Chapter 4

Ava came over with a cup of coffee and tipped it down the front of Luke's shirt.

"Oh no. I'm so sorry."

Her mouth apologized. Her face didn't.

"That shirt can't have been expensive, right? I'll replace it. Will twenty cover it?"

She pulled a twenty out of her wallet and dropped it on the floor.

Luke wiped his sleeve without any expression at all.

"Don't bother."

Ava shrugged.

"Well, aren't you gracious."

As she turned away, she muttered, "No self-respect."

It wasn't loud. Luke and I both heard it perfectly.

I stepped into her path, frowning.

"Apologize."

Ava froze. I'd been so agreeable for so long that she clearly hadn't expected me to lose my temper.

But she'd never thought much of me, and she thought even less of Luke, so an apology was never happening.

She snorted.

"What did I say that wasn't true? Luke has no self-respect."

Mom and Dad heard us arguing in the doorway and came hurrying over.

Their first words were for me.

"Sophie, what are you causing now?"

I was used to them deciding I was wrong before they had a single fact.

Luke wasn't. His face went cold.

"Ava has insulted me over and over. Do the two of you really not care what's right and what's wrong?"

Coming from someone their daughters' age, that was a hard thing to say.

Mom and Dad's faces went from red to white, and then they turned on me anyway.

"Look at the man you picked! He nickel-and-dimes everything, just like you!"

I took Luke's hand and stood beside him.

"Luke is good. You're the ones who can't see it."

His fingers closed hard around mine.

Mom and Dad were furious, and there was nothing they could do about it.

I had no interest in wasting more time on them. I pulled Luke out to the scooter and had a proper look at the coffee soaking through his shirt.

"I'll wash it when we get back."

He shook his head.

"Don't. It's not worth the trouble."

"It is worth the trouble. Nothing to do with you is small to me."

Luke went still. For a few seconds he seemed to be working through the sentence.

Then he leaned in close, his ears red, and said it softly.

"Thank you, Sophie. You're the loveliest girl I've ever met."

The comments, quiet for a long stretch, put up a few lines.

[I hate the villain, but the two of them are honestly kind of sweet.]

[Same. Our girl went too far just now, and the parents are unbelievably biased. If the villain actually cared about them, imagine how much that would hurt.]

[But he's supposed to be our girl's. She still shouldn't have taken him.]

[Wasn't our girl the one who threw him away? Does anyone actually believe she's an innocent here? She turned her nose up at a scholarship kid and used her sister's photo so their parents would force the swap.]

Exactly.

Ava hadn't wanted him.

I laid my cheek against Luke's back as the scooter pulled away and listened to his heart going too fast.

My mouth curved.

I'd taken what she threw out. She'd better not start wanting it back.