Cara nodded absentmindedly as she gave me a quick glance and continued scanning the room. Obviously I didn't merit much of an acknowledgement.
"Have you seen Grant?"
Ah, so that was her real motive for approaching Simon. I wasn't surprised that Cara was here. Her family was friends with both Simon and Grant's family. But I was surprised that Grant wasn't by her side. From what I had learned in the past year and a half, Cara seemed to have the upper hand in their on-again, off-again relationship.
"He's here somewhere," I volunteered before Simon could answer. "I think he and Sarah were headed to the main room."
Cara's eyes narrowed as she swung her gaze to me. She was no longer distracted and her entire attention was focused on me. "Sarah's here?" It seemed that a realization was dawning on her, as if she had just heard Simon's introduction of me. "You're Caitlin from Maxwell? Sarah's Caitlin?"
I wasn't sure how to answer her question so I just nodded. "Yes. We came down for Kendra's birthday." I cocked my head, curiosity killing me. "Do you know Sarah?" I knew the answer to this, knowing that Sarah and Cara had never met, but I couldn't resist asking. I never thought Cara would know who Sarah was.
Cara pressed her lips together. "We've never met but I know...of her." She glanced in the direction of the main room. She turned back to Simon and I was forgotten again. "I heard you transferred to Maxwell. Why on earth would you do that? You just had one more year left at Yale, and then law school."
"I've found that Maxwell is much more interesting than Yale," Simon replied, winking at me.
Cara glanced down at our intertwined hands and grimaced. "Really Simon? I thought you were too smart to get involved with..." She looked at me as if I was some foreign specimen she was loathe to inspect. "With someone you obviously have nothing in common with."
Anger flared in Simon's eyes as I felt him tense. "That's where you're wrong, Cara. I have plenty in common with Caitlin. It's you I have nothing in common with. I'd hate to think that I had as l
ittle class and integrity as you."
Cara's face paled at Simon's words and she looked furious. "If you think you can-"
"I can do plenty-"
"Simon." I interrupted him, placing my other hand on his arm. He looked down at me, his eyes still stormy with anger. I shook my head. "Don't get into an argument over this. It's not worth it." I looked Cara up and down disdainfully. My opinion of Grant was rapidly plummeting if this was the girl that had him wound up for as long as I had known him. "She's not worth it. Obviously her badly done nose job is pinching some nerve to her brain, preventing blood flow and rational thought."
Cara started sputtering but I just drew Simon away. He guffawed at my last statement, admiration shining in his eyes. "I'll have to remember never to offend you, in case you turn that sharp tongue on me."
I grinned. "Now you're learning."
We walked into the main room together and I saw Grant and Sarah off to the side talking. More specifically, Grant was talking and Sarah was just standing there listening. I tried to catch her eye but she wasn't looking in my direction. I was absurdly curious as to what Grant was saying and reminded myself to ask her for all the nitty gritty details later.
"Caitlin," Simon said, breaking into my reverie. "I'd like you to meet my father. Dad, this is Caitlin."
I looked up, all thoughts of Sarah and Grant erased from my mind. Before me stood the spitting image of Simon, only thirty years older. His father's hair was peppered with grey, but I could still see the dark brown that was so much like Simon's. His eyes were brown instead of blue, but everything else was Simon. He looked down at me not unfriendly, but not overly enthusiastic either.
"Hello, Mr. Crewe," I said, smiling brightly and telling myself not to keel over from nerves. "Thank you so much for letting us stay over this weekend. Your home is beautiful and this is an amazing party."
Mr. Crewe smiled faintly, the same way Simon smiled when he was amused. "Hello, Caitlin. We're happy to have you."
I desperately searched for something else to say and was about to launch into a monologue about the party decorations, something I'm sure he had no interest in, when Simon spoke up.
"Caitlin's a business major at Maxwell. She's on her way to graduating summa cum laude."
I looked at Simon in surprise. I had no idea he knew that. I had never discussed my grades with him. And it wasn't set in stone that I would be graduating with those honors. Although I had to admit I would have to mess up pretty badly to lose that honor.
"Really?" Simon's father looked interested for the first time. "What are you planning on doing after college?"
"Well, I'm not sure. I interned at a company this past summer in Philadelphia and I have a standing job offer there, but I'm not sure if Philly is where I want to end up. I've also been considering going to grad school." I didn't add that while I wanted to get my MBA, I wasn't sure if I wanted to take on the loans necessary to go to grad school.
"What company did you intern for?"
"PNC Financial Services."
Mr. Crewe's eyebrows rose at my answer. "That's a Fortune 500 company. What would you be doing for them?"
"I would be working as an analyst."