“I’m just surprised you’re not wearing anything studded today,” he observed.
“Are you sure?” she asked with a wink.
Now, his entire face was beet-red.
She cackled at his reaction. “I’m just kidding!”
“I know.”
She shook her head. After all this time, he still got so embarrassed around her.
“Are you excited for Columbia?”
“Very. In two weeks, I’ll be in the city for good.”
Ian’s parents had relegated themselves to a suburb when he entered middle school. As much as they’d wanted to send him to a private school in the city, they’d also wanted him to have a real childhood, whatever that meant.
To them, it meant, not in the city.
To Trihn, that sounded ridiculous.
Trihn and Ian eased into a conversation like no time had passed at all, and after an hour, she had let her worries from the city slide away. Preston would be there when she got back, and until then, she needed to enjoy her last summer before college started.
“Hello, Trihn, dear,” Ian’s mother, Betty, said, stepping out onto the deck. She wore a sleek white dress and heels. Her hair was a perfect slicked-back bun, and her makeup was flawless.
“Hello, Mrs. Peterson,” Trihn said with a smile.
“Your mother called and asked for you to return home.”
Trihn nodded and stood. “I’ll check you later, Ian. Want to come over for dinner? Mom actually got Lydia to go to the store, so who knows what it will be? But you know my mom is a fantastic cook.”
“Sounds good. I’ll see you then.”
“Bye, Mrs. Peterson!” she called before traipsing back through the house and out the door.
Trihn jogged across the lawn with a giant smile on her face. Her hair blew out behind her in the breeze, and she took a deep breath. This felt good and right.
When Trihn rounded the corner, she saw Lydia’s car parked in the garage. That must be why her mom had wanted Trihn to come home—time to meet the new boyfriend, the new flavor of the week. Trihn really wasn’t looking forward to pretending for a person who wouldn’t be around long past this vacation, but she would put on a good face for her sister.
As she started toward the house, she noticed a figure walking out of the garage with a plastic bag dangling from his arm.
Trihn froze. She was seeing things, daydreaming all over again.
Then, he took another step forward.
She would recognize that gait anywhere.
Preston.
“Oh my God!” Trihn cried.
Then, she was running. Her feet carried her faster than she had ever known they could, heading straight toward him.
He’s here after all! It must have just been an act, one big front, so he could surprise me like this so completely.
She never would have guessed in a million years that he would be able to pull this off, but it had worked. Now, he was here, and they could be together.
“You’re here!” she said as she approached him.
“Preston!” Lydia called from the door. “Don’t forget to grab the champagne out of the side door. You know how I like my bubbly!”
Trihn skidded to a halt right in front of Preston, her heart hammering in her chest. She looked in disbelief between the open door and Preston’s face. How did Lydia know Preston? And how could he know what kind of drinks she liked? He had just gotten here to surprise her.
Then, Trihn really looked into those blue eyes, and her stomach dropped out of her body.
“No,” she whispered.
Her world disintegrated before her eyes.
He wasn’t here for Trihn.
He was here for her.
“Coming, babe,” Preston called back to Lydia, his face stretching into a slow painful smile.
“DID YOU HEAR ME?” LYDIA ASKED.
She leaned her body out the door. Her eyes caught on Preston, and she had the biggest smile Trihn had ever seen on her sister’s face. Then, she seemed to notice Trihn standing there.
“Trihn! There you are!” Lydia burst out of the house and rushed to her. “Mom said you were visiting Ian. Sorry, I had her call you back, but I was so excited for you to meet my boyfriend! This is Preston. Preston, this is my little sister, Trihn.”
Trihn swallowed the horror on her face. It was hard to reel in, but somehow, she locked away the parts of her that had shattered into a million pieces, so she could face her sister. This wasn’t the way that Lydia needed to find out about Preston. Trihn wasn’t even sure she would be able to form words to explain what had happened anyway. In fact, she was a little worried about the use of words in general.
“Nice to meet you,” Preston said. He extended his hand out to her, as if this were really the first fucking time they were meeting, as if he honestly expected her to fucking touch him after this.
“Is it?” she growled out.
“I’ve heard so much about you,” he retorted, dropping his hand. “It’s nice to finally put a face to the name.”
“Funny. Lydia hasn’t said a word about you.”
“Trihn! Geez, calm down.”
Trihn was the furthest thing from calm. She was ready to rip his fucking head off. There was no explanation for this. None. Zero. Zip. Zilch. There was only anger and fury and pain. Great lancing pain was slicing through every limb in her body and piercing her with a fiery hot poker.
Lydia reached for Preston and drew him closer to her. “So sorry,” Lydia whispered so soft that Trihn almost didn’t hear her.
“It’s all right,” Preston said. He squeezed her hand.
Trihn tightly clenched her jaw and tried to hold back the rage boiling under the surface.
Half of her wanted to lay into him about the bullshit in front of her, and the other half wanted to run as fast and as far as she could to get away from the nightmare before her eyes.
“You’re right,” Trihn said. “No reason for me to be irritated that you’re bringing random guys on vacation with your family. You always bring total strangers with you.”
Preston arched his eyebrow in question. But she didn’t know what he was asking.
“God! What’s with you?” Lydia asked. “She’s not normally like this, Preston.”
“Yeah, I’m not. This behavior is completely out of character. Normally, I’m all rainbows and sunshine,” she said dramatically. She crossed her arms over her chest to close herself off from them.
“I can see that,” Preston said with that goddamn chuckle.
He was actually fucking amused by her behavior. She was going to rip him apart.
“Just go inside with that,” Lydia told Preston. “I need a minute alone with my sister.”
“All right, babe,” he said, as if whatever was about to happen between Lydia and Trihn meant nothing to him. As if…he hadn’t called Trihn babe before.
Trihn glared at his back as he departed. How dare he call Lydia babe! How dare he be dating my sister! How dare he stand there as if he didn’t give a shit that this was killing me! How dare that motherfucking asshole!
“What the fuck is wrong with you?” Lydia exploded. She grabbed Trihn’s arm and yanked her sister farther away from the door, so she could spout venom without being heard by her precious flavor of the week.
“What’s wrong with me?” Trihn cried. She wrenched out of her sister’s grip. She didn’t give a shit who heard them. “What’s wrong with you, bringing a guy you just met on our fucking family vacation?”
“You have no idea what you’re talking about! Preston and I have been dating all summer!”
“What?” Trihn sputtered, stumbling backward, as if she had been slapped.