Page 109 of A Not So Prince Charming

“I know.” But was that what I wanted?

No. I knew it down to my soul, especