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EMORY

Tristan

Anyone want to have dinner on the boat tonight?

Emory

Dinner with my mom tonight

Whit

Tell Aiden not to chew with his mouth open

Aiden

I have impeccable manners

Whit

Puts his finger up when he drinks tea and everything

Sienna

I’ll tell you where you can shove that finger, Whittaker. I got out of class and just saw the charges on my credit card. Your porn tastes are fucking weird.

Whit

I think you mean *your* porn tastes

Emory

Leave me out of this!!

Tristan

There’s no escape

Aiden

You signed up for this. I’m sorry.

Emory

I’m divorcing you

“ O h, if you think Emory is trouble now, you should have seen her as a teenager.” My mom laughs, and Gloria and Aiden both grin.

I press my forehead to the table and pray for death to take me.

Did I think having my mom meet my fake husband was a good idea? It’s the worst idea I’ve ever had.

He’s charming them. Of course he fucking is. He can be devilishly charming when he wants to be, and it makes something uncomfortable flutter beneath my skin every time he smiles. That’s the real problem.

“Trouble, how?” He swirls his sparkling water and leans back in his chair. He’s alarmingly casual today, in a light sweater that makes his eyes look more green than gold and pale linen slacks that make me want to grab his ass.

We’re on the back deck, on the mismatched chairs that Gloria built when she was in her woodworking phase, eating off placemats my mom wove when she was in her fiber arts phase.

“She was forever bringing home stray animals to be mended. I thought she might be a vet one day, actually.” My mom sighs, and there’s a hard pinch inside me at the memory of the jobs I did want to have. Dreams I gave up on when I started working for the family company.

“She told me.” He nods. “But I didn’t realize she was bringing home strays. Though she did bring a dog without telling me.” He narrows his eyes on me.

“You like Dusty. I saw you sneaking him bits of bacon the other day.”

Aiden fights a smile. “I’m undecided.” Just like I am on you , he mouths.

Against all reason, the words make my pulse leap.

I like his inside jokes. I like seeing him across the table at a charity dinner and watching him finger the edge of his knife in mock threat.

I like it even better when he tips his head toward a darkened hallway and we meet in a collision of hands and teeth.

“You’d think bringing home strays wasn’t bad, right? What a sweet girl, caring for animals.” Gloria points her knife at me. “No. I showed up on the scene when she was twelve, the summer she decided to rescue baby raccoons. Have you ever cared for nine raccoons?”

“Eight,” I mutter. I let my head drop to the table. Aiden’s thumb lands on my neck. “It was eight.”

“Nine,” my mom cackles. “They wore diapers . Who do you think changed those diapers?”

I raise my head to see Gloria and Aiden grinning at each other.

“Not Emory, that’s for sure.”

“I bottle fed them every night,” I protest.

“And don’t get me started on the fights,” my mom says merrily.

Aiden sits up straighter in his chair. “Fights? Now this, I’m not surprised about. She’s vicious.”

“Stubborn too,” my mom adds. “Gets it from her father.”

Gloria rolls her eyes fondly at that one. My mom is just as stubborn as I am.

“I know,” Aiden says, his eyes warm, his thumb still dragging over my skin. “I like that about her.”

My stomach tumbles. I didn’t tell him to pretend tonight. I couldn’t do it. Every time we’re in public, I find myself asking if it’s real or pretend, and it makes something uncomfortable crawl through me. I hate the wondering.

“She came home all bruised and scraped at thirteen.” My mom shakes her head. “I bandaged her up and kissed her bruises. My little warrior.”

Aiden’s eyes are questioning.

“Leo,” I mutter. “Can I have some more pasta, please?”

“What was that?” His thumb skims over my jaw. “Why all the fighting?”

I sigh and meet his eyes. “When Leo came out. We got into a lot of fights. He always has my back. I always have his.”

Aiden’s gaze softens, and he passes me the pasta.

“And now she’s lying to the world about a marriage,” my mom says, and I nearly drop the bowl.

“What was that?” Aiden chokes.

Gloria cackles a laugh and grabs her wine. “This should be good.”

My mom brandishes a spoon at me. “I know what’s going on here.” She narrows her eyes. “Your father can be dense, but I’m not. So what’s the deal?”

Aiden and I share a look before I groan. “The land, Mom. We did it for the land.”

“Oh god, that stupid plot of land. Your father’s parents were obsessed with that land.” She shakes her head. “What are you going to do with it?”

“Force Dad to expand and legitimize.”

Gloria snorts and my mom merely looks skeptical. “You sure about that?”

I shift in my chair. “I mean, it’s been an uphill battle, but I think I can show him it’s the right choice.”

My mom is shaking her head. “No, sweetie. I mean are you sure you want to be involved in the business like that?”

