Page 76 of Threads That Bind Us

I can’t, though.

“Charlie believes the universe brings him where he needs to be, with who he needs to be with. And even back then, I could see he needed you.”

Chapter 26

Charlie

“So, why’s she pissed at you?”

If I wasn’t the only other person in the room, I wouldn’t know Ana was talking to me. She has one earbud still in, and her eyes are glued to her laptop screen, refreshing her browser again and again. SAT results are supposed to come in tonight.

“Who’s pissed at me?” I ask, trying to remain casual.

Gwen and I have been painfully business-like in private since Italy—partners,notfriends,nobenefits—but I thought we’d done a pretty good job keeping up appearances in front of Ana. Judging by the way she’s raising her eyebrows at me over her computer, I guess not.

“I’m not oblivious,” she mutters.

I rinse the dish in my hands and watch Gwen out the kitchen window, pacing back and forth on the back patio while talking on the phone. If she feels my eyes on her, she doesn’t react.

It’s not my place to tell Ana if Gwen hasn’t said anything to her. Still, I won’t outright lie to the kid.

“I handled a situation poorly in Italy,” I say, abandoning the sink and joining Ana at the table.

She barely looks at me, just keeps clicking her trackpad on a regular rhythm.

“With your family?”

We’d told her as much as we reasonably could before we left—my mom had been sick, she was getting better, and I wanted to introduce Gwen to them.

“Yeah, with my family.”

Although that’s not really true. Aside from Clara’s absolutely repellant behavior, which she and Gwen seem to have overcome, there were no sticking points with anyone butme.

“If it helps, I’m pretty sure Gwen would handle the situation pretty poorly if you met our mom, too,” she says, a smile pulling at the corner of her lips. “Actually, that image is pretty funny.”

I can’t imagine Gwen interacting with Isabelle. There’s so much pain between the two of them.

“True, but this one was all on me, not my family. She deserves to be pissed.”

I didn’t hide the council vote from her out of malice, but I still should have told her. Even with Clara’s threat, I couldn’t imagine a scenario where Gwen didn’t become my wife. But she proved to me every day that I could trust her with everything, and I didn’t meet my end of the bargain.

Ana clicks the refresh button repeatedly, breathing through her nose deeply like it’s calming her. Which it clearly isn’t.

“Did you lie to her?” she asks. She’s still not looking at me, but I can feel the accusation in her tone all the same.

“Not exactly, but I kind of blindsided her with some information.”

“Same thing,” Ana mutters, and I involuntarily scoff, whichdefinitely gets her attention. “Look, Gwen assumes the worst in everyone, except for maybe me and Kenzie. She especially assumes people won’t keep their word. She’s anactions speak loudergirl.”

“So you recommend a grand gesture?”

I had been considering it, but was unsure of the execution. How do you show someone they are your entire world? How do you convince them there’s nothing that could stand between the two of you?

“Less grand gesture, more put your money where your mouth is,” she replies, typing on her phone at lightning speed and turning back to her computer. “Not actual money. It’s an idiom or whatever.”

“An idiom orwhatever? Please tell me that’s not how you responded on the SAT,” I tease.

Ana just rolls her eyes. It’s becoming a habit.