Page 1 of All The Way Under

CHAPTER ONE

saylor

“But darling, it’s Columbia.” She drags out the center of the last word.

“You don’t just turn down a master’s degree from Columbia because you want to putter around on a dinghy getting sunburnt.

It sounds positively evil,” Mom says, a martini balancing perfectly in one hand and her latest romance novel in the other.

“Just get the degree and then, if you’re still inclined, go for the little boat ride.

The master’s is good for your career.” Puckering her lips, she sips the tiniest of sips.

“My career has been just fine without the master’s, and it’s a yacht, Mom.

It’s not a dinghy. You and Dad bought it for me, remember?

Because I’ve loved sailing my whole life.

Dad taught me everything I know! I’ve been working on my boat all year, getting it ready for this.

That was before I applied for my master’s program.

That can wait. I can defer a year. I’m twenty-eight.

I’m not getting any younger, and sailing takes a lot out of you.

” I play the one card I know she’ll respond to.

“Don’t you want grandchildren this decade?

I must do this sail first.” If I make it sound imperative, she may bite.

She rolls her eyes, sitting down in an oversized chair facing the window. “Daddy only taught you that as a childhood hobby because he loved it. You are a lady of wealth and standing. You can’t be bruising yourself in boats anymore. Grow up, Saylor.”

The irony that my dad named me after his passion is lost on her. A lot is lost on her, but this is all she’s ever known. She went from her daddy’s money to her husband’s. This is the path she wants for me.

Another puckered lip sip makes my fingers curl into a fist. “Archie is at Columbia getting a law degree because he’s finished his master’s.

You should be there with him, so he doesn’t find another suitable woman to marry.

Out of sight, out of mind, darling. You need to keep that one.

He deals with your incorrigible behavior without too much fuss. That’s not easy to find.”

The way she talks about me like I’m an object makes my skin crawl, but I remind myself this is who she is, and it’s fine that I don’t want this life.

I thought I did, while I was in undergrad.

Who wants to be poor? Who wants to struggle to make ends meet?

Who wants to worry about money at all? I think most humans would choose the path my mother wants for me because it’s a sure bet.

I’ve heard the saying that money can’t buy happiness, but I’m here to tell you that when money isn’t a worry at all, you have more time for the things that bring you happiness.

That’s what the phrase should say. Money can’t bring you happiness. You have to find it, make it, do whatever it takes to be happy.

I could marry Archie, who would cheat on me regularly but provide a life so lavish I’d be expected to look the other way and ignore his indiscretions.

I’d never worry about money, and every material possession my heart could dream up would be mine.

This is just the way things work in the small elite circle I’m a part of.

I don’t have to quit my career, but it’s expected of me when kids come along.

Sailing is what gave me a new perspective.

Daddy would take me to places all over the world, and I’d see the way other people live.

As a child, their lives seemed to be so full of love, emotion, and family.

Their customs and foods were better, and the way they treated each other seemed more genuine than anything I’d witnessed. Sailing gave me a way out.

I humored my parents with the Columbia undergraduate degree because, even though I’m meant to be a high-priced breeder, the piece of paper proves I’m of class .

The master’s degree is just plain insanity for the sake of living close to my boyfriend.

Ex-boyfriend. One engineering degree is enough.

I’m smart, and I know it. How long will I have to do what she wants?

I don’t want a lifetime of being a puppet.

Back to the banal conversation at hand. “Archie broke up with me,” I say, rubbing the bridge of my nose.

Her head nearly twists off her neck as she looks at me.

“What was that? Why? Get him back, darling. Whatever it takes. Do whatever it takes. We can’t have you on the market at this age. It makes us all look bad. This boating nonsense is just a hobby, like your father does. It is not something to fill your time with. Look what you’ve done.”

What I’ve done is cast her in a negative light by being a twenty-eight-year-old spinster who enjoys yachting.

Unknown to most, this is still a thing with the upper class. Everything is about how an action makes a family look. I groan.

“Archie said we weren’t a match.” I lift my arms and let them fall by my sides.

“He cheated on me all the time. It’s hard for me to overlook it when everyone around us talks about the infidelity.