It’s like she can see that I’ve been second-guessing myself. “I want to prove myself. I want to build something big and lasting.”

“Come with me,” she says, pushing back from the table. I flick a glance at Aiden.

“He’ll be fine,” Gloria says. “He can do the dishes.”

He nods and then tips his head toward the inside of the house, where my mom is disappearing.

I sigh and follow her down the hall and into the room she and Gloria have shared since I was twelve. There’s incense and paintings from when Mom had her painting phase and ceramics from their honeymoon in Nepal and books stacked on every surface.

My mom is dragging an old photo album out from under a stack of my high school yearbooks.

“Oh god, you still have those?”

“And every award you’ve ever won. Now sit.” She pats the floor next to her.

“Bendy for an old lady,” I tease as she crosses her legs.

“Yoga and a healthy sex life,” she says with a grin.

“Ew,” I say, but there’s no heat behind it. My mom and Gloria are the perfect example of a healthy marriage.

“This is what I wanted to show you.” She points at the page and I squint. “A tea party, right?”

In the photo, I’m surrounded by dolls and teddy bears, with what looks like—

“Are those pencils on the table?”

“And notebooks.” She laughs. “You were giving them a lecture. I believe this was on the importance of hand-washing.”

I grin. I can’t help it. This tracks with all the stories my parents have told me about my childhood.

“Here.” She points at the next page. “Your old cat, Ron. His ear was torn in a fight and you changed the bandage every day.”

I trace the photo. “I don’t remember this.”

She spears me with a look. “You were four.” She flips pages. “This one was when you won the spelling bee in eighth grade. You’d just gotten braces and you refused to smile.”

“Oh god. That sounds like me. Why are you showing me this?”

She closes the album. “Because I have always wanted more for you than working at a casino. Your father has always wanted more for you.”

My eyes heat. “Dad’s just saying that because he thinks the boys are better than I am.”

She snorts. “I love your brothers, but that is most definitely not true. Your father and I still talk about you, you know.”

“I know. Much to my dismay.”

She clicks her tongue disapprovingly. “This life is not what we wanted for you.”

“Trying to fit in with the Houses, you mean? I know Dad has never approved.”

She’s shaking her head. “No, sweetie. The casino. Your dream was never to work at a casino until your brothers started doing it.” She smiles gently.

“Your father and I had such high hopes for you. We thought you might work for NASA or be a teacher or a vet. A marine biologist.” She wraps an arm around my shoulders. “Our brilliant girl. The best of us.”

“I know Dad is considering the expansion. But he doesn’t really want it.” My chin wobbles.

“Your father is stubborn. But most of all, he wants you to do something else. There’s a whole world of possibilities for you. Beyond building a casino expansion so you can get revenge on your ex.”

My face heats at her assessment. “Did Dad tell you that?”

“He told me some of it, yes, but I sussed out the rest. I know he hurt you, Em. I remember how devastated you were.”

My throat tightens and I look down at the album, the embossed gold letters swimming in front of my eyes.

What happens if I let this go? If, instead of trying to fit in somewhere that I don’t fit, I do something else?

There’s a flutter in my stomach at the thought.

I think back to all the times Aiden has called me brilliant, all the times he’s told me competing with me was his motivation.

What happened to that girl who loved school and followed her dreams? What if I let her choose?

He’d tell me to do it. He’d tell me to do it and that he’d support me.

“Build something else, sweetie. Build it with that boy out there.”

“What?” My head jerks up. My mom is smiling knowingly at me. “I thought you hated Aiden’s world. You’ve always said you wanted something else for us. You hated Harrison too.”

She stands, shaking out her caftan. “That boy is not Harrison, Em. Trust me on this.”

“I’m scared, Mom.”

She gives me her hand and pulls me up off the floor. “What are you afraid of?”

“I’m afraid of falling for him,” I whisper. It’s the first time I’ve voiced this. It’s the first time I’ve ever admitted it to myself. “I never felt this way about Harrison. Aiden could destroy me.”

She cups my face. “Sometimes the best things in life scare us.”

I find Aiden in the kitchen, doing dishes under Gloria’s watchful eye. His sleeves are rolled up, and he tips his head back to laugh at a joke Gloria makes.

She admonishes him to “keep washing, young man.”

Warmth floods my veins at the sight of Aiden like this.

I’ve been terrified of letting myself want to keep him. But what if there wasn’t an end date? What if he wanted me wholly and completely? What if I let myself want him? Would it ruin everything?

I’m terrified that it might. That I can’t let myself fall but also that I might not be able to stop it.

He grins again and my heart gives a hard kick in response.

For the first time, I let myself imagine what it would be like to have this all the time. Aiden in my life. Aiden by my side, to build things with me, and laugh with me, and do the dishes with me.

I want it so badly that my whole body aches.