All These Things I've Done (Birthright #1)(47)

Friday night was Scarlet’s sixteenth birthday so I got my cousin Fats to give us the back room at his speakeasy. On account of my legal problems and the state of Gable’s health, we decided to keep the guest list small – a few of Scarlet’s drama friends, Natty, and that would be that. I wasn’t planning to serve coffee or chocolate or anything, but I still wasn’t sure if we should invite Win or not. As this wasn’t a surprise party, I discussed the matter with Scarlet. (Incidentally, I don’t believe in surprise parties. I don’t like to be surprised and I’m not sure that anyone does.) So, back to Win. ‘He knows what your family does, Annie,’ Scarlet said. ‘It’s not this big secret. I say we definitely invite him.’

I hadn’t told Scarlet about my conversation with Win’s father. In point of fact, I hadn’t mentioned it to anyone. It was too embarrassing, I suppose. ‘You ask him if you want,’ I told Scarlet.

Scarlet considered this, then shook her head no. ‘I’ve already made enough of a fool of myself around that boy, thank you very much. You do it.’

‘Fine,’ I said. ‘Do you mind if I ask Leo, too?’

‘Of course not!’ Scarlet said. ‘Why would I mind? I love your brother.’

In a way, that was sort of the problem. It had become increasingly apparent to me that Leo liked my best friend as more than a friend, and I didn’t want him to end up with a broken heart. Scarlet flirted with everyone but I was worried that Leo might not understand that.

‘What about your lawyer?’ Scarlet asked.

‘Mr Kipling? He’s still in the hospital.’

‘Not Mr Kipling! The young one. Simon, is it?’ Scarlet said.

I told Scarlet that he wasn’t that young.

‘How young isn’t he?’

‘Twenty-seven,’ I said.

‘That’s not that old either. That’s only eleven years older than me.’

‘You’re getting as bad as Natty,’ I said.

Scarlet’s mouth slipped into a pout. ‘Well, I don’t like any of the boys my own age.’

I shook my head at her. ‘You’re hopeless,’ I said.

‘And the ones I do like don’t like me back.’

Natty and I got to Fats’s place early to set up the back room. Fats’s place had wrought-iron tables and chairs and a big wooden bar across the back. Vintage advertisements for alcohol hung on the wall in heavy gilt frames. Supposedly, they only served wine but the place reeked of coffee beans. Coffee was a hard smell to get rid of, and it was my favourite scent in the world. Both my parents had loved the stuff. Before it was banned, they had always kept a pot on the stove.

‘How you been, kid?’ Fats asked while we shifted tables and chairs into the back room.

I showed him my ankle tattoo.

‘Now you’re really a Balanchine.’

I sighed. ‘Leo’s working at the Pool.’

‘Heard that, too,’ Fats said.

‘You had something to do with it, didn’t you?’ I asked. Hadn’t Leo told me that Jacks and Fats had been the ones that first took him to the Pool?

Fats shook his head. ‘Pirozhki asked me to introduce him to Leo so I did.’

‘Why did Pirozhki want to meet Leo?’

Fats shrugged. ‘Think he said something about wanting to know more of the family.’

This seemed like a suspicious response, like Fats was hiding something. I would have called him on it, but at that moment Scarlet showed up. She was wearing a strapless red taffeta ball gown and a headband with a peacock feather in it. Natty trailed behind her. ‘Doesn’t Scarlet look pretty?’ Natty said.

‘Amazing,’ I agreed. While it was true that Scarlet looked amazing, she also looked slightly insane.

‘I brought something for you to wear, too,’ Scarlet said. ‘I knew you wouldn’t have changed.’ She was right; I was still wearing my school uniform. Scarlet pulled a black, sequined, drop-waisted dress out of her bag. It was not the kind of thing that I would wear and I told Scarlet so.

‘Come on, it’s my birthday. And I want you to be sparkly,’ Scarlet insisted.

‘Fine,’ I said. ‘If you want me to look ridiculous. You’re early, by the way.’ Scarlet had told me she was planning to arrive fifteen minutes late in order to make a grand entrance.

‘I didn’t want you to have to do everything by yourself,’ she said. ‘I’ll leave and then I’ll come back later to make my entrance.’

The party was a success. Scarlet’s outfit was much admired. (Mine was, too.) I busied myself with the music and keeping everyone fed and watered. I liked having something to do, and I wasn’t in the mood for conversation anyway.

At the end of the night, I had Leo and Natty escort Scarlet home, and I stayed after everyone had left to put the tables and chairs back in their rightful places and to thank Fats.

‘Here,’ Win called. ‘Let me help you with that.’ He took the chair I was carrying and set it in a stack with the others. ‘I can finish that for you.’

‘I thought you’d gone,’ I said. I was not entirely thrilled to find myself alone with him, but if he wanted to move chairs, so be it.

He went over to his hat, which was hanging on a brass hook on the wall. ‘I left my hat,’ he said as he put it on his head.