“Why?” I frowned at him.
“I just feel like it can’t be this easy. We can’t just find each other and be together so easily. I just feel like life doesn’t work this way for me.”
“You took the words out of my mouth.” I sighed and sat up. “There is something you need to know, Bryce.”
“Uh oh,” he groaned. “Do I want to hear this?”
“I don’t know.” I bit my lip and thought for a moment. “I don’t know if it’s my place to tell you this.”
“Oh shit. Why do I think I’m about to come crashing back to reality?”
“So you know our parents dated for a few years.”
“I know they cheated for a few years.”
I tried not to let his words bother me and I continued. “Do you know why they broke up?”
“My dad found someone new?” Bryce laughed, bitterly. “Did he move onto a younger and better looking model?”
“Hey.” I poked him in the arm, hard.
“Sorry, but isn’t that what normally happens?”
“I don’t know. My dad isn’t in my life.” My voice was bitter and upset and he looked at me in concern.
“Sorry, Lexi, I didn’t mean to be rude.”
“It’s okay.” I smiled at him quickly, not wanting to ruin the easy camaraderie we had. But I was upset. He was being quite rude about my mother, ruder than I thought he had the right to be.
“So why did my philanderer dad and your slutty mom break up?”
“My mom’s not a slut, Bryce.”
“Well she knew my dad was married, right? Who in Jonesville doesn’t know the Mayor is married with a golden child?”
“You’re not exactly a golden child though, are you?”
“I’ve made some mistakes, yes,” he sighed. “Look, I’m sorry. I’m choosing the wrong words. I’m just anxious to hear what you have to say.”
“We have a sister.”
“Just please tell me, wait, what?” He frowned at me. “Please, dear God, tell me you are not my sister.”
“I’m not your sister.” I laughed. “That would be gross.”
“Okay, so repeat what you said.” He wiped his temple.
“We have a younger sister.”
“We have a sister?” He looked around the room and I laughed.
“She doesn’t live here.”
“Well she doesn’t live at my house either.”
“She’s at the Jonesville orphanage.”
“The orphanage?” He frowned. “Why?”
“Because they didn’t want her, obviously. It’s not like your dad was going to leave your mom to come marry my mom and raise their bastard child.”
“So why didn’t she raise her by herself? She raised you as a single mom, right?”
“Why should she hold the responsibility to raise their child?” My voice rose. “That’s a really unfair thing to say.”
“I’m not blaming her.” He tried to hold my hand and I pulled away.
“Well, it’s not her fault.” I frowned. “Anyways, we have a sister and she’s four now.”
“What’s her name?” He tried to sidle up to me and I stood up.
“I don’t know.”
“You don’t know?” He looked at me in disbelief.
“I don’t know anything about her. I just know she’s at the orphanage.”
“And you’ve never been there to see her or anything?”
“No. Have you?”
“I didn’t know.”
“Now you do.” I stood there with my arms crossed against my heaving chest. I felt like crying. I didn’t understand why we were arguing like this.
“I’m sorry, Lexi.” He came up to me and held his arms out stiffly. “I’m trying to be a better guy.” He gave me a winning smile and I went into his arms, though his embrace didn’t comfort me as much as I thought it would.
I realized, at that point, that I wanted Luke. I wanted him to hold me close and to sing a silly song to make me better. I closed my arms. I missed Luke. I didn’t understand why he couldn’t be happy for me. I was here, happy and in love with Bryce. Bryce Evans. The quarterback of the football team. The guy every girl in high school had wanted to be with. The guy who I had dreamt about for years. The blond God of my dreams. Why couldn’t he understand that I finally felt like a someone. People in Jonesville would respect me now. They would actually know who I was. I would be a somebody.
“So what do you think?” Bryce whispered in my ear and I blinked up at him.
“Sorry, what?”
“Shall we go to Harpers Creek?”
“You want to go to the Creek?” I was surprised at his words.
“Yeah. We can go and just relax, maybe do some fishing. Just the two of us.”
“I guess so.” I paused. “Don’t you want to talk about our sister?”
“No, not right now.” He frowned. “I don’t blame you for keeping this a secret, Lexi.”
“I feel so guilty.” I looked up at him. “I feel like I should do something for her. Tell someone about her.”
“Who are you going to tell?” He shook his head. “There’s nothing we can do, Lexi. It’s probably best you kept it a secret.”
“It doesn’t feel right.” I cried out. “I don’t feel right. This has been haunting me for years.” I couldn’t believe that he wasn’t more upset or astounded.
“I forgive you, Lexi. It’s okay.”
“Thanks.” I turned away from him. I didn’t need his forgiveness. That wasn’t why I had been anxious. I was worried because I thought he would want to confront our parents and demand that they do better for our sister. I couldn’t believe that he just didn’t seem to care.
“I was thinking we could go to the Creek and talk about the letters.” He smiled and me and his blue eyes sparkled. “I still can’t believe that you are Miss. I was looking for you.”
“Wait, what?” I frowned. “How did you figure out it was me? What part of the letters?”
“Lexi, every word you wrote should have told me it was you.” He kissed my forehead. “We were fated to be together.”
“Do you believe in soul mates?” I asked him, softly.
“I believe you’re my soul mate.” He looked at me with intense eyes. “We were made for each other.”