All These Things I've Done (Birthright #1)(24)

Out in the living room, I could hear Win stirring. ‘Sorry we’re all so noisy,’ I called.

Win came into the kitchen. ‘Not a problem,’ he said. ‘Curfew lifts at six so I can start heading home soon anyhow.’

In the predawn light, I could see that his cheek was pretty swollen from where Leo had elbowed him. ‘Your poor face!’ I exclaimed.

He looked at his reflection in our chrome toaster. ‘My dad’s gonna think I was fighting.’ He smiled.

‘Will he be mad?’

‘He’ll probably find the whole thing character-building or some such,’ he replied. ‘He thinks I’m too soft.’

‘Are you?’ I asked.

‘Well, I’m not my father, that’s for sure.’ He paused, then continued. ‘Wouldn’t want to be.’

The oven clock turned to 6.00. ‘I’ll walk you out,’ I said.

At the door, there was an awkwardness between us and I didn’t quite know how to say goodbye. He had seen too much and knew too much about me. There were kids I’d gone to school with for years who knew less about my personal life. I’d dated Gable for close to nine months, and he hadn’t known a thing about Leo’s seizures or Natty’s nightmares. He wouldn’t have wanted to know either – in a way, disinterestedness was one of Gable’s best qualities.

‘What is it?’ Win asked.

I decided to tell the truth. ‘You know too much about me.’

‘Hmm,’ he said. ‘The smart thing to do would probably be to have me killed.’

I laughed. You might think that sort of kidding would offend me, but from Win it didn’t. In a way, it was worse when my background went unacknowledged. ‘No,’ I told him, ‘my dad would have considered that move to be premature. He would have told me to wait and see if you’re trustworthy first.’

‘Or I could tell you all my secrets,’ Win said. ‘You wouldn’t have to worry about me talking because you’d have enough information to ensure my silence. We’d be in it together.’

I shook my head. ‘It’s an interesting theory but I think I’ll go with the wait-and-see approach.’

‘Not very bold,’ he said.

I told him that I wasn’t very bold. That, appearances to the contrary, I was deeply old-fashioned.

‘Yes,’ he said, ‘I can see that about you. Shame, because I don’t think I would have minded you being the keeper of my secrets. I don’t have that many friends in this town yet.’

Standing in that hallway, I could definitely see how it might be nice to kiss him. How I could gently plant one on his bruised cheek and then work my way to his mouth. But this wasn’t in the cards. So, I cleared my throat and apologized again for the insanity of the previous night.

‘Any time,’ he said as he turned to walk down the hall.

I don’t know why, but I watched him walk away. Maybe I wanted a last look at what I was missing. As he got in the elevator, I called out, ‘Goodnight, Win!’

‘Actually, it’s morning!’ he said as the elevator doors closed.

Scarlet left after lunch. ‘Thanks for going along with my doomed plan to seduce Win,’ she said as I waited with her for the elevator. ‘You’re a really good friend, you know.’ She cleared her throat and then she spoke quickly. ‘It’s OK with me if you go for him. He obviously likes you.’

‘Maybe,’ I said. ‘I’m not exactly looking for a boyfriend right now.’

‘Well, when you are, I wanted you to know that I’m not some stupid girl. Our friendship’s not gonna be destroyed if you end up going for Win. I know how hard you have it, Annie—’

‘Please, you don’t have to say any of this, Scar!’

‘I do. You need to know how important you are to me. And that I’d never get in your way over a boy that didn’t like me back anyway. You deserve a really nice boyfriend – not necessarily Win, but definitely not someone like Gable Arsley either.’

‘Scarlet! You’re being absurd.’

‘I deserve a nice boyfriend, too,’ Scarlet said just before the elevator swallowed her up.

The rest of Saturday was quiet, and I was finally able to make a dent in some of my schoolwork, which included reading a massively long article on teeth. The one thing I learned was that Win was probably right about the wear to the enamel. Our subject had been sick and, based on the amount of damage, she’d probably been sick for a very long time. I thought about calling him to say he was right about the teeth, but then I changed my mind. The information would keep until Monday, and I didn’t want to give him the wrong idea.

V I. i entertain two unwelcome guests; am mistaken for someone else

ON SUNDAY, WE HAD TWO visitors, and I could have gladly done without either of them.

The first was Jacks. He showed up after I’d gotten home from church, and he didn’t call ahead.

I opened the door. ‘What do you want?’

‘Is that any way to greet family?’ Jacks was carrying a one-cubic-foot wooden crate. ‘And here I am making a special trip just for Galina. She said she was running low on Balanchine Special Dark.’

‘You know you’re not supposed to carry that stuff out in the open,’ I admonished him. I took the box, then basically chucked it into the foyer.