Page 26 of One Little Lie
“Because it hurt too much to see him?” Ari guesses.
“Yeah.” I choke back a sob.
“So, a group of ball sacks made a disgusting bet about who could sleep with you first?”
“Who could sleep with the rich guy’s fat friend first was the actual bet, I think.”
“Fuckers.” Lexi actually looks pissed, and I appreciate her loyalty.
“How did you find out?” Ari asks gently.
“Well, Hatty refused to go to prom if we couldn’t go together, but Colton wouldn’t go without me. He ended up coercing a friend of his to take me. Our school was on the smaller side, so it was a combined prom for juniors and seniors. I went, and Hatty said he’d meet me at home after. But I left early. Really early because I heard girls in the bathroom talking about the bet.”
“I fucking hate girls,” Lexi growls.
Swallowing thickly, I force myself to tell the story only my mom knows. “I called Hatty, and he picked me up a few minutes later. I told him what happened, and I thought he was going to set the world on fire. He only calmed down because I asked him to take me to my happy place.”
“Where was that?” Ari asks with a dreamy expression on her face.
“My dad created the gardens at the Westbrook house.”
“Oh my God, they’re beautiful,” Lexi gasps, and a sense of pride in my father warms my chest.
“They really are. Anyway, that’s where my friendship with Halton grew, evolved, morphed into a love I’d never imagined could be real. A few years before this, he had his dad help him build a hammock. A hammock we had discussed in detail, and it became our place.
“We’d been together for about six months or so. He had an art show that he never made it to. We kissed, and our relationship changed from that point on. The night of the prom, under the stars, I lost my virginity to the boy I thought I would love forever. The next morning …” I take a sip of wine for courage. “The next morning, his dad saw us walking inside, and he asked to speak to Halton.
“I waited by the front door, so he could give me a ride home. When he came to find me, he was quiet and agitated. The ride to my house was short and strained, but I just assumed he was embarrassed. I know I was. I mean, there’s no way his dad didn’t know what we’d been up to. However, when he dropped me off, his tone was hard. Nothing like I’d ever seen from him. He …” I pause to swallow my heartache, and Lexi hands me another glass of wine.
“He told me thanks for the hundred bucks. I was confused at first. Then he said it was the hardest money he’d ever won. He didn’t realize I would be such a prude or that he’d have to play the long game to win. He said it was the longest six months of his life and sped off. I don’t think I’d even shut the door.”
“That asshole,” Ari cries.
“Yeah. But then his dad died that day. My mom was on the phone with Sylvie when I walked in. Mr. Westbrook collapsed after we left and died before the paramedics arrived. Sylvie was trying to round up her boys and knew Halton was driving me home. Then he left shortly after the funeral for college. I was supposed to go to the Rhode Island School of Design to be near him the following year, but obviously, I changed my plans. I only saw him a couple of times after that. His mom made him come to London for my twenty-first birthday, and then he made an excuse anytime there was even a chance we’d run into each other after that.”
“So, what made you come home?”
“He’s been protecting me all these years,” I blurt. I feel uneasy as I attempt to explain how he’s taken care of me. I know they may not understand, but this is Hatty. Protecting me in secret when he can’t be there in person.
Glancing around the room, both of my new friends wait expectantly. I appreciate that they don’t rush me, and with a heavy sigh, I continue my story.
“When I was in college, some weirdo followed me home from a party, and the next day campus security seemed to follow me everywhere. When my oven blew up from an electrical fire, a crew showed up in less than two hours, and initially, my landlord didn’t know where they’d come from.” I swallow because the next part is harder to explain.
“I was engaged. In London, to a man named Matthew. We had an okay life.” Sighing, I stare at the wall to collect my thoughts. “He treated me well enough, but he never understood my relationship with Colton or the Westbrooks. He didn’t like how someone always seemed to step in to make my life just a little bit easier whenever something went wrong. But when my car broke down, and a new one showed up the next day, it was the final straw. The delivery man said I’d won it, but we both knew I hadn’t entered anything, and there were no taxes to pay. Matthew kicked me out of our flat. He said he didn’t want to compete with the ghosts of my past anymore. I packed up the little I had in our apartment and moved in with friends for a couple of months while I hired a private investigator.”
“This is all very stalkerish, you know that, right?” Lexi asks, leaning against the counter.
“It is, and it isn’t. He’s a protector, even if he doesn’t know it. At first, I assumed it was Colty, but he would have admitted to the car. When I found out who had bought the car, I knew it was Hatty.”
“How?” Ari gasps, thoroughly engrossed in my saga.
“A company named Hatty’s Heart purchased it.”
“No shit.” Lexi chuckles. “He may be a romantic, but he’s no super sleuth.”
“I came back because I assumed he was doing this out of guilt.”
“You were always supposed to be mine.”I have to shake away the memory.
