Platinum (All That Glitters #3)(75)

They didn’t say anything to one another as they crossed the street to a shiny black SUV. Lydia clicked the unlock button and popped the trunk. Trihn assessed the vehicle. She didn’t think Lydia had a car. In fact, Lydia was potentially even a worse driver than Trihn had been when she lived here. Las Vegas had caught her up pretty quickly. She had to drive everywhere there, but Lydia hadn’t had that advantage.

“Nice car. When did you get this?” Trihn asked.

Lydia looked up at Trihn after hoisting the bag into the trunk and shutting the hood. “It’s Preston’s.”

“Oh.” Trihn hurried around to the passenger side to hide her distaste.

Lydia got in the car, backed out of the parking spot, and drove them to the exit. Trihn was right. Lydia wasn’t any better of a driver than Trihn remembered. It was almost painful.

“Do you want me to drive?” Trihn asked.

“What? Why?”

“Because I do it all the time, and it looks like you haven’t driven in a long time.”

“It’s fine,” Lydia said. “I wanted to drive you into the city. I really wish that you were staying with me.”

Trihn froze. “I’m going to be super busy. I didn’t want to inconvenience you.” Or be anywhere near Preston.

Lydia read straight through her comment. “It wouldn’t have been an inconvenience at all. It’d have been great to have you around.”

“Well, I’m really just here for work. I have a full itinerary, and the university put me up in a hotel. So, I’m just going to stay there.”

“Right,” she said, deflating. “Dad mentioned that.”

“Yeah.” Trihn looked out the window to avoid the tension.

“I’m just really glad you’re here. I thought you might actually not come home.”

Trihn didn’t have it in her to tell Lydia that she hadn’t wanted to come home, and the thought of seeing her sister and Preston and having anyone bring up their wedding had nearly kept Trihn’s ass firmly in Nevada. She figured her silence was clue enough. And they remained in silence the rest of the way into the city.

It was sad honestly. Trihn had been so close to Lydia before this. She had looked up to her sister, practically idolized her. And now, their relationship had been reduced to rubbish, all because of some stupid guy. If only Lydia could see it that way.

Lydia pulled up in front of the hotel where Trihn was staying in Midtown. It wasn’t as pompous as some of the surrounding buildings, but she didn’t intend on spending a lot of time inside either. Even though she’d left New York for good, that didn’t mean she didn’t miss her home. And she wanted to make the most of the time she had while here.

Trihn hopped out of the car and grabbed her bag from the trunk. Lydia awkwardly stood there, shifting from one foot to another.

“Okay. Thanks for picking me up,” Trihn said.

“Of course. It was good to see you.”

“Yeah.”

“I hope we can spend some time together while you’re here. Pencil me into your busy schedule.”

“We’ll see.”

Lydia reached forward and pulled her into a quick hug before disappearing. Trihn was so surprised that she’d let her. With a shake of her head, Trihn went to check in at the hotel. She didn’t know what was up with Lydia. Is this an act to get back in my good graces? Or is she actually trying to be better?

She deposited her bag in her room and changed into black jeans, a white V-neck, and flats. Even though she had her own style, it had been ingrained in her since her modeling days to show up neutral, like a canvas waiting to be painted.

She returned to the streets with her itinerary pulled up on her iPhone. She had to check in at an endless list of places to make sure she was approved and ready to go. She needed to see the venue. She needed to check the dressing rooms. She needed to consult security and shipping to figure out the best method to get her designs here in one piece. She needed to consult the makeup artists and hairstylists, so she could portray her vision. She needed to have a meeting with the board for the fashion show and with her own personal assistant, which was just insane, and another meeting with the camera crew. And the list went on and on.

By the time she had done only half of those things, Trihn felt exhausted. No wonder Teena had scheduled her to be here for three days to get through this stuff and why she hadn’t come along to deal with the tedious details.

Trihn walked up to a vendor to get a bottle of water. She paid for it with cash, which she always liked to have on hand in the city, and then started skimming the magazines. This had been a habit while she was modeling. She’d liked to see if any of her friends had made it onto the covers, and when she’d had free time before dance, she would pick one up and flip through to see if she could find a familiar face.

Trihn jolted. “Whoa!” Speaking of a familiar face.

She snatched the tabloid magazine out of the stand and stared at the cover. In big letters, it read, Chloe’s Secret Love, and it had a giant picture of Chloe and Damon on the cover. Trihn opened the tabloid and flipped to the page listed. There, in detail, was a series of pictures of Damon and Chloe together. In one, they both had their heads down as they moved through a crowd. A similar picture had Damon with his arm slung over Chloe as they walked into an arena. A few other pictures had them standing side by side at various venues.