When I enter the kitchen, Marlow squawks with laughter. “You look like an orange on a popsicle stick.” I glance down at my blouse and then at my hands and arms. A burnt shade of orange streaks them.
I dash out of the room and back upstairs. I check the label on the moisturizer again. It’s a luxury brand, but there is only one thing that could turn me that hideous shade. Self-tanner.
I plop on the bed and then leap up, checking for booby traps and spiders. Is my weird luck back or is Marlow behind this? Was the mean girl the source of my weird luck from the beginning?
Grabbing the bottle, I march down the hall. As I pass another guest room, a phone beeps and vibrates on a bed with a coral and lavender quilt.
I peer down the hall and then step inside, picking up the phone. A series of text messages pop on the screen from someone named Joe with a heart and arrow emoji next to his name.
Channeling my twin’s youthful penchant for pranks, if Marlow is going to play dirty, I’ll play dirtier. I type in 1-2-3-4 and open the text thread. I’m about to write something stupid likeYou’ve successfully subscribed to the men’s diaper of the month club. Text Reply to place an order. Text STOP to end these messageswhen my mouth drops open at the exchange between Marlow and a guy who is clearly her boyfriend.
But how does that work if she’s fixing to marry Chase?
In a text bubble that Marlow sent earlier today, she commented about how she nearly closed the deal and soon they’ll be rich.
I pad back to my room for my phone and take photos of the text exchanges. Before I return Marlow’s phone, I decide todelete that awful email with the sonnet once and for all. When I open the email app, a thread with Rhett Collins is flagged at the top. It’s none of my business, but I break the rules and take a risk.
My pulse quickens as I skim the contents.
The first one reads more like a threat than a polite letter arranging marriage and it only gets worse as I continue. I take more photos of the emails and then forward them all to myself, not caring if Marlow finds out, because this isn’t a relatively harmless prank. It’s much worse.
Sweat dots the back of my neck as I return the phone and hurry back to my room, wondering how spies keep their hearts from leaping out of their throats or keep from drowning in guilt for snooping.
But this is for a good cause. My crush’s future depends on it.
Uneasiness swims in my stomach about what to do. But before I’m able to read the emails in their entirety, someone knocks lightly on the door.
Chase appears with a plate of food and an apologetic look on his face. “Sorry that I wasn’t here when you arrived. Took a walk. Had to cool off. Hungry?”
I lost my appetite after what I briefly saw in the email correspondence.
“I’m sorry about all this. I didn’t think it was a good idea for you to come here, but my mother insisted,” he says.
And there I’d held onto hope that he’d sent for me. Ruth probably thought that if she used his name, I’d agree.
“She’s trying to get my father and me to talk, but it’s complicated.”
“Yes, it is,” I say, unable to keep a tremor out of my voice.
“You don’t understand the stress and pressure I’m facing.” He gazes at his hands. “How do I handle it all with grace?”
“Are you asking me as your coach or—?” I’m not sure how to finish the sentence. As a friend? Girlfriend? Prospective fiancée? He’s right, though, it is complicated. After what I saw in the emails, maybe more so than he realizes.
I should keep things simple. “I think that it’s best for us to remain coach and client. I should leave in the morning, but I want you to know that you’ve passed this course with flying colors. If the headmistress or your coach have any questions, I’ll explain.”
“But I’m not quite done with the program. We still have twelve hours to go. And there’s something I have to tell you.”
Tension seizes me as my brain lists all the dire things it could be.
“It’s about the inheritance from my grandfather. He owned the Miami Riptide and sold it the year before I started playing. When I made the team of our biggest rival, it turned out Cap changed his will, leaving his fortune to me instead of my father. I suppose it was because I’d chosen football, whereas my father had not. Cap was a man of character, had a sense of humor...and made some mistakes too. But I’d bet he reasoned that I’d be in the poor house, playing for the losing team.”
“But you brought the Boston Bruisers to the Super Bowl.”
“Three times and I’m as wealthy as I could ever dream of being without the inheritance, but there’s something more.” Chase takes a deep breath. “As I said, Cap made some mistakes in the past, bribing players with money to join his team, along with a few other things, and my father knows about it. He’s threatened to expose them if I don’t marry Marlow.” Chase scrubs his hand down his face.
“I see. Well, everyone makes mistakes. Learns and grows, right?” I say with as much grace as I can.
“But you see, I don’t want to spoil my grandfather’s legacy...and in a way my own.”
