Page 109 of Gold Rush

“Sure sounds like you are to me.”

“That’s—I’m—it’s a crush! A temporary yet confusing crush.”

Wren scoffs. “There’s no way you have a crush on Flynn.”

“Why not?” I demand.

“Because a crush is … it’s a fantasy. You’re enamored with the possibility of a person. You focus on all their virtues and ignore—or don’t know—their flaws. You said it yourself—he’s always irritated you. And then you listed off reasons why. No mention of him also being a lawyer who you can discuss lawyerly topics with. Or the time he tried to make me feel better on New Year’s Eve. Or how cute it is that he calls you Florence. Your names alliterate. No mention of how hot he is, which I know you’ve noticed because you notice everything. You’re the most practical person I know, but emotions don’t listen to reason.”

I’m silent. “Fuck.”

“This isn’t a bad thing, Rory. You were pretending to date. Just tell him you want to date for real. No one has to know.”

“I can’t, Wren. We made a deal.”

“A deal not to fall in love?” She’s smiling.

“No. To—his dad told him that he needs to get engaged to get part of his trust fund. Everyone was talking about what Carson did, and I wanted that to stop. I saw Carson’s mom in the Hamptons, and she said he’s in a new relationship, and I⁠—”

“Wait. You guys are getting engaged as part of this?”

“That was the plan, yeah.”

“A proposal is not going to make your feelings less complicated, Rory.”

“I realize that. But I agreed to go through with that part. And I can’t blow things up right before Lili’s wedding.”

“Lili wouldn’t want you to be upset at her wedding.”

“She wants Flynn there. She invited him separately, long before we were dat—pretending.”

Wren’s smile is sympathetic, catching my slip. “I wish you’d talked to me about Carson moving on. Pretending to date another guy to⁠—”

“It wasn’t really about Carson. I wanted everyone to stop gossiping about what had happened. Maybe part of me wanted to ‘win’ our breakup. But I’m … I’m relieved it happened. I’m not sure when, or if, I would have broken up with him otherwise. When I saw Carson at the company gala, I realized⁠—”

Wren looks outraged. “He was invited to the Kensington Consolidated event?”

I nod. “I requested his name stay on the list.”

“Why?”

“We can’t avoid each other forever. It was inevitable we’d attend the same event again eventually. I didn’t see the point in delaying it.”

“Did you talk to him?”

“Barely. I didn’t—don’t—have anything to say to him.”

“You are over him,” Wren muses.

“Flynn talked to him more than I did.”

My sister frowns. “What did he say?”

“I don’t know. I missed most of it. But they were glaring at each other, so …” I bite my bottom lip. “Flynn hit him.”

Wren gasps. “At the gala?”

“No. At Proof. The night Carson cheated. Well, one of the nights he cheated, most likely. The night he got caught.”