My heart is broken, that’s for sure, and there’s nothing clean about it.
Like the good little forensic analyst grad student she is, Phoebe did some digital digging and uncovered more of the scandal. Yes, the internet alleyways she went down are probably illegal, but what’s family for if not helping each other out? In thiscase, she wasn’t helping bury a body, but rather, uncovering the truth.
I feel bad for Chase because of his father’s deceit. Hopefully, that means things are off between him and Marlow, but where does that leave us?
Nowhere. I’m just about back to where I started, with little more than a crush that I can fantasize about.
Guilt, remorse, and loss ricochet like arrows without anywhere to go, piercing me repeatedly, and making me feel worse and worse.
Reading the emails and getting Phoebe involved wasn’t a game, but I couldn’t let Marlow win, not if she was going to cheat—and considering some of the texts with Joe, that was definitely on the menu. Chase deserves better than that.
But between fulfilling his commitment to the Bruisers after moon-gate, focusing on his career, and the drama with his family, I don’t see room in his life for me.
It’s confirmed. I’m walking, talking, living, breathing weird luck.
My phone rings. The battery runs low. So does my own, but I answer anyway.
It’s my brother. “Princess Calliope Avington Twinklebelle, what did I miss? Phoebe keeps texting me, insisting I call you.”
“She didn’t fill you in?”
“No, she’s busy with Boxy.”
“No way.”
“Just a hunch. I heard laughter in the background and it distinctly sounded like—” He imitates a donkey braying. “If she can stand that, they’re golden.”
I don’t feel much like laughing, but Freddie gets me to crack a smile. Maybe twin-tuition is real. I catch him up on the digging Pheobe did. “She found out plenty about Rhett’s company, the financial crisis, and some computer history and email exchangesthat revealed Rhett had solicited a forger to copy and then falsify documents, implicating Cap Collins rather than Starkowsky in various cases of fraud and bribery. It also looks like he amended Cap’s will, adding the marriage requirement.”
“But you’re together now and everything is okay?”
“Together? No. He’s on the Cape. I’m in Boston. Freddie, he and I can’t be together.”
“You’re talking about my best friend. You’re not allowed to break his heart.”
“How am I breaking his heart?”
“Because of your rules? Because things got hard and you pushed him away.”
“It goes both ways, but do you have any better ideas?”
“Talk? Communicate!”
“Says the guy who calls me but once a year on our birthday.”
“Twice now. And I text you all the time. Oh, and by the way, it’s our half-birthday.”
“Do you keep track of that?”
“Chase and I are almost exactly six months apart. He turned eighteen first, so we celebrated my half-birthday at the pub. That means it’s also your half-birthday.”
“So you called me to yell at me for leaving your best friend?”
“Don’t worry. I’m going to call him next.”
“And because Phoebe told you to.”
“Also that. So, when should I book my ticket to come back?”
