She whipped around, fire in her eyes. “Are you listening to yourself, Holden? Why would you want to put yourself through this charade? I’m going to be working in Dragonfly for the next few months, so it’s not like we can claim to be too busy and hardly ever see each other.”

I studied her face, with so much outrage in it, so much worry clouding her pretty eyes, and it tugged at something inside of me. That same something that was fed up with the world for making her fight extra hard for everything for so many years. Her parents were decent people and undeniably loved her, but even they had never really fought for her, probably because they’d always been so busy working multiple jobs to make ends meet.

I’d been accused of being a sucker for a damsel in distress a time or two, but Chloe was no damsel in distress. Far from it. She’d always carried on, no matter what the world and its assholes threw at her, and now would be no different even if I begged off.

I wasn’t going to beg off though.

I’d gotten her into this jam, and she and I would get her out.

“You need to move in with me,” I said.

She laughed. Actually laughed, though I didn’t think there was much humor in it. More like an Are you fucking crazy?

“You can come home to me, your fiancé, every night after work. We’ll eat together, be seen around town together. People will get so used to seeing us together that they’ll think nothing of it—”

“There’s one big, fat flaw in your plan,” she said.

Narrowing my eyes, I asked, “And that is…?”

“Who in their right mind from Dragonfly Lake would ever believe that you, Mr. Social, Mr. Popularity, would ever want to be with the outcast trailer trash girl?”

“Why wouldn’t I? We’ve been friends for close to thirty years. You’re pretty and smart and a master of puns. Why the hell wouldn’t I see you as more than just a friend?”

A question I might need to ponder later, when I was alone.

“The real question,” I went on, “is why you’d settle for me, a guy with no education who works at a restaurant.”

“Owns a restaurant,” she corrected. “Everyone loves you. Why wouldn’t I?” Her cheeks pinkened slightly. “Think about this for a minute, Holden. Really think. You’d have a roommate, for starters. You haven’t had one for a long time. You’d have to spend so much time being seen out and about with me that you’d get sick of it in a week. And you wouldn’t be able to date other people. For months.”