“Stop!” I laugh—genuine laughter, for the first time all day. “I just didn’t want him risking his career for me. That’s all.”
“You should be worried about him risking a black eye.”
“Everett.” I glare. “No.”
“Fine.” He holds his hands up. “I can’t keep talking about him. If you need to talk more, we can later, but?—”
Of course, Everett doesn’t want to hear about me falling in love with his best friend. He’s the only one I have to talk to, and he’s taken it pretty well, but I should quit before that changes. Theo doesn’t deserve a black eye.
“No,” I utter. “That’s all I have to say.”
“Good, then… moving on. I have good news.” He waggles his eyebrows. “Something that will more than make up for whatever Theo did or didn’t do.”
How can anything make up for losing the person who may be the love of my life? Everett doesn’t want to hear that. I can already feel his judgment coming from the other side of the couch.
“He didn’t do anything.” It’s important that Everett knows that. I feign a smile just for him. “What is it? Are you competing again?”
“With my bad back? Absolutely not.” He pulls an envelope from the side table. “This is for you… and it’s thick.”
I know what an acceptance letter looks like. I received a few of them back when I was still applying to schools, but that was years ago.What is this?My brows furrow, and I take the letter from him.
California Culinary Arts Institute…
“Everett. No! You didn’t… what is this?” I scramble to find the right words.
“Why don’t you open it and find out?”
Because it’s exactly what I think it is. My fingers slip under the seal of the envelope, prying it open. With shaking hands, I pull out the letter—an acceptance letter forthisfall. They want me to start in the fall. I think of my school back home, one ten times more affordable than this, and my heart races.
“I don’t understand!” I yelp.
“I applied for you.” He smirks. “And I knew you would get in. Looks like I was right.”
I shake my head over and over again. “I can’t. Everett, Icannotgo here.”
“But you can. You have options now. You can stay here without worrying about rent, get another bakery job…”
The end of the summer was always an out—of my job with Theo and our relationship. If I stay here…
If I stay here, I’m living my dreams. I’m going to a better school than I could have ever imagined. I’m living by the beach! I have a support system.
But the tuition? It’s impossible.
Still, my brother went through all this work. I should pretend to entertain it, even if I can’t.
I force another smile. “I’ll consider it.”
There’s nothing to consider. Even after a summer of saving up my paychecks, I can’t afford to transfer to the California Culinary Arts Institute. It would be a dream, but dreams don’t happen for women like me, not without a whole lot of work.
EVERETT
It’s only with a thinly veiled mask that I keep my cool around Evie. Showing her how royally fucking pissed I am will only make her feel worse. I’m not mad at her, anyway. It’s him. He has me pissed enough that when I finally have a moment, I pick up the phone to give him a piece of my mind.
Sliding off my house slippers, I trail through my mostly clean room, stepping over a pair of discarded sweatpants as I go. Atleast the bed is made—with an emerald blanket draped over the mattress.
Not that I’m the one who made it.
Outside, the waves crash on the shore. It’s a sight that usually calms me down, but it doesn’t do anything now.
