Page 31

“Theo? Is that you?” a woman behind them asked.

Theo turned around and blinked at one of the two dentists in the town. “Oh, hey, Dr. Lane,” he said awkwardly. “This is—”

“Avery Nielson,” Dr. Lane filled in. “Good to see you both. How’s Hilleboe College?” she asked Avery earnestly. “I went to Hamline myself, so I hope you hate it on principle, but I suppose I can make an exception if you’re happy,” she teased lightly.

Avery gave her now-automatic speech about college, which Dr. Lane listened to attentively before turning to Theo and asking him roughly the same question.

Theo started in on what sounded to Avery’s ears like a very well-rehearsed, if annoyed, explanation of how his classes were going. She could relate—she’d done roughly the same thing yesterday during Thanksgiving. Sometimes the adult followed up with a question about what she was planning on doing with her major, but the smarter ones knew better than to ask that question of someone who hadn’t even finished her first semester.

Dr. Lane, however competent a dentist as she might be, was not one of the smarter ones. “What’s the plan with a classics major then? Be unemployed?” she laughed, not unkindly, but not particularly kindly either.

Annoyance crossed Theo’s features. “Know two critical languages and a shit-ton of history,” he snapped. Avery put her hand on his arm, just lightly enough that he would notice, and Theo glanced her way. He took her silent suggestion and softened his face with a rueful smile. “Then graduate school probably,” he added, and Dr. Lane stopped looking quite so startled.

“Avy,” Cameron said from her other side. “Glad you made it.”

She turned, abandoning Theo to their mutual dentist, but figuring he would prefer Dr. Lane to Cameron. Who was looking . . . good. Really good. Suddenly, she remembered why she had given him so many damn chances over the past year. It wasn’t just that her parents clearly wanted it; he was also very handsome. “Good to see you, Cam,” she said, slightly surprised that he ducked in to brush a quick kiss onto her cheek. It felt absurdly grown-up in a way she didn’t entirely hate. Like they were sophisticated exes running into each other at a cocktail party rather than messy first-year college students tagging along to a party with their parents. The fact that Cameron was in a suit only added to the effect, and if she’d been able to hold a glass of wine in her hand, it would have completed the illusion.

But then Cameron had to go and break it by tossing a very pointed look at Theo, who had apparently finished his conversation with Dr. Lane. “You’re here,” Cameron said flatly.

“I am,” Theo replied, jaw tight. He draped his arm around Avery in a very unsubtle move. “Why are you here?”

“I always come,” Cameron said, for once not rising to Theo’s bait. He looked smug. “After all, my family are members.”

Okay, so maybe not exactly not taking the bait, Avery thought.

“What’s it like?” Theo asked, deceptively earnest, and Avery braced for impact.

But Cameron had never been good at knowing when Theo’s next blow was about to fall. “Being a member? It’s nice, if you value—”

“No, being a fucking prick,” Theo snapped. “What’s that like?”

Cameron went rigid, and Avery felt slightly bad for him. He was really outmatched by Theo when it came to verbal sparring, and always had been. “Fuck you,” he growled, then turned around and stalked off.

“Come on,” Avery chided. “Did you have to do that?”

“Do what?” Theo asked, once again pulling an innocent face.

But Avery was not nearly as easily fooled as Cameron. “Be such a dick. He was just being polite by saying hi.”

Theo rolled his eyes. “He was not. As far as he knows, we’re—” he broke off and glanced around, making sure no one else was listening. “He thinks we’re together. And he kissed you. In front of me.”

“It was on the cheek,” Avery protested.

Theo shook his head. “He was trying to make me jealous, so I hit back. That’s all.”

“Just because he’s rich doesn’t mean you have to hate him this much.”

Theo threw her a scornful look. “You’re rich, Aves, and I don’t hate you.”

“Yeah, but you don’t love that about me.”

He frowned at her, like he was deliberating how to respond. “It’s the way he treats you,” Theo replied. “That’s what I don’t like.”

Avery wanted to argue, but she was worried he had a point. Cameron could be a little cavalier when it came to her, and while that tended to bother her, she knew she probably should dislike it a whole lot more than she did. And anyway, Theo was suddenly looking at her in a way that reminded her of last October, and all at once, she couldn’t bring herself to make eye contact.

Chapter Twenty-Four

Theo