Page 85 of The Summer Swap

She tugged at her hand. “You’ll have to ask her.”

“Lily,” he spoke softly, “you’ve always talked to me about everything. And I’ve talked to you. We’ve always been good friends.”

Which was exactly why she couldn’t talk to him about this. But she sat back down because he wasn’t giving her much choice. She wondered if he even knew he was still holding her hand.

He wanted an answer from her, so she formulated one.

“Hannah didn’t want me to give up medicine. She loves it so much. She really is living her best life and she can’t understand why others wouldn’t feel the same way.”

“So why was she ranting about Amelie?” He kept his gaze fixed on her face. “She said she couldn’t believe I’d been stupid enough to be taken in by her. Apparently she knew things about her, but when I asked her about it she wouldn’t tell me what they were. I already knew I’d made a mistake of course and maybe I would have talked to Hannah about it, but she wouldn’t listen to anything I had to say. The irony was, Amelie and I weren’t even serious. It was just casual, for me at least. Although it’s obvious to me now that she felt differently.” He let go of her hand. “You knew Amelie, didn’t you?”

Lily’s lips felt stiff. “Yes.”

“Are you going to tell me why Hannah disliked her so much?”

“I—you’d have to ask Hannah.”

“I’m asking you.”

“Todd—”

“Okay, so I’m going to take a guess at it.” He studied her for a moment. “The girl who bullied you at school—that was Amelie wasn’t it?” When she didn’t answer, he nodded. “It took me a while to figure it out. Too long. Damn, Lily—”

“I don’t know why you’d—”

“Because I put together all the things Hannah threw at me and added in Amelie’s reaction when your name came up.”

Her heart started to race. “My name came up?”

“Yes. Before we were dating. She wasn’t really part of my social circle, but occasionally we’d find ourselves in the same place at the same time. We were talking about friends. You’re one of my friends. But when I mentioned your name, Amelie changed. She became upset—moody.”

“I don’t see why us being friends would upset her.”

It was a moment before Todd answered. “I think,” he said slowly, “it was because she was jealous. In fact, I’m wondering now if that’s why she got involved with me in the first place.”

“That doesn’t make any sense.”

“It does. And I think you know it does.” He leaned forward and took her hand again. “She knew you were in love with me, didn’t she, Lily?”

The world stopped.

“Todd—”

“You were in love with me, and Amelie knew that. That was why she was suddenly interested in me.”

This was a nightmare. She didn’t know which was worse. Todd knowing, or Amelie knowing.

Todd. Definitely Todd. It was one thing loving him, and him not knowing. A completely different thing, loving him and knowing he knew. It was mortifying. She didn’t want him feeling sorry for her. Pitying her. Everything would be awkward now. These past few days, where they’d worked together so closely and had such fun, were in the past.

She stood up suddenly and Todd stood up, too.

She freed her hand and turned to walk away but he caught her by the shoulders and turned her to face him.

“Wait. I have a question, and it’s really important to me that you answer it honestly.” He was still holding her. “Are you still in love with me, Lily?”

Oh God, he was going to sympathize. He was going to be kind and understanding. This was her nightmare. The moment she’d always dreaded, and it was as bad as she’d feared it would be.

It was terrifying to be this vulnerable.

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