you hadn’t been involved.”
“I know.”
“You better, and I’ll pretend you only asked because you were suffering from temporary amnesia caused by traumatic breakup stress.”
“Sorry.”
As quickly as Dean had ended our relationship, Mel and I had mended ours. The best friendships don’t need grand gestures or lots of weeping and begging for forgiveness because the best friendships are never really broken, only a little bent for a time.
“If I’m not the dastardly villain, who else would’ve done it?”
I shook my head. I’d been asking myself the same thing, but Dean hadn’t shown me the messages, so I had absolutely nothing to go on.
“And you’re sure no one else knew?”
“I didn’t tell anyone, and I know Dean didn’t.”
Mel sighed. “You probably don’t wanna hear this—”
“You’re probably right.”
“But maybe this is for the best. If Dean was so quick to give up on you guys, maybe he wasn’t as invested as you thought he was.”
What Mel was saying made sense, but she was right that I didn’t want to hear it. Besides, Dean might’ve been able to lie about his feelings, but he couldn’t have faked what I felt when he touched me or when he kissed me. That was real.
“What about Jackson McMann?”
“What about him?” I asked.
Mel had her phone out and was searching for something. “I read a couple of days ago about him saying he had this huge bomb to drop, but no one paid it much attention because he also said he had a plan to create a fleet of surveillance drones that would use facial recognition technology and predictive AI over major cities to lower crime. Here!” She handed me her phone.
I scanned the article and found what Mel was talking about. It was just a line suggesting that McMann had information he was going to reveal that would shock the nation.
“I don’t know,” I said. “He’s pulled this kind of stunt before.”
“But he’s got the most to gain,” Mel said. “Tell me Arnault’s voters wouldn’t freak out if they found out about you and Dean. Hell, your dad’s supporters wouldn’t be too happy about it either.”
Mel might’ve been right, but I didn’t care. “We’re not together anymore, so it doesn’t matter.”
“But if someone really does have proof you guys were together, they could still go public with it. Don’t you think you should warn Dean?”
“Warn him about what? This isn’t enough to prove anything.” I handed Mel back her phone and shook my head. “Besides, Dean made his choice. I wanted to face this together. He didn’t.”
“So that’s it?”
“Yeah,” I said. “That’s it.”
Dean
MINDY FLICKED AN olive that hit me in the nose. I’d expected her to wear something that looked like a prom dress, but instead she was wearing an elegant emerald-green off-the-shoulder gown, and she looked beautiful. We were the youngest people at the event by far, and most of the guests didn’t seem to want to have much to do with us.
“What is your problem?” she asked.
“Nothing.”
“You haven’t said anything all night. Normally, I’d be okay with that, but I’m so bored and I need you to entertain me before I go out there and start ruining marriages for fun.”
My mother had warned me before we had picked up Mindy that I needed to make certain she didn’t get into any trouble. Aside from that, my mother hadn’t said much else. It was like my little scene at dinner had never happened. Under other circumstances, I would have been embarrassed by my outburst and would have welcomed my mother’s situational amnesia, but I didn’t want her to forget because I couldn’t forget.
I waved Mindy off. “Do whatever you want.”
“Problems with Mommy Dearest? Things were a little frosty between you two earlier.”
“Aside from the fact that my mother only seems to care about me so long as I do exactly what she wants me to do? No, everything’s perfect.”
Though the fundraiser was being attended by the rich and famous, I felt like I was at a wedding. Tables were arranged around a dance floor, and a string quartet played covers of popular songs that I imagined Nora had selected. The food was forgettable, but there was plenty of alcohol, so no one else seemed to mind. My mother had given a rousing speech, and I’d applauded when, where, and as enthusiastically as I was expected to, but I hadn’t heard a word she’d said.
“Oh.” Mindy scooted a little closer to me. I’d purposely found an empty table so that I could brood without interruption. “But you’ve