Me:We were twelve when we pretended that we were marrying them.
Renata:And they were seventeen and hot. Are they still hot?
Me:Not answering that.
Renata:That’s a yes. Have fun. Text me if you need a weekend companion.
I send a smiley face emoji, then plug my phone into the charger.
Still shaking my head at what she said, I get ready for bed.
When I close my eyes, I keep replaying the day in my mind. The way Evan smiled before he realized who I was. Callum was not even pretending he wasn’t staring. Silas saying almost nothing and still making me nervous.
Nothing interesting really happened. But they didn’t look at me the way they used to when I last saw them.
And I really like it.
CHAPTER 2
Silas
Iwake up too early.
The lake house is quiet. Cold air seeps through the gap in the window I left open last night. My shoulders are tight from yesterday's drive, so I roll them back, then stand.
Too much sitting. Too much thinking.
I shower, dress, and head downstairs.
The coffee maker hisses in the kitchen. I pour a cup and drink it black, standing at the counter while the house stays silent around me.
Last night replays in my mind in fragments.
When Evan opened the door, I was expecting Ben and his kid sister. Instead, I got Ben and a woman I didn’t recognize.
I remember Tania Dalton as a gangly thirteen-year-old with braces and freckles scattered across her nose. Always quiet. Always two steps behind Ben, trying to keep up.
That’s not who walked through the door yesterday.
The woman who stood on our doorstep was small but not fragile. There are curves where there used to be sharp angles. The freckles are still there, but they’ve faded. No braces. Just a mouth I had no business noticing.
I noticed. So did Callum. So did Evan.
Ben still thinks of her as a kid. I should, too. Except I don’t, and that’s the problem.
Ben’s been my closest friend since we were eight years old. We built forts in his backyard and got drunk for the first time in my basement, and stood at my father’s funeral when he died last year. He’s the one person outside my brothers I trust without question.
There are lines you don’t cross with someone like that.
His sister is one of them.
I know that.
But even if Ben weren’t in the equation, even if Tania were some woman I met at a bar or a gallery opening or anywhere else, it wouldn’t matter.
Because I don’t get to want anyone freely anymore.
The inheritance clause saw to that.
