Page 5 of That Last Summer

I ignore him and put on a clean tank top and some sandals I find in my closet.

“They’re very traditional when it comes to marriage. They wouldn’t approve,” I explain as I get ready to go downstairs to meet my family.

“Do they really think you haven’t had sex in all this time?”

“I don’t know, but I don’t want to raise suspicions. I don’t need a lecture. And I don’t want my brothers to find out either.”

I open the door, take one last look at my room, at my past, and beckon Jaime to follow me.

“And are they letting us sleep together?” he asks.

“Never in a million years!”

“What if we tell them I’m gay?”

“Nope. You’ll have to sleep in River’s bedroom. And don’t complain, it’s the one with the best sea view.”

“It’s fine,” Jaime says as we go downstairs. “By the way, now that I think about it, you lied to the newspaper. That’s so wrong, Miss Cabana. Damn, wait a minute! You’re not a Miss either.”

“Oh, come on! Cut it out!” I say, whisper-yelling at him and slapping his arm. “And when have I ever lied to the newspaper?”

“Your personal file says you’re single.”

I stop abruptly. “And how do you know that?”

“I snuck into Jackson’s office and read your profile.”

“No, you didn’t!”

“Yes, I did.”

“You went into the big boss’ office to pry into my personal records?”

“Hey, don’t judge me,” Jaime says, moving again, walking downstairs. “When we first met you looked so homelessy I had to make sure you were able to pay the rent.”

“I told you I would pay you.”

“So what?”

“So what? What do you mean by that? You had my word!”

“Pris, sometimes I think you’re from another world. Or maybe not, maybe it’s just you live in a different era. People’s ‘word’ on planet Earth is not worth shit. People lie, and I know you grew up in a home full of peace and love and whatever, but for the millionth time: deception is a thing, even if you don’t know about its existence. God, Pris, you are too trusting.”

He’s not wrong. And maybe it was my naivety that pushed Alex to do what he did, but that’s the way I am, the way I’ve been raised, and I won’t deny myself.

My parents are the owners of a department store located on a very renowned street in town—the most infernal slope in town too. They are huge and there’s always a lot to do, but since I can remember there’s always been several employees helping them, so Mom could be at home with us and Dad was always able to come home early. They were always around, raising us, teaching us their values, their philosophy. They educated us in their own image, emphasizing the good things in life and trying to avoid the not-that-good. They wanted their children to grow up as good people. So no, I do not know falsehood, or artifice, or envy. I haven’t been around them. At least, not until I was twenty-two.

“I’d rather be trusting than live lying to others.”

“I know, and I love you the way you are. But there’s evil in the world, Pris, and I need you to realize that.”

“I’m not stupid, I know there are bad people out there.”

I’d experienced it first-hand.

“Peace, sister.”

* * *