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I watch her carefully. Is she sending a message? If not, then what are we doing up on this roof together, alone?
“Hey,” Alexis suddenly says with momentum. “Come with me to my parents’ place next Tuesday. They live just a few miles to the north.”
I stiffen. “Oh, I don’t know. I’m not great with families.”
“Please?” She grabs my hands. “It’s my grandmother’s ninetieth birthday—I have to go. We’d have so much fun! We could ride the horses, we have a great heated indoor pool, their bar is insane...”
The scent of a cigarette drifts up from the street. I try to wrap my mind around what Alexis is asking. Meet herfamily? What if Alexis’s parents see right through me? What if I do something that shows my roots? It is so far out of my comfort zone I don’t even know how to answer.
“But what about Trip?” I finally say. “Maybe you should take him instead.”
Alexis’s face darkens. “He’s already invited. But I want you to come, too.”
I frown. “Are you sure that makes sense?”
“My parents are crazy about Trip,” Alexis explains in an almost woeful voice. “He’s practically a son-in-law to them already. But I’mtiredof him. He’s just... I don’t know. Not right.”
I sit back. “Then why are you going out with him?”
She shrugs. “You know what it’s like. When my parents like a guy, they’ll move heaven and earth to make sure I stick with him. My parents have wanted to cut me loose for years, though—they’re real assholes. Breaking up with Trip would be just the straw that breaks their backs.”
I cross my arms. “So you’re basically pretending to be with Trip just to make sure they don’t disown you?” I saydisownon purpose. I need to know if money’s at stake.
Alexis taps her nails against the wine bottle. “You could say that. It would have to take someone really special to make me break away from them.”
She looks at me, hope in her voice. I feel another flutter in my chest. And she’s got to be indebted to her family because there’s money involved. A trust fund, probably. Something her family would cut her out of if she didn’t obey. And just like that, I’ve found her weakness.
Alexis grabs my hands. “So will you come next weekend?Please?”
Far above us, an airplane zooms. It’s a plane and not a planet—I can tell by the blinking light on the wing. “All right. It sounds fun.”
“Great!” Alexis cries, throwing her arms around me. “We’re going to have a blast!”
I squeeze her tight, inhaling her scent, feeling her hair tickling my shoulders. It’s hard not to be excited. It’s hard not to leap up and scream to the universe,Thank you, thank you, thank you.Maybe, after twisting Alexis around my finger, I’ll get to stay at Aldrich after all.
I think about that cold, bitter night after I’d left Manning’s house.I called Sienna because her family lived close by and I needed to get out of the subzero air. I had no intention of telling her what had happened with her grandfather or anything. At that point, I’d actually liked Sienna as a person, and I didn’t want her to think less of me.
Sienna said she was on her way back from a ski weekend with friends; she said she was pretty sure no one else was home but that I could let myself in with the garage code to warm up.
I rushed into the warm, big house. Hot water would help my numb fingers, so I set off to the bathroom. When I passed the kitchen and saw the figure by the fridge, I screamed. He looked over and screamed, too. Then came the shattering sound of breaking glass.
“Jesus!” Sienna’s stepfather backed up against the fridge door. He was wearing med scrubs and white sneakers, and his eyes were round with surprise. “Who are you?”
“I’m so sorry!” I cried. And then: “I’m Raina. Sienna said I could come in. She gave me the garage code. She said no one would be home.”
Sienna’s father’s brow furrowed, taking in my skimpy outfit. “Were you outside in justthat?” I nodded miserably. There were goose bumps on my arms.
He found a sweatshirt, some heavy wool socks. I changed in the powder room, staring at my naked body, then a black-and-white photograph of some lake in Yosemite. When I walked back into the kitchen, Sienna’s stepfather was mopping up the glass that had broken on the floor.
“I’m really sorry,” I said again. “I can reimburse you.”
“Don’t be silly. It’s kind of my fault. I was skulking around in the dark, trying to figure out what to do.” He paused. “I’m supposed to go out with my wife’s friends tonight—stupid holiday tradition. I really,reallydon’t want to.”
The floor smelled yeasty from the beer. Sienna’s stepfather had an impressive mop of hair, thick and wavy. I remembered myencounter with him in Manning’s office the day of my interview. That smile he’d shot me when I was leaving. My skin began to tingle.
“Why don’t you want to go out?” I asked softly, leaning against the counter.
He brushed the pieces of glass into a dustpan and carefully slid it into a chrome trash can. “Have you ever gone out with people not because you want to but because you have to? Except if you had to choose, they wouldn’t be the people you’d ever want to hang out with?”
