Total pages in book: 101
Estimated words: 103102 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 516(@200wpm)___ 412(@250wpm)___ 344(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 103102 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 516(@200wpm)___ 412(@250wpm)___ 344(@300wpm)
Apprehension fills Deanna’s face.
“It was like something out of a movie,” I say. “This beautiful blonde, about my age, sitting at the pool in a pink bikini. All bright and brilliant and interested in me.”
“She makes me feel like that, too,” she says. “It’s different, because she’s my sister, but—”
“She is bright and charming.”
“She is.” Deanna nods. She waits. She gives me space to explain.
I do my best. “For the first time, in years, I felt wanted. I saw the beauty and possibility in the world. She became that for me. A fantasy of a life I could have.”
“You fantasized about being with her?”
“Sometimes,” I say. “But it wasn’t about sex or love or companionship even. It was about feeling that energy, the glow, being near the center of attention, being able to charm and smile and fit in any place I go.”
“She does that.”
“And I never felt that. Not here.”
“But you do in New York?” Something else fills her eyes, but I can’t place it.
“Mostly,” I say.
“I guess I can’t argue,” she says. “I love to be around my sister. Because she’s my sister. And because she’s bright and vibrant.”
“You’re a good sister.”
“Sometimes,” she says. “Do you still feel that? The desire to be with someone like her?”
“No, but she’s attached to these ideas. Visions of a different life, the life I could have had if I’d grown up with Grandma. If I was a different person. If I wanted different things. But I’m not. I don’t want different things. I want to be with you,” I say. “Not anyone else. You. I meant it. I’d be heartbroken if this ended.”
“Unless you break mine first,” she says.
“I wouldn’t forgive myself.” I don’t know what to say, so I reach for her. My fingers brush hers.
She stirs, but she doesn’t move.
“Do you ever fantasize like that?” I ask. “A different version of you?”
“Sometimes,” she says. “I would make a great Dr. Ian Malcolm. You know, Jeff Goldblum’s character in Jurassic Park? I’d rock the leather jacket and the sex symbol status. And chaos theory—I love the idea of it, even though it scares me. Because it scares me.”
“Do you want that life?”
“No. There are a little too many T. rexes in that one.”
I snort out a laugh, and it eases the tension in the air. “A T. rex–free vision?”
“I would make a great sex symbol.” A teasing tone returns to her voice.
She’s okay.
We’re okay.
For now, at least.
“Sometimes, I wonder how my life would be different if I’d gone to a different school,” she says. “Started a different company.”
“Does that mean you don’t want the life you have?”
“No,” she admits. “And you never want that life, that fantasy?”
“Not often.”
She looks me over carefully. “Well…if you mean it, if you really are over her, then I could use your help.”
Huh?
“Lexi could, actually. She loves this guy. At least, I’m pretty sure she does, but she doesn’t have a vision of romance the way you do. And she needs that. She needs the veils blowing in the wind and whatever else romance is for her. But I understand…if you don’t want to do it.”
“No. I do.”
“You want to help my sister see her future with another guy?” she asks.
“See the future that’s right for her. It might not be this guy, though.”
“Okay,” she says. “I trust you.”
“You do?”
“Yeah. I do.” She holds out her hand. “As long as you promise you’ll do what’s best for her. Not for me. Not for you. Not for Jake. For her.”
I start to shake.
“No. Like this.” She holds up her pinkie. “Me and Lexi always pinkie-swear. It feels right.”
We pinkie-swear.
And then, she explains everything.
Jake and Lexi meeting, via the app. Lexi coming home, the first night, already over the moon. The second night, shocked he didn’t invite her home. The third, aghast he turned her down.
And when he asked her to wait—
Lexi saw it as a challenge, even if she didn’t admit it to herself.
They were doing well. Lexi didn’t even notice how long they’d been together, until Willa brought up the suggestion for a poster couple. As soon as Lexi felt that outside pressure, she panicked. She lost interest. She ran.
But she loves him. She does.
That’s what Deanna believes, anyway.
“I promised myself I’d stay out of it this weekend,” she says. “And I meant that. I want to give her time and space to figure it out for herself.”
“But?”
“But Willa and her boyfriend are here,” she says. “And they’ll be watching. She won’t have time or space. She needs someone on her side. Someone who believes in love and romance and happily ever after.” She looks me in the eyes. “She needs you.”
Lexi needs me.
Damn.
My high school dreams come true.
In the strangest possible way.
Chapter Thirty-Five
River
After breakfast and another cup of tea, we meet Lexi and Jake at the hotel restaurant.