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“Me too,” I admit, closing the distance between us at the same time Maisie does.

“Me three,” Maisie agrees, wrapping one arm around me and the other around Lyric, pulling us into a group hug. “We call or text weekly. I don’t want to go the whole summer barely talking.”

“Agreed,” Lyric and I say in unison.

We stand like that for a long moment, three friends hesitant to say goodbye, but eventually, all good things must come to an end, and this is no exception.

I stand in the hallway and watch Lyric and Maisie leave, not going back into the room until they disappear around the corner. As desperately as I wanted to walk down with them, I didn’t want to give River the satisfaction.

In fact, I’m done giving River anything at all.

He’s made his stance pretty clear.

He doesn’t want me. Message received loud and clear.

Him not even being willing to come upstairs and say hello in person is the eye-opener I’ve been waiting for.

I’m done lying to my friends.

I’m done pretending I stand a snail’s chance in hell with the man.

I’m just done.

I’m going to go home, enjoy my summer break, and do everything in my power not to even think of the name River Parker for at least the next three months, though something tells me that’s going to be a much harder feat than I realize.

Chapter Two

Charlotte

Lyric: What time are you getting here tomorrow?

I stare at the text message, my fingers hovering over the screen as I contemplate my response.

Me: Never.

I quickly delete the message and retype a new one.

Me: Actually, I can’t make it.

Delete.

I want to back out so badly I can taste it, and yet I can’t seem to bring myself to do it. In the two weeks since she asked me, it’s all I’ve done—contemplated how to get out of it, and now it’s here, and I know I can’t.

It’s not that I don’t want to see Lyric. Of course I do. And after five weeks back at home, I could use the escape. If my mom makes me go to another spin class with her, I might run away and never come back. Not that I’m against exercise, but riding on a stationary bike while a woman yells at me to go faster is not really my cup of tea.

My reasons for not wanting to go should be pretty obvious.

Her brother.

You know the one... The one who stopped texting me entirely about three weeks ago and now is completely ghosting me. Yeah, that one.

Though the way it stands, a run-in with River is highly unlikely. From what Lyric has told me, she hasn’t seen much ofhim this summer. Not that I asked. It just happened to come up in conversation. I gently pushed, curiosity getting the better of me, and was relieved to learn that it was because he has a new job and not that he has a new woman in his life.

He had told me a while back that he had applied for a new job at some big firm but hadn’t heard back yet. The way Lyric talked, he’d been trying to get on at this place for a while, so I can only assume it’s the same firm he told me about. I just wish he had shared the good news with me himself instead of having to hear it from his sister.

He’s the only person I’ve ever met who could make cybersecurity sound sexy. I swear, I could listen to him talk about what he does for a living for hours and never tire of it. Then again, I could listen to that man read the phone book and be thoroughly entertained, so I guess that’s not saying an awful lot.

I digress...