Page 143 of Runaway Bride and Prejudice

Lex adds, “Not if we want to be there for puck drop.”

It takes me only another few seconds to catch on. “Oh. I’m not going to the game.”

“Sure you are,” Callie says.

I flinch as Callie reaches out, but then she takes my hand. Gently. Her eyes meet mine with the same dark espresso intensity I’ve seen in Van’s gaze.

“You’re coming with us.”

“You know you want to,” Lex says. She puts a hand on my shoulder.

Grey climbs right up on the bed, sitting cross-legged facing me and curling her fingers around my foot. “We’re going to getyou showered—okay, that part you can do alone—and dressed for the game. Like us.”

My brain is a veritable spin cycle of thoughts. But I keep hearing an echo of Van’s words from the night before, telling me what he wanted.

Me, at his game. Wearing his name, cheering for him.

“I don’t have any Appies stuff to wear.”

“I thought you worked for them,” Lex says with a frown.

“I just started this week.”

“No problem,” Grey says, and with that, she strips off the jersey she’s got on, leaving her in only a sports bra underneath. “Take this. It’s Robbie’s jersey. I’m sure he’s got an Appies t-shirt or something in his closet I can wear.”

I turn the jersey over with my one free hand, running my fingers over the name on the back. Van de Kamp. I bite my lip.

Grey rocks forward, her knees nudging mine. “Come on.”

“You barely know me,” I say, voice wobbly.

Lex pats the top of my head once. “We’ve got time to get to know you. But we don’t have much time to get to the game. Let’s go.”

“Trust us,” Grey says, and when I meet her eyes, something in me shifts.

I want to go to the game. Ineedto go to the game. I need Van to see me there in his jersey with his sisters.

He put it all out there for me in his bedroom last night.

Now, I want to put it all out there for him. Publicly.

And maybe if my dad sees me and sees how much I really care about Van—no. I stop myself. First, I need to worry about Van. Then I can worry about how to get my dad on board.

A sense of sudden urgency overwhelms me.

“How much time do we have?” I ask.

Lex glances at her watch. There’s a smudge of turquoise paint on her wrist. She makes a face. “Just … hurry.”

Squeezing Callie’s hand and looking at each of them in turn, I nod. “Let’s go.”

CHAPTER 29

Van

“Areyou looking for your sisters or your wife?” Alec asks, practically shoving me through the tunnel after the second period.

Guess it hasn’t escaped his notice how my head has been on a swivel, constantly checking the empty seats. Alec’s voice is strained, but I can tell he’s trying to be understanding. Trying to do something other than tear my head off.

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