“I’m not trying to be difficult or fish for compliments, but I’m not sure I know what you mean.”
“And that’s why you’re different. You can see and speak the truth, no problem, except when it comes to yourself.” Chase taps the corner of my glasses. “But I see it. Always have. You’re a breath of fresh air. Free. Yourself.”
“So you bumped into me on purpose that day in the corridor?”
“Yep. Freddie must’ve gotten wind of my interest because he bumped into me during rugby. And since the moment I made the connection that Phillip Frederick Thompson, my best friend, and Phillipa Grace Thompson were siblings, twins at that, I did everything in my power to remember it was a hands-off situation.”
“The hair ruffling?” I ask.
He nods.
“The kiddo comments?”
“Yep.”
“Pippag Thomzeg?”
“I was getting desperate, I’d dubbed it Jerk Mode.”
My hands form fists and I’m ready to fume. “I’m going to give Freddie?—”
“I’d rather you didn’t.” Chase winces.
“But don’t you see? Lack of communication got us here, discovering a misunderstanding of massive proportions ten years later. It’s always better to tell the truth.”
“This is Freddie we’re talking about.”
I let out a long-held breath, upset with my brother for thwarting my young love life. My first two fingers press against my lips before Chase links his around mine.
“No touching the wound. Speaking of, I hope my apology helps stitch up the past between us.”
I nod slowly as my thoughts rush. I’m thankful for the quiet peace of the garden because if Chase had told me this at the Smythe’s soiree or anywhere else, I may have imploded. “I appreciate it.”
“Yeah?”
“Yeah.”
“We’re good?” Chase asks as if wanting to be doubly sure.
“Sure are. So Freddie scared you away, huh? Is that why you disappeared before prom?”
“No, I left because I got recruited for football, but in so many ways, your brother made it clear you weren’t a prom date option if I’d been able to attend. Plus, I didn’t want to lose my best friend. He was super protective of you.”
“No wonder I never got any school dance invitations.”
“I’m the youngest in the family and got shipped off to boarding school before I could defend my sisters, but I would’ve done the same.”
“So, you think of me as a sister?”
He shakes his head rapidly, definitively. “No. Not. At. All.”
“Oh. That wasn’t what I thought you were going to say. That was more than I expected. I thought you were going to confess that you and Marlow had been in cahoots to humiliate me.”
“Marlow?” he asks long and slow.
“Yeah, Marlow, who we saw at the soiree?”
He looks like he ate a wasp’s nest. “I wasn’t in cahoots with her or anyone. I mean, I enlisted Liam to help me steal a new sponge from the school kitchen because I thought it would be unsanitary to have a used sponge. But I never meant for you to bite into it.”
