To a degree, I understand, but what I read in those emails would tarnish the family name further. I slowly get to my feet. There is no easy way out of the situation.
I take his hand, squeeze it, and close my eyes, preparing my goodbye. My heart sinks and the world goes from color to shades of gray. “I think Elvis Presley said it best…the ‘Sad thing is you can still love somebody and be wrong for them.’” I sniffle and try to let go.
Chase draws my hand to his lips, kissing it. “No, you’re right for me. It’s just the wrong time. I have to get this sorted out with my father and then—” His voice cracks.
“Chase, I don’t think we’re going to get our happily ever after.” Not if Rhett is involved. “I’d never ask you to choose between me and your family, your legacy.”
Chase’s flirtatious smile is gone. His dimple is nowhere in sight. His eyes dim and his expression dulls. Looking at him right now is like getting a glimpse in a mirror. He looks as torn up as I feel.
He smooths my hair and kisses my forehead.
Still orange-skinned and with a heavy heart, I gather my things. “I should go now. I don’t want any more of my weird luck rubbing off on you.”
He remains still. Unmoving.
I slouch down the hall as angry voices hiss from the living room below. I pause, wondering what I’d want if I were in Chase’s situation.
I’d want the truth. The whole truth.
I glance over my shoulder and Chase remains where I left him. “Please check your email later.”
Inwardly, I flinch, thinking about what might happen if the secrets are exposed...and worse, what will happen if they’re not.
36
CHASE
Watching Pippa leave makes my heart tighten, clench. But I have to let her go, free her from this snarl I’m in. She deserves better than a tangle of lies.
I go to my room, afraid that if I’m in the same one as my father, my fist will be twice as sore as it already is after punching the glass on the front door of the brownstone earlier.
From the window above, the red taillights of her Uber pull away. The Blancbourg program is over. Pippa is gone.
It’s like I was kicked in the chest and tackled: helmet flies off, head spins, body burns. I’m surprised by the visceral, physical reaction. I always thought I was a winner, but right now, I feel like the biggest loser in the world.
I slouch on the bed and hold my head in my hands, stilling the spiraling from Pippa’s departure. It isn’t right to involve her in my family’s drama any more than she’s already been. I need to solve this problem myself and then I can try to make things right with her. Somehow. Someday. We’re the right people, the right pair. Maybe it’s just the wrong time. Thinking of the lists Pippa makes, I create my own of the things keeping us apart.
The past and the fact that she might not fully trust me
Her role as a teacher and mine as a student
My father and the information he threatens to release about Cap
Marlow and her obvious desire to keep Pippa and me from being together
