Page 58 of The Boyfriend Swap

When Perry regarded me with pleading blue eyes, he resembled a Siberian husky. “It will only be lying if he straight-out asks you if we hooked up and you say no. Not likely to happen.”

Amused, I said, “Who’s the lawyer in this room?”

“It was worth a try.” He shrugged.

“Maybe they’ll be okay with it,” I said, even though I didn’t believe myself.

Perry raised an eyebrow. “Will didn’t strike me as the type of guy who’d forgive cheating. And Robyn definitely wouldn’t.”

I thought of something funny. “Imagine if the two of them fooled around as well and are having the exact same conversation in Philadelphia right now.” On second thought, it wasn’t very humorous.

Perry smirked. “Will and Robyn? Never. We’re definitely the villains in this story, Cherry.”

I sighed. “You’re so right.” I motioned toward my door to let him know it was time to leave me alone. “See you in the morning.” I was exhausted.

A few minutes later, I crawled into bed and closed my eyes. Maybe if I shut them tightly enough, I could erase the faces of my family regarding me with pity for failing to create and sustain a true love connection. But I’d need earplugs to drown out their voices playing like a soundtrack on repeat saying I was too competitive, I lacked a nurturing gene, and I was too focused on the bottom line to ever be as successful in love as I was at law. The thing is, they were right.

For spring break my first year in law school, Jake planned a four-day weekend for us at a luxury ranch in Montana where we’d go horseback riding and learn to fly fish—something I’d always wanted to do—and I told him I couldn’t go because I cared more about earning one of forty-five coveted spots on theColumbia Law Reviewthan I did about his romantic overtures. Instead, I spent all week at home working on my personal statement for theReviewapplication with my father hovered over my shoulder. Initially, Jake accepted my ambition as part of what made me “me”—he said it was a turn on—but eventually it killed us. Over the years, I had kept myself so busy chasing one win after another it left me no time to consider whether the successes even made me happy—until now. Something had to give, but I had no idea what.

Robyn

“Do you still hate me?”

I gripped the steering wheel tighter and frowned. Staring at the road, I asked, “Why would you think I hated you?”

“You’ve barely said a word to me since we woke up. Your parents were giving us curious looks all during breakfast.”

I could hear the regret in Will’s voice and winced in discomfort. “You’re paranoid. They didn’t notice anything.” I recoiled as the bold-faced lie escaped my lips. I had spied my mom’s furrowed brow out of the corner of my eye as she looked back and forth between Will and me as we sat side by side at the kitchen table without uttering a word to each other. And there was nothing subtle about her repeated requests for me to pass her this or hand her that in a relentless attempt to catch my eye. I’d managed to slide the platter of toast and the pepper shaker across the table to her all without looking up from my own plate of food. I even gave her the lamest goodbye hug in Lane mother/daughter history because of my overwhelming desire to own up to the truth—that this year’s Chrismukkah was a fabrication, and Will was no closer to being my boyfriend now than he was a decade ago. If I let her squeeze me too hard, it might all come spilling out. Maybe I would tell her soon, but I needed to hold it together at least long enough for the car ride back to New York. I hadn’t lied to her since I was thirteen and I told her I had a hole in my boring black rainboots so she’d buy me a new pair of bright red ones. She never found out I’d purposely bludgeoned my old pair with scissors. I dreaded the disappointment on her face when I confessed to this lie.

“Please don’t be this way, Snow. I’m really sorry.”

When we stopped for a light, I turned to him. “If you must know, Iamgoing to break things off with Perry when I get home.”

Will’s eyes opened wide. “Whatever you think is best,” he said in a casual tone belying his earlier strong opinions on the matter. But I caught him smile before turning to look out the window.

My skin burned with irritation. “I was planning to end it before you chipped in your two cents. But for what it’s worth, your theory was wrong.”

Will faced me again and frowned. “I believe you. I just couldn’t think of another reason to explain your attraction to him. He’s so…wrong,” he said, shaking his head.

I narrowed my eyes. “Why do you care so much?” It was on the tip of my tongue to remind him that Perry would be out of his girlfriend’s life soon enough too, and he should move on.

He shrugged. “I just do.”

I waited for him to elaborate, but he said nothing and resumed staring out his window. I figured he had nothing else to say and focused on the road with one finger in my mouth as I chewed on a nail.

Another twenty-five minutes passed by without a word exchanged between us. Although I sang softly along to the music to calm my nerves, Will was silent. Apparently, he was all sung out from a musical weekend with the Lanes. My mind flashed back to the night before when I played “It’s the Most Wonderful Time of the Year” on the piano while Will strutted around the family room belting out fake lyrics to distract us from his horrible voice.

“You’re doing it again, Snow.”

“Doing what?”

“Giggling to yourself.”

“Oh.”

“Were you laughing about my singing again?”

I whipped my head to face him with my eyes bugged out. “How…how did you know?”

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