Page 43 of Remember Me
A single entry comes up. TheYale Daily Newsdating back fifteen years. I click on the link. The headline:Legacy Letdown.
Kayla Phillips, the daughter of wealthy film financier and Yale alumni, Stanton Phillips, was ousted from the university this week on the grounds of unlawful possession, use, and distribution of illicit substances. The stunning announcement comes just after Ms. Phillips was caught last month in a swank New York City hotel lounge snorting cocaine with friends.A spokesperson for Yale president, Richard C. Levin, said that regardless of her status as the daughter of one of the university’s most influential donors, she won’t be welcome back this fall. He cited Yale’s strict no-drug policy.
My pulse speeds up. Anxiously, I type:Kayla Phillips/Sotheby’s Institute of Art in Londonin the search bar. Almost instantly, a flurry of articles from various UK gossip magazines appears. One after another, I click on the headlines.
OK!: American Heiress Drug Bust!
Daily Mirror: Kay-Lo’s Rock Star Drug Orgy
Daily Mail: Sotheby’s to Kay-Lo: Get Clean or Go Home!
Tatler: American Princess Royally Screws Herself
Party after wild party. An endless orgy of sex, drugs, and booze. I click on the last article and discover that Kayla was indeed expelled from the prestigious academy after having adrugged-out affair with one of her professors and plagiarizing one of his scholarly papers.
A Yalie and art school grad? Bullshit. She’s a total fake. But what really alarms me is her reckless, drug-addicted past. Does Finn know about it?
And there’s this: Did her drug habit drive her to try to kill me?
Suddenly, the thud of footsteps drums in my ears. I swivel my head.
Finn. He looks stressed out. And tired.
“Hey, what are you doing here?” he asks, trudging my way.
Quickly, I slam my computer shut. I don’t want him to know I was stalking his fiancée.
“I hope you don’t mind, but I told Rosita to leave early. She wasn’t feeling well.”
Finn lifts his brows. “What’s wrong with her?”
“Just a bad headache. Since she has the weekend off anyway, I thought she should get an early start. A good night’s rest.”
Finn nods in approval.
“I cooked dinner and put Maddie to bed.”
Finn perks up at the mention of his daughter’s name. “Did she give you a hard time?”
With a laugh, I tell him that she was perfectly behaved and that we readMadelinetogether. The delicious memory of her kissing me goodnight is not one I share. Finn seems pleased.
“What are you still doing up?” He glances down at his watch. “It’s late.”
“I’m not tired and besides, I didn’t want to leave Maddie alone in case she woke up.”Or had an asthma attack,I add silently.
“Thank you.” He folds his long legs over the stool opposite me. “Are there any leftovers? I’m starving.”
“I whipped up a spaghetti casserole—enough to feed an army.”
“A spaghetti casserole?”
“Uh huh.” It was one of the few simple dishes I made in my other life and Finn loved it. “Do you want some?”
“Yeah, that would be great.”
I can feel his eyes on me as I prepare a generous plateful and place it in the microwave. When the electronic oven dings, I return to the island with the heated up pasta.
“Here you go.” I set the plate down on the counter along with a fork and tablespoon. Then go back to where I was sitting.