“Your father and I are moving to Africa for the next two years. It’s for some charity thing we agreed to host. The benefits will be huge.”
I know more than anyone that the charity work my parents do is usually some thinly veiled opportunity to get even richer while sending one or two percent of their funds to the actual charity. “What does that have to do with me?”
“You’re coming along, dear. We’ll hire the best tutors for you.”
“But I only have two months left here. It would be easier just to stay.”
“I thought you hated that school!” Mom says in her typical haughty voice. “All you did was complain and complain and now you want to stay? What’s wrong with you, Sophia?”
“I made friends. I like living with Belle. And I’m almost done anyway,” I say. “Pulling me out of school now is just stupid.”
“What’s stupid would be turning down the opportunity to secure a wealthy man as a husband before you’re too old to be wanted anymore.”
My jaw drops. “What areyousmoking, Mom?”
I’ll be eighteen in a week. It’s not like I’ve reached spinster age yet.
“You won’t be young and beautiful forever, Sophia. There are many amazing families staying in Africa this summer and I want you to meet them all.”
“So I’ll visit in the summer,” I say. “I’m not leaving school until I graduate.”
“You need to go now, honey. You cannot pass up the opportunities to meet these worthy young men before they head off to college.”
“Worthy. You mean rich? I don’t care about getting a rich boyfriend, Mom.”
My mom laughs. “Oh, Sophia. You can be funny when you want to.”
“It’s not a joke. And I’m not going to Africa.”
I hang up the phone.
Mom doesn’t call me back.
I’m still fuming mad when the hidden door opens up a few minutes later. Declan enters into our secret hideaway dressed in dark jeans and a blue button up shirt. He looks good. He looks handsome.
“Hey,” he says, smiling in that shy but adorable way he smiles when we see each other.
I get up and walk over to him. “Thank you for being one of the three decent people in my life.”
He quirks an eyebrow. “Um… you’re welcome?”
I laugh and throw my arms around his neck. “Kiss me,” I say.
He grins and pulls me close. “Yes ma’am.”
Chapter Nineteen
Declan’s kisses are sweet.Full of meaning. Desire. They’re also a little timid, a little scared. Like we’re both teetering on the edge of something real, and we can feel it, but we know it won’t last. He’s from the east coast, I’m from the west coast. It’s a classic tale of two lovers who just can’t be together.
But maybe I don’t want that to be our ending. Maybe there’s more to life than accepting the inevitable.
“Declan?” I pull away, my arms sliding down from his shoulders until my palms press against this chest.
He reaches up and grabs my wrist, his gaze a little hazy from kissing. “Yes?”
“Can we talk a minute?”
“Of course.” He answers too quickly. He doesn’t fully understand what I’m asking.
