Page 51

Which summed up their relationship.

“When is it going to be?” Lucas asked.

Elsie smiled dreamily, probably already planning colors, bridesmaids’ dresses, and floral arrangements. “Right now, we’re leaning toward dates in next May.”

Nearly a year away. “You’re going to have a long-distance relationship until then?” Jace asked. He didn’t know why this surprised him.

Kye squeezed Elsie’s hand. “Good things are worth waiting for.”

Lucas glanced over his shoulder, down at the river. His parents’ kayak was gliding by. “Speaking of waiting for things, in this case, waiting until Mom is around to break the news—we’re all gonna have to pretend we don’t know they’re engaged so Mom doesn’t feel like she was the last to find out.” He shot Jace a reprimanding look. “Why do you always have to be the observant one?”

Carson snickered. “Because being the attractive one was already taken.”

Lucas snorted at that, and the two headed toward the river, trading barbs the whole way. Kye and Elsie followed them, hands swinging. Jace trailed after them and wondered how hard they would find being apart. Missoula, where Elsie went to school, was a five-and-a-half-hour drive away from Lark Springs.

Would the distance be even harder now that they were engaged?

But that was the problem. Sometimes you didn’t choose who you were going to fall in love with or whether the timing was good.

His eyes went to Marlowe and he sighed. She was so long-distance from him. Not just for a year, but for the next four years, and then permanently unless he moved back to Lark Springs.

And suddenly he wished that wasn’t the case.

CHAPTER 15

At some point early in the day, Marlowe forgot that she was supposed to be impressing Jace’s family and just started enjoying hanging out with them. She loved talking to Riley and Olivia and getting to know them better. Both were funny and nice and so eager to accept her as a friend. And when Elsie and Kye showed up and made their big announcement, Marlowe had squealed with everyone else in happiness. She felt like she belonged with this group, like she fit in.

Granted, Jace’s parents still intimidated her. But that was probably to be expected. It was hard to be at ease around people who thought you had criminal tendencies and might lead their son astray. But both Mr. and Mrs. Clark were polite and nice enough. If Jace hadn’t told Marlowe that they didn’t like her, she wouldn’t have known.

The best and simultaneously worst part of the day was the time she spent at Jace’s side as his attentive girlfriend. During that time, she completely forgot that none of this was real, he wasn’t interested in her, and this wasn’t an actual date.

He’d said that they easily fell back into their old patterns, and she’d fallen all the way back into hers.

And how come he was so convincing at flirting—at smiling at her with his boyish grin and looking at her with teasing blue eyes—when he didn’t care about her at all? He still wanted Jennifer back.

At the end of the day, as she climbed back into Jace’s car, she felt a distinct letdown that all of it was over. She had to go back to her house and be single again.

They pulled away from the parking lot, and she stared out of the window, unsure what to say. All she could think of was why am I not enough for you?

He chatted about inconsequential things for a while and then noticed her silence. His gaze kept leaving the road and flicking over to her.

“What’s wrong?”

She couldn’t tell him. She couldn’t admit she’d enjoyed her fake role so much, now she was ticked off that he was such a good actor. Her mind focused on the conversation she’d had with Olivia and Riley. Neither of them had dated one of the Clarks in high school.

She shifted in her seat, turning toward him. “Olivia and Riley told me how they started dating your brothers.”

“And?” Jace prompted.

Did he really not know where she was going with this?

“Olivia was working for Carson to pay off her brother’s embezzlement. Lucas pulled Riley over for speeding, and then she ended up playing basketball with him and kissing him to get out of the ticket.” Marlowe put her hand to her chest. “And I’m the one your parents don’t like? I’m the bad influence? All I did was spray paint over a slur. I feel like I should get a pass for that, not a permanent position in the questionable moral character category.”

Jace sighed and tapped his fingers against the steering wheel. “The spray paint was only strike one. They would’ve given you the benefit of the doubt about that if Mr. Copley hadn’t caught you walking out of the store with a box of protein bars. Then they found out I’d lied about it because I was trying to protect you. They thought you should’ve admitted the truth so I wouldn’t miss the SAT.”

Okay. She could see their point. But Jace hadn’t really given her a choice about it. He just told Mr. Copley that he’d done it. Maybe she should have followed Mr. Copley back into the store and confessed the truth instead of letting Jace take the fall. But she’d been sixteen, confused, hurt, and afraid of what a second offense would do to her. She thought Jace was taking the blame as a grand gesture to her. You didn’t turn down grand gestures.

She folded her arms. “Then it’s a good thing you didn’t miss taking the SAT. Mr. Copley let you take it. I swear, the man just had it out for me. I bet cheerleaders were mean to him when he was a teenager, and he’s carried a humongous grudge about it.”