thomson to the tapes that would show a hooded guy putting the loot into the back of a shitty, late-model car in the restaurant’s staff parking lot. People like Parker ask dumb people—my best friend comes to mind—to do their dirty work, so who knows, for fifty bucks maybe one of the guys in the kitchen did lift the stuff and then name me.
I could picture Thomson and his boy doing a more thorough inventory at this very moment, with my ever-expanding rap sheet in hand. From what I heard on Mike’s phone, basically everything they served was courtesy of mummy and daddies’ club. Cases of mini-beef Wellington appetizers, jars of olives and two cases of jumbo shrimp will be listed among the missing. I can’t even imagine what was stolen from the liquor storage. That alone would land someone in jail.
When my name came up, Logan said something like:Don’t fret, she’s just taking a walk on the wild side, she’ll be back.Even better, Parker answered that he didn’t want Sarah back because she’s a frigid bitch, but he already has an internship lined up with her dad this summer, andthat loser isn’t fucking it up for me.I’ll go ahead and assume that I’m the loser.
How do they even know we were together last night? I have no clue and decide that I don’t care. I’m actually glad he knows.
The only other thing that brightened my day was Sarah’s blind faith in my innocence, even before she heard from Penny. I’m thinking Penny was looking to redeem herself when she tipped Mike off to what was going on.
I smile until I remember we’re not currently on speaking terms.
When I saw the unknown number I wasn’t even going to answer, and then I had to fight my instinct to hang up when I first heard her voice.
Shame is powerful. In my case, it’s so powerful that it can trigger that fight or flight response. No, I don’t have to be chased by a hungry lion or have a loaded gun pointed my way. Sometimes all it takes is a curious look that lasts a beat too long.
And what happened this afternoon? That was a pile on. I was red-faced and shaking off the overwhelming urge to cry like a little kid, talking myself down, reminding myself that I didn’t do what they’d accused me of as I was driving back to my uncle’s house with a white-knuckle grip on the steering wheel.
Makes me the crazy one, right? To think so little of yourself that you have toremindyourself you’re not guilty? It sounds batshit when I think about it like that.
It burned when Sarah called me out, and it still burns because I know she’s right.
She’s furious that I won’t defend myself to my manager or the assholes on the club’s board.
I know they haven’t gone to the police yet so they probably aren’t planning on it, and I’m not interested inclearing my good name. Her words, not mine.
