The Last Book Party(52)

I started to turn away, but Jeremy grabbed my arm and yanked me back. “I’m full of shit?” he said, holding my arm tightly, his voice rising. “I wrote every word of that novel. Unlike you, I actually write. Day after day, night after night. All you do is talk about it and whine about how it doesn’t flow.” His voice was so cold. “I work at writing. You just make yourself feel like a writer by fucking one.”

I was stunned. My chin trembled. Jeremy dropped my arm and glared at me, waiting for me to say something. I couldn’t stand the thought that he’d see me cry. I looked down the hill and, to my horror, saw Franny and Lil, hand in hand, skipping toward us. “Shit.”

“What ho, fair friends!” said Franny, stopping in front of us. “What gives? Is this a lover’s quarrel?”





44





“Are you guys a couple?” Lil said sweetly. “That’s so romantic.”

“Oh, there’s a romance, but it doesn’t involve me,” Jeremy said.

“Don’t,” I said.

“Who’s the lucky fellow?” Lil asked me.

Jeremy and I locked eyes, as if we were daring each other to be the first to speak. To stop him from exposing the truth about Henry and me, I tossed the novella to Franny.

“What’s this?” he said, catching the booklet.

I explained what it was and what Jeremy had done with it. As I talked, I could sense Jeremy watching me.

Franny seemed surprised that his father had written fiction. “I had no idea,” he said, flipping through the pages. He looked up at Jeremy. “But what the hell? You stole his story? You lied to me?”

“Don’t listen to Eve,” Jeremy said. “It’s nothing like mine.”

“Which, again, begs the question—why the secrecy?” I said.

“Yeah,” Franny said. “Why didn’t you tell anyone? Or at least ask Henry if you could adapt his story? You started your novel years ago.”

“I was going to tell him. And I will,” Jeremy said. “C’mon, Franny, you know how I feel about Henry. Of course I’ll tell him.” I was surprised by his eagerness to convince Franny of his sincerity, as if Franny’s opinion of him was more important than anyone else’s. “I tried calling him last week. He’s hard to reach.”

“Seriously?” I said. “You can do better than that. Henry is here every single day.”

Jeremy hesitated. “He’s been busy this summer … with writing and … with other things.” He looked up at me. I could sense his anger like a physical force, as if my affair with Henry had been a betrayal of him as much as of Tillie. In a tight, menacing voice, he said, “From what I’ve heard, Henry’s been rather busy fucking his assistant.”

My heart pounded. I couldn’t move. I locked eyes with Jeremy, afraid to look at Franny.

“Henry’s having an affair with his assistant?” Lil said. She looked toward the side of the house and the guests dancing on the porch to “Chain of Fools.” “Who is she? Is she here? Is it the redhead?”

Franny turned to me and in a quiet voice that hit me like a slap said, “Oh, she’s here all right.”

“It’s not like you still cared,” I hissed, but not too quietly for Lil to hear.

“What do you mean ‘still cared’?” she asked.

When I didn’t answer, she turned toward Franny, who had thrown his head back and was looking up at the sky. Lil collapsed onto her knees. With her dress pooling around her, she pounded her tiny fists against her thighs. She looked at Franny, and at me, and then back at Franny. “Tell me you didn’t.”

Franny sank to the ground next to her and grabbed her hands in his. She pulled them away.

“It was nothing, Lil-bear,” Franny said. “Seriously. It just happened. I didn’t mean it. It was … a hiccup.”

“A hiccup?” I said.

Even if Franny had always intended that I would be a one-night indiscretion, to hear him describe it that way hurt me more than his lack of communication all summer.

Franny glared at me. “Don’t kid yourself that you mean anything to my father. It’s happened before and it’s insignificant. My parents have an understanding. They’re solid. Someone like you could never come between them.”

Jeremy and I caught each other’s eyes. I shook my head, trying to signal to him not to say anything. The night was shocking enough already. But Jeremy was determined to keep the focus off himself. He crouched down on the grass opposite Franny and Lil, who was hugging her body and looking as if she might cry. I picked up the novella, which Franny had dropped on the grass.

“There’s been a … development,” Jeremy said. “Involving Lane.”

Franny looked bewildered.

“My father was sleeping with Lane too?”

Jeremy shook his head.

“What is happening?” Lil said, covering her face with her hands.

Franny wrapped his arms around her.

“Nothing is happening. We’re good, we’re good. I love you.”

“Not Henry,” Jeremy said. “Lane and Tillie … a romance.”

“I don’t understand,” Franny said.