Trihn nodded reluctantly.
“And you, too.”
“Yeah.” Trihn wrung her hands in front of her.
“I just can’t believe…” Lydia’s words trailed off as she looked over Trihn’s shoulder. “Hey,” she whispered.
“Hey, babe,” Preston said. He leaned against the doorframe. “What’s going on in here?”
“We were just talking,” Lydia said. “And I was giving Trihn an outfit for sailing.”
Preston glanced at Trihn’s outfit. “Nice.” He walked over to Lydia and planted a kiss on her cheek.
Trihn tried not to cringe.
“Sorry it took so long, but I’m all yours now. Work just really needed me.”
“Oh, yeah? What’s her name?” Trihn said under her breath.
Preston’s eyes narrowed, and this time, Trihn winked before turning and walking out of the room.
She could hear Lydia yelling at him from down the hall.
TRIHN SHOULD HAVE FELT BETTER.
But she didn’t. Telling Lydia the truth didn’t change the fact that Preston had slept with and cheated on both of them. Really, nothing had changed, except now both she and Lydia were suffering for what he had done. Trihn hated that her sister had to hurt with her, but she knew telling her was the right thing to do.
Trihn trudged back down the stairs on her way to Ian’s house, but her mother stopped her in the foyer.
“Trihn, I love that outfit!” Linh called. She smiled at her from the kitchen where a large picnic basket sat on the counter with a half-empty bottle of chardonnay next to it.
“Oh. Thanks.” She had forgotten that she was still decked out in the outfit that Lydia had wanted her to wear for sailing. “Lydia let me borrow it.”
“It’ll be perfect for the boat.” She took a long sip out of the glass of wine in front of her.
“Mom—”
“Is Lydia about ready to go? Your father is restless to get out on the water, and you know how he is when he gets restless.”
“Yeah, I do, but I don’t think Lydia is going to go sailing,” Trihn told her.
“What?” Linh asked. She set her wine down and looked up at her in surprise. “Why not? She was looking forward to it. It’s her favorite thing to do at the beach.”
“Yeah. Um…she and Preston are arguing.”
Linh frowned. She glanced up the stairs like she wanted to go up there and find out what was going on. “Is it serious?”
Trihn nodded. “I heard her yelling in her room from down the hall.”
“Did you hear what it’s about?”
“Um…no,” Trihn lied. She definitely didn’t want her mother weighing in on the Lydia-Preston-Trihn fiasco.
“Should I go up there and check on her?”
“I think it would probably be best if you didn’t. We should give them some privacy and go sailing.”
Linh pursed her lips. “All right. I don’t want to interfere, but they seemed fine this morning.”
Don’t I know it?
“Okay. Well, go get Ian, and then we’ll head out.”
“Oh, Mom—”
“If your sister can’t go, then you absolutely have to go. March right over to the Petersons’ and tell Ian that we need him. I’m not doing all the heavy lifting on my own.”
Trihn grumbled under her breath, but she didn’t see a way out of it. At least it would keep her away from Lydia and Preston’s argument.
Ian had no problem in agreeing to come sailing with them. He was competent on the water from years of their families going together. Any earlier tension that had been between them dissipated when she told him what had happened with Lydia, not that they had much time to discuss it before driving with her parents out to the docks.
Plus, she wanted to talk to Renée, who had sent her a bunch of text messages this morning. Apparently, Trihn had drunk-texted her the night before.
What do you mean, you slept with him?
Trihn cringed at that one. Not her finest moment.
Hey. Sorry about the texts last night. I had a little bit to drink.
A little bit? Puh-lease. Tell me what happened!
This morning, I told Lydia about Preston. She didn’t believe me at first, but I finally got through to her. She and Preston are arguing right now. I think they’re going to break up.
Sounds just like Lydia not to believe you, but at least you got through to her. I always knew he was creepy! But are you going to be okay, T?
Trihn swallowed. Am I going to be okay? That was a good question.
Yeah. Don’t worry about me.
Someone has to.
About to get to the sailboat. I’ll talk to you more about it after!
Yuppie.
Trihn laughed at the comment. Ian raised his eyebrows, and she showed him the text.
“Well, if the shoe fits,” he said.
Trihn surveyed his outfit and shrugged in agreement. He was wearing khaki shorts that stopped four inches above his knee, a white polo with a navy-blue sweater hanging from his shoulders, and brown boat shoes. Together, they looked like the definition of yuppie, and it hurt her rocker soul.
Once they arrived, they found their boat, and Ian helped her on deck. The sailboat was really more of a yacht, if they were getting technical, and had the option of coming with a captain and small crew that her parents had accepted since Lydia and Preston weren’t with them.
The crew easily maneuvered the boat out of the dock and onto open water. She and Ian sat down with her parents to eat lunch out of the picnic basket her mother had prepared earlier this morning. With the absence of Lydia and Preston, there was more food to go around than expected, and they shared with the crew.
Trihn’s parents grabbed a bottle of wine and reclined back in chairs at the aft of the ship, leaving Trihn and Ian to enjoy the rest of the afternoon how they saw fit. They found a spot near the front, lay back against the deck, and stared up at the cloudless sky.
“What do you think Lydia and Preston are talking about right now?” Trihn asked. She propped herself on an elbow and looked down at him.
Ian shrugged, meeting her gaze. “How much of an asshole he is?”
She bit her lip. “I hope he’s gone by the time we get home.”
“Don’t we all?” he said.
She dropped back down next to him, and he wrapped his arm around her shoulders. They had done this every summer since they were kids, but suddenly, Lydia’s words rang in her mind. Ian liked her. Trihn knew that he cared for her, but she hadn’t thought it went further than that. Or maybe she just didn’t want it to. She never wanted this to be awkward.
“Thanks for being here for me.”
He squeezed her tighter. “You know I’d do anything for you.”
“Yeah.”
Silence dragged on between them, but it wasn’t uncomfortable. It never was.
Trihn was lost in her thoughts about Preston and Lydia. She was stressing over what could be happening, not that she wanted to be there to deal with the fallout, but she just wanted to know what to expect when she got back.
“I really like this,” Ian said softly.
“Me, too.”
She closed her eyes and let herself drift off. In another world, this could be her life with Ian. Sometimes, she wished that it could be this easy.
But then she knew it couldn’t. And wanting something that she couldn’t have had only made a mess of her life.
She pulled away from Ian and sat up on the deck.