I whisper, “I do have some student loans to pay off. Just not mine.”
“What?” Willa asks as the blood drains from her face.
I wait a few minutes, not wanting to overshare with Kingston and Miles sitting right here. But then I see the minute all the pieces fall into place. “Mine,” she says.
“Wait, I’m confused,” Kingston pipes in. “She’s not paying her own student loans?”
Willa shakes her head, then locks eyes with me. I see it the moment she understands. Her eyes soften as she asks, “Why didn’t I realize the discrepancies before?”
“You were young. You shouldn’t have had to think about it.”
“Dammit, Lucy. You’re only fifteen months older. You shouldn’t have had to think about it either.”
“Do you feel like they’re having a conversation without us?” Miles asks Kingston. I poke him in the ribs. He’s soaking this up, and I’m not sure why. He could help clear the confusion in the air, but I think he’s enjoying this a little too much.
“Yup. It’s like they have a secret code going on.”
Willa’s eyes are filling up. “You did that for me?”
“You’re my baby sister. I’m gonna look after you, even if you don’t think you need it.”
She leaps out of her chair and yanks me into a hug. Willa is not a hugger—not by any stretch of the imagination. It’s an awkward flailing of limbs and back pats, but it shows me how much it meant to her that she’s clinging to me and not letting go. Physical touch ismylove language—hers is acts of service. And we’re learning to meet each other where we are. “You should have told me. You know I’ve been doing well in my business.”
“And I wanted you to enjoy running your business without the stress of paying off student loans.”
“Are we trapped in a Hallmark movie?” Kingston asks.
“I sure hope not,” Miles groans.
We sit back down, and Willa explains, “Lucy is paying my student loans.”
Kingston pins me with a stare for so long that I stand up to leave. Miles grabs the back pocket of my pants and pulls me back down to sit on his leg like he’s Santa.
“How did you pull that off?” Kingston asks—ever the logistics guy.
Willa, who’s always been a little too sharp for her own good, has already pieced it all together and does the honor of explaining. “I thought I had a full-ride scholarship. Turns out my sister lied to me. I’d always thought it was strange that I’d managed to get the full ride. My GPA wasn’t as high asLucy’s. Algebra and Calculus kicked my butt in high school. The scholarship I received was also very vague. But I never got a bill for tuition, and I graduated with my degree.”
“You never looked into your scholarship?” Kingston asks her.
“No, not really. All the emails were identical to Lucy’s…which maybe should have been my first clue.” She pins me with a glare, but then she’s smiling again just as quickly. “Lucy must have just changed the names and sent them from a burner email.”
“I wondered why you loved that white-collar crime show so much,” Miles whispers in my ear. “I should have realized…”
I give him a guilty smile. “Maybe in another life, I’ll be a con woman.”
And then he presses a kiss against my cheek.
Kingston clears his throat. “So this is just a deal between the two of you? Marriage, in name only?” He smiles broadly at the two of us.
“Yes, exactly. It’s mutually beneficial,” I say, although I’m not quite sure if it’s helping Miles that much.
“Oh, I’m sure it is,” Kingston agrees as he dips his head towards us.
I blush when I realize I’m sitting on Miles’s lap. Not good.
I leap up and move to the chair beside him.
“You’re so sneaky,” Willa says. The smile on her face is still there, as though she’s proud of me. “I know exactly what you’ve been up to.”
