Page 65 of The Havenport Collection

Astrid

“ T rust me. This is the fastest and most painless way to announce our relationship to the world,” Declan declared as we walked down the street.

“Can’t we just post on social media?”

“I don’t have social media. I hate that shit.”

I did not understand that at all. Stalking people on social media was one of my favorite pastimes.

I never posted anything about myself, but I loved to troll Instagram and Facebook to get a glimpse of the lives of some of my old friends.

And okay, a lot of my former enemies as well.

There is a lot of ugliness at an all-girls boarding school.

Sometimes, hate scrolling through someone’s boring-ass life was very satisfying.

Declan pulled me into a shiny and retro-looking restaurant. The sign above the door read “Jackie’s Diner I wasn’t either. So I had to just grin and bear it.

“Regardless, Jackie can be intimidating.”

“Oh, please. She is nothing compared to my mother,” I said, taking the last bite of my English muffin.

“You’ve never mentioned her. What is she like?”

“My mom?” I took a huge sip of coffee to buy some time. “Justice Wentworth, as she is known, is a state Supreme Court Judge here in Massachusetts. She has been a judge since I was a kid, but she was elevated to the highest court by the Governor about five or six years ago.

“Wow. I had no idea.”

“She’s intense, kind of scary, and the smartest person in every room she enters.”

“That must be a lot to live up to.”

I snorted. “You have no idea.”

“I really don’t. Tell me more.”

“There’s not much else to tell. My mom has devoted her life to her career and public service.

She did not spend a lot of time with me growing up.

She tried her best, but it was just the two of us, and she worked really long hours.

” That was a bit of an understatement, but I found people didn’t love to hear me complain about my absent mother.

“What about your dad?”

“My parents divorced when I was two. He remarried—wife number three—shortly after and now lives in Palm Beach with wife number four.” My dad was a good person, but he was busy too. And I’m pretty sure my mom went out of her way to keep him away from me as a kid.

He nodded, clearly unsure what to say.

“My dad is great. I talk to him on the phone pretty frequently. He was a tax attorney for a long time and then became a tax professor. I have some half siblings from his first marriage, but we don’t have much of a relationship.”

“That’s too bad.”

“They pretty much hated me. He and my mom had an affair when they were at the same law firm. He left his wife and kids for her when she got pregnant with me.” There it was.

The secret family shame. I was the product of an office affair gone wrong, and not only did I wreck my mom’s life, I also wrecked the lives of my half siblings.

To say they had never forgiven me was an understatement.

“I’m sorry.” He looked concerned, and I didn't want his pity.

“It’s fine,” I said, forcing a smile. “I don't love talking about my family.”

He nodded. “Noted. Now finish your coffee like a good girl and we can go lie on the couch with Ginger and enjoy our food comas.”

I smiled at him. I liked the way he cut off my self-pity at the knees. “Aww. You are so sweet. Can we watch TV?”

“Of course. What do you want to watch?”

What didn’t I want to watch. I had essentially existed in a vacuum outside of popular culture for the last decade. I never knew what people were talking about, and it felt like I had missed out on all sorts of cool stuff. “I want to watch everything that’s really good from the past few years.”

“That’s a tall order. Where do you want to start?”

“Have you ever heard of this show called Game of Thrones ?” I asked. Hopefully he hadn’t seen it already.

“Sure. I think you’ll like it. The king sits on a throne forged from the swords of defeated enemies.”