Don’t you care about how that makes our family look?

Saylor Wyndham lets people walk all over her,” I say, mocking her tone.

“Isn’t that just as bad as being single and following my actual passion? ”

“Darling, all men cheat and lie. You might as well be rich while they do it.”

I put my hands on my hips. “Dad doesn’t cheat. Or lie.”

She lifts a shoulder. “Yes, but I’m special. Most aren’t.”

I don’t think she means to be offensive, honestly. It comes naturally. It’s a defense mechanism after years of being surrounded by false personalities and empty promises.

“Dad doesn’t cheat because he has high morals.”

He also went to military school and served our country, even though his trust fund had nine zeros after it. After his military career, he joined the family business, Wyndham Technologies, and still works harder than anyone I know.

“He is a worker, Mom. He loves you despite everything.”

I refuse to stoop to her level, but I do often wonder what my dad saw in her all those years ago.

“I am like Dad, Mom. I like adventure and seeing new places all over the world. The challenge of sailing is something I need.”

“It’s going to get you killed, Saylor Jean. You mark my words right this second. Your father stopped going out so much because the world is a dangerous place for people like us.”

“You mean rich? Rich people?”

She scoffs and sips her martini.

“I hate that word. It’s gauche. Wealthy people, Saylor. Wealthy people have targets on their backs. You’re not just any old Joe off the street. You are a Wyndham.”

“I know all there is to know about sailing, and I know the safe routes. Dad is worried, but he will let me go if you give your approval. Please just let me do this one thing, and I’ll come back and be the perfect Wyndham specimen.

” It kills me to give her this open-ended promise, because I know she’ll make it hurt.

Her gaze lights on my face. “Dad said he’d let you go?”

I nod, eager. It’s not a direct no. She loves that man.

“Yes. He’s been helping me prep the boat. He taught me everything I know, and you know how much this used to mean to him. It will be the voyage of a lifetime. It has all the high-tech gear—some I helped design myself—and it’s safe.”

“And when you return, you’ll get your master’s and find a husband?” Another sip, then she holds up her finger. “A respectable husband. Perhaps even one of my choosing.”

My stomach flips. I knew it would be this, though. Mom and her hammer of control.

“Oh, you really are going to take it there? Can’t I fall in love the same way you and Dad did?

Remember Aviva’s arranged marriage? He was gay!

She had to pretend for years that they were happily married until the clubhouse manager saw him going at it with the towel boy in the locker room!

Arranged doesn’t work when both parties aren’t all for it.

” I clear my throat. “All that shame Aviva brought on her family’s name, and she didn’t do anything except what was asked of her. ”

My mother’s face looks ashen as she recalls the scandal.

“It is absolutely horrifying how little Jude cared about his family’s name.

” She groans. “Poor Avivia and her family. I heard they’re working on a new suitor for her.

A really nice man from Europe. He doesn’t know how to act in social settings, but he has standing and power.

You can overlook some things for the right individual. I tell you that all the time.”

Except she doesn’t have to overlook a single thing with Dad. Not one thing.

I stare at her blankly. “You’re serious, aren’t you? You let me go on my world record sailing trip, and I’ll go get my master’s. Bronwyn didn’t even get her master’s before she got married.”

My older sister got out of this house as quickly as possible after high school. I envy her every day. Going back to college is the lesser of the two evils, for sure. I cannot have Bianca Wyndham select my husband. It will end worse than it did for Aviva and Jude. I shudder at the thought.

My mother finishes her drink and twirls the metal toothpick holding her garlic-stuffed olives.

“You always were going to give me gray hair, weren’t you? Bronwyn was too easy. I should have known this would be a battle. I’ll agree to let you go if you let me talk to Archie, and you get your master’s from Columbia when you return.”

She closes her teeth over the olives and pulls them off the pick.

“Lastly, you will be finished with your crazy adventures after that.”

She tosses the metal pick into her glass. It clanks loudly.

“Do we have an understanding?”

She requires me to give, give, give.

“Archie moved on the second I hung up the call. I’m sure of it. Mom, he moved on before he broke up with me. I agree to everything else.”