“Hey,” he said, reaching for her hand, “what are you thinking about?”
“Us, I guess.”
He raised his eyebrows. “Is there an us?”
She met his gaze and shook her head. “I love you, Ian, but you know…you’re more like a brother to me.”
He nodded, but the pain was on his face.
“I’m sorry.”
“I know. I’ve always known, Trihn. You don’t have to apologize. This isn’t news to me.”
“We’ve never talked about it before…”
“We never needed to,” he said quickly. “I confess that I thought it might be different once I was back in the city again. We’d be closer, spend more time together. It would be easier. We wouldn’t have to wait just for vacations.”
“Ian,” she whispered, “I don’t know what to say.”
He smiled forlornly. “It was a dream. Nothing more. I knew things weren’t going to change.”
“You’ll find someone better than me at Columbia. I know you will.”
“Unlikely. I’ve known you my whole life, and I haven’t found someone like you yet.”
Trihn touched his arm in appreciation. It was probably one of the nicest things anyone had ever said to her. She didn’t believe it though. Ian had just known her for too long. He would branch out in college and find the perfect woman for him. She knew it.
“And here I am…falling for an asshole.”
“Nice guys do finish last.”
After a minute, Trihn sheepishly peeked back up at him. “You know, I am sorry.”
He shrugged. “Don’t be. After all this time, it’s good for you to finally know. At least I’ll never wonder what could have been.”
Trihn decided to let the conversation be. There was so much more she could have said, but she was glad that they had cleared the air. She didn’t want him to be hurt over what had happened with Preston, and she definitely didn’t want their friendship to suffer because of that—or worse, because of her insensitivity to him.
They spent the remainder of the afternoon lounging on the deck and catching some rays. As their time in the sun came to a close, Trihn realized she was glad that she had come out on the boat even if she was anxious about what she would find when she got home. She had tried not to think too much about it, but as they docked the boat and then drove back to the house, nerves buzzed through her body.
“Let me know if you need me later, okay?” Ian whispered into her ear when they pulled up to the house.
She nodded. She was so tense that she couldn’t even speak. She just hurried inside.
None of the lights were on when she walked in, which she took as a good sign. Maybe Preston had already left, and Lydia was napping or something.
She didn’t know, but she was ready to find out.
Her feet carried her through the kitchen and then into the dark living room. She flipped the switch on and stumbled backward into the wall. Of all the things she had expected, this was not it.
Lydia and Preston were lying on the couch, their clothes were rumpled, and they were making out like it was the last thing they were ever going to do.
“What the fuck?” Trihn cried.
“I THOUGHT YOU SAID THEY WERE ARGUING, TRIHN,” Linh said. She had been following close on Trihn’s heels and witnessed what was happening on the couch. “I should have realized that was teenager code for wanting to be alone in the house.”
Trihn just stared open-mouthed at the display before her. On the inside, she was raging. What the fuck could have happened in the span of an afternoon to go from Lydia yelling at Preston about cheating on her to making out on the couch? There was no way they should still be dating. It made zero sense.
“You guys are back!” Lydia said. She quickly straightened and stood. “Already.”
“Already,” Linh said with a shake of her head. “It’s dinnertime, and the Petersons invited us over. You should go…freshen up.” Linh raised her eyebrows at the two of them. On a normal day, she wouldn’t care what her children were doing and with whom, but she didn’t like for it to interfere with her plans.
“Okay, Mom,” Lydia said. She brushed her hair over her shoulder and smiled lazily.
“Yes, ma’am,” Preston said quickly.
Linh nodded at them, as if her message was clear, and then left for her own room to get ready for dinner.
Trihn just glared at Lydia and Preston. “What the fuck is this?” she demanded as soon as Linh was out of earshot. “When I left, you were screaming at each other, and a few hours later, you’re back to making out? What part of ‘he was cheating on you,’ did you misunderstand, Ly?”
Lydia looked up at Preston, and he nodded.
“Can we go talk?” Lydia asked, nodding toward the empty den.
“We can’t talk right here? Are you afraid Mom and Dad will find out what an asshole he is?” Trihn said.
All the anger that she had been feeling this week on vacation was pouring out of her. She wanted to yell and scream at the top of her lungs for everyone to hear. The man who she had loved could not be putting her through this hell right now.
“Trihn, let’s just try to be reasonable,” Preston said softly, consolingly.
Fuck that.
“Do not try to talk to me like I’m an idiot. I see what is going on here, but I don’t understand any of it.” She clenched her hands into fists. “Someone, please explain to me how this happened. What lies did he feed you for you to just ignore the facts?”
“He didn’t feed me any lies, Trihn,” Lydia said carefully.
“You don’t know him if you think that every word he says is the truth. He twists words and the truth, all so that you will believe him…so you’ll fall for him.”
“Jesus, Trihn,” Preston said. “I didn’t realize you thought that lowly of me.”
“You made me feel this way!” Trihn tried to reel herself in, but it wasn’t working. She had never thought that Preston and Lydia would stay together once Lydia had found out the truth. In fact, Trihn had been more worried about hurting her sister. It was apparently all for nothing.
“We actually both wanted to talk to you about this,” Lydia said, standing in between Trihn and Preston. “This wasn’t how we wanted you to find out that we were staying together.”
“What exactly would be a good way for me to find that out?”
“Not like this, obviously.”
“Obviously,” Trihn repeated. “Just…why?”
“I know that you and Preston were talking for a while this summer,” Lydia began.
“Talking,” Trihn said tonelessly. If that’s what you call fucking backstage at a ballet and on his dining room table and at the studio and, and, and…
“Yes, but after Preston and I discussed it, I realized I was only getting half of the story. Just your half. I didn’t realize how much more there was to it.”
“Oh, this should be a real treat. What exactly is Preston’s side of the story? And how does what we did this summer equate to just talking?” Trihn asked.
“Trihn, I know you told Lydia that I was your boyfriend this summer, but we never defined our relationship like that,” Preston said.
She couldn’t even meet his gaze. She stared firmly at Lydia. If she looked at Preston, her anger might disintegrate into tears. “I’m not sure the definition is relevant at this point. You and I both know what happened this summer.”
“The truth is…Preston and I never defined our relationship this summer either. We never talked about dating exclusively.” Lydia shrugged. “I don’t normally do that anyway. Until I invited him to come on vacation with us, he hadn’t even realized how serious we were and that maybe I would want this to become something more. We both messed around with other people before that point, so that’s why he didn’t break up with you until right before vacation.”