She nodded absentmindedly, and for the first time I couldn’t read what was turning her brain gears.

I took a guess and said, “Don’t worry. I think I managed to move us a step or two closer to our goal today.” When I stretched past her to put the largest box on the emptier part of the counter, my arm grazed hers.

She stared at her elbow where our skin had touched. “Are we past whatever weirdness that was last night?” she asked quietly, still looking down.

“I wasn’t being weird,” I lied. But somehow my acting skills were less effective with her (maybe because she knew I’d been acting this whole time).

She brought one of the Styrofoam boxes to her face, sniffed, then hovered it in front of my nose. Soup dumplings. Heavenly.

“Look,” she said, “I was just playing my part last night, and since I don’t have training like you, I have to rely on trial and error. Sorry if it was too strong. But whatever that was after—can you pull it together? My parents notice more than they let on, especially when it comes to us. They want Hongbo so bad they’re looking for things.”

Obviously I knew that. It was just that after the poke and all those swarming thoughts, I’d been so flustered that the best I could do was pretend she wasn’t there. But since my job clearly depended on me being more doting than not, well, I had a free pass, right? That was more important in the moment than some arbitrary line. Besides, I of course knew where the line was at all times. This was part of it, getting a little swept up, even if it had never happened before.

Right?

“You have nothing to worry about,” I lied.

Chloe CHAPTER 15 THE LAST HURRAH

With the takeout placed in the center of the table, we settled in and my parents gestured to Andrew to start—a good sign. “We” had an early morning flight tomorrow, so this was kind of the last hurrah.

Andrew grabbed the nearest box and served both my mother, who was sitting on his left, and me, on his right, before serving himself and passing the box along.

My mom harrumphed at my dad, who laughed and served her some garlic green beans—a first.

My mother winked at Andrew, and my heart sank at how this was all so real and so fake. At the start of this, I never could’ve guessed a successful outcome would make me feel so many contrasting emotions.

Remember Hongbo… and suddenly, I could hear his half-assed proposal, feel his unwelcome hand on my arm, and see the fucking ring box I had thrown under my bed after he wouldn’t take it back.

Thinking of non-Dreamboat always succeeded in pushing away my guilt about lying, at least temporarily. Too bad anger took its place.