Tommy Harrington

Tommy Harrington, a character in the A Very Scandalous Proposal book, is Simon/Ava Montjoy's best friend. He is first seen in Chapter 3.

Appearance
Tommy has gray eyes, short dark blond hair, and fair-to-tan skin. His casual outfit consists of a white dress shirt and blue blazer. When you first see him, you note him to be slim.

Personality
Tommy appears warm and friendly to you. He knows how to navigate the upper crust of British society and as a "commoner", he doesn't appear to look down upon you. He hides his discomfort at spending profligate amounts of money to keep up appearances in front of Simon/Ava's more affluent friends. Rather than drink a cocktail costing over 2500 pounds, he sticks with a gin and tonic and says the fancier (and hence pricier) drinks are wasted on him.

In Chapter 14, you discover his personality in front of you was a ruse. Even though he appears to care about Simon/Ava, he doesn't like you for coming between them. He thinks it's his responsibility to make sure Simon/Ava sees these women can't be trusted to keep promises and that they will break Simon/Ava's heart.

Background
Unlike Simon/Ava, Tommy was not "to the manor born" and only managed to get into the right schools. His family has no title and nothing like "old money". He may be upper crust, but 'not the kind that counts,' according to him.

Years ago, his family was on the track for a knighthood. However, his father's embezzlement scandal came to light and it all fell through. Their family business, Harrington & Sons, which Archie Windermere named as "king of paper goods" was shut down and eventually Tommy found work at a hedge fund. When it happened, Simon/Ava tried to help by inviting Tommy to stay and by offering money, but Tommy refused on both accounts.

A Very Scandalous Proposal

 * Chapter 3: Mind your Manners
 * Chapter 4: Everyone Who's Anyone
 * Chapter 5: Secrets of the Estate (Mentioned)
 * Chapter 6: Out on the Town
 * Chapter 7: Apartment Hunting (Mentioned)
 * Chapter 8: The Royal Ascot
 * Chapter 9: The Charity Gala
 * Chapter 10: Treachery Afoot
 * Chapter 13: Facing the Music (Mentioned)
 * Chapter 14: Revelations (Mentioned; Physical Appearance Determinant)
 * Chapter 15: Weathering the Storm
 * Chapter 16: The Next Generation (Mentioned)

Simon/Ava Montjoy
Tommy has been Simon/Ava's best friend for as long as he/she can remember. They have known each other since they went to Fulton together as "nippers" (young children), utter "hellions" as Simon/Ava puts it. They liked to play a game called "Robin Hood" which involved climbing trees and falling on top of each other while shrieking bloody murder. Tommy practically lived at the Barrington house during the summer after year five. He and Simon/Ava would spend hours exploring the hidden secret passages of the house, and his room (which even Margaret Montjoy has nicknamed the "Tommy room") shares a passageway with the Blythe Suite.

They also attended Kingsbridge College together. When he stays at the Barrington house, he stays in the Pevensie Room. During your dive into the Montjoy past, you find photos of tween-aged Tommy and Simon/Ava in a tree fort, on horseback, and even a sleepover selfie. If asked, Simon/Ava will say that Tommy is his/her best friend. Simon/Ava confided in Tommy about the reason he/she ended the engagement with Arabella Fitzwilliams.

In Chapter 14, when you and Simon/Ava meet Bones for dinner, he admits that Tommy told him that he couldn't believe Simon/Ava had let some "silly Yank hen" get between them after two decades of friendship. If you take a walk with Simon/Ava afterwards, he/she admits that this isn't the first time Tommy has attempted to drive a wedge between Simon/Ava and the person he/she loved. It happened with Arabella; Tommy kept telling Simon/Ava that he/she was a fool for loving her, that she was untrustworthy and no good for him/her and that she would drive them apart.

Your Character
In Chapter 3, you meet him when Simon/Ava invites you to meet his grandparents. As a fellow "commoner", he appears to be helpful when you're navigating through the social nuances of British society. When you meet up with Simon/Ava's lot of friends, Tommy is there. While the rest are nonchalant about throwing their credit cards around and spending enormous amounts of money, you catch glimpses of Tommy bracing himself or cursing under his breath about the costs. In Chapter 8, if you learned about Arabella's affair and mention it to Tommy, he is surprised because he thought Simon/Ava had only told him.

If you spent time looking through Simon/Ava's album in his/her London loft, you find a handwritten note paper-clipped to a voided check for 15000 pounds. There Tommy writes Simon/Ava thanking him/her for the thought but to not send him money. When you bring it up to Tommy in Chapter 9, he is embarrassed and you apologize.

In Chapter 13, after Simon/Ava tells you about (or shows you in a premium scene) the hidden passageways of the Barrington estate, you realize that it had to have been Tommy who sold the story to the Daily Star. Simon/Ava does not want to believe it, but you work on gaining proof of your suspicions. If you take Nigel up on his offer, he looks through your laptop and finds that someone exported your hard drive onto a flash drive, used your email to email the Daily Star as well as carbon-copied himself as your agent, custom-built a dummy account and used Hugo's initials to hide himself, and downloaded a list of all your book publisher's competitors, using your email once again to broker an introduction as your 'esteemed writing colleague.' The dummy account's IP address traces back to Tommy's London address.

In Chapter 14, when you and Simon/Ava meet Bones for dinner, he admits that Tommy told him that you had ruined everything he had hoped for in one fell swoop.

Benedict "Bones" Highgate
In their group of friends, besides Simon/Ava himself/herself, Tommy has been closest to Bones. In Chapter 14, Simon/Ava and you meet up with Bones to ask him about Tommy. At dinner, Bones says that Tommy has been uncomfortable about his finances for a little while. He only noticed a change over the past week or so, and a few days before the Whittenby Gala, Tommy said he made quite a big payday, which Bones assumed he had made a lucrative trade.

Arabella Fitzwilliams
Arabella Fitzwilliams is Simon/Ava's ex-fiancee. To prove that she was no good for Simon/Ava and couldn't be trusted, Tommy had a fling with her which resulted in them breaking their engagement.

Trivia

 * His character model resembles the Magnusson triplets from Bachelorette Party.
 * He shares the same name as Tommy Walsh from Veil of Secrets, Tommy Phelps from Red Carpet Diaries, Book 2, and Tommy Rose from Crimes of Passion.
 * He shares the same surname as Katrina and Beckett Harrington from The Elementalists series.