is all a lie? Some fucking game to you. My life is not a game! I’m a human being. You don’t get to toy with me like a puppeteer, tugging on my strings.”
“I wasn’t. I swear. It wasn’t like that with you.”
“You entered a bet! You actually bet on whether or not you could fuck me and get me to fall for you. That is playing with people’s lives! My life. And what did I get out of it? A few weeks of sex and then a lost job, a lost place to stay, a lost life.”
“I did not expect any of that to happen.”
“You never expect it! Because nothing bad ever happens to you. And none of you give a fuck that you’re ruining other people’s lives! That girl Addie even tried to warn me,” I said with a shake of my head. Disgusted with myself. “And I was too dumb, too stuck up your ass to see it.”
“Natalie, I am so sorry for what happened. But I’m glad that we had those months. I didn’t know that we’d fall for each other. That we’d end up here.”
“Do you even hear yourself?” I shook my head in exasperation. Then I turned and started walking down the driveway.
“Natalie, stop.”
“No, you stop! Stop talking to me! I don’t want to hear anything else that comes out of that mouth of yours. You can’t make this right. In Paris, you lied and manipulated me. That is nothing compared to this. Fool me once.”
“It was all real. The bet was stupid. Just a pretense for me to get close to you. But how I feel, that’s real,” he tried to assure me.
“You didn’t need a pretense!” I screamed at him.
I stopped in place, looked up at the sky, the beautiful blue sky that was such a lie today when everything else fell apart. I couldn’t stand this. Couldn’t handle this anymore.
I turned to face him. Not with tears in my eyes, but anger. No heartbreak, just emptiness. This was the end. It was over. Penn Kensington had done everything he could to ruin what was left of the romantic in my soul.
My voice was calm when I finally spoke again, “You spew all this shit about ethics. But you can’t tell that betting on someone’s life is wrong? That this is wrong? You research and study and teach what is happiness, what is the good life, how to live an ethical existence. But you don’t live it.”
“Nat…”
“You’re not ethical, Penn. You’re a hypocrite. A fraud.” I swallowed back the pain welling in my chest. “You think you’re so above everyone else on the Upper East Side, but really, you’re just a wolf in sheep’s clothing. Pretending to be one of the good guys when you’re no different than any of them.”
“I wish I could take it all back.”
“Wish upon a star.” I unclasped the bracelet at my wrist and threw it at his feet.
Then I turned and walked away.
“Natalie, please let me at least drive you.”
I kept walking. “I don’t need any of your help anymore. We’re through. Don’t try to contact me.”
I walked down the driveway that led to the road beyond and to the city beyond that. I walked and kept on walking. And I left Penn and the Upper East Side and all of New York and the in my rearview.
Epilogue
One Year Later
“Can you help me with this painting?” Amy asked.
I glanced up from my computer to see her struggling with some massive piece of artwork for her new show at the gallery. I hopped to my feet and helped her maneuver the thing into place.
“Shouldn’t you use your actual help to do this?”
“Hey, you’re here!”
“Yes, and I’m trying to work.”
“Psh, you don’t need to work!”
“Whatever, Amy. I still have to write another book. The publisher won’t be happy with just one.”
“I think you should just milk it for a while.”
I rolled my eyes at my best friend and went back to my computer where I stared at the blank page that was supposed to be my next book. Not that I’d been having any luck with writing anything.
My phone buzzed noisily and I glanced down at it. “Hey, Ames, it’s Caroline. I’m going to take this.”
“Okay!” she called from behind another painting.
“Hey, Caroline,” I said with a smile as I stepped out of the gallery and onto King Street in Charleston. Home sweet home.
“Natalie, darling. I’m glad I got ahold of you. How are you feeling?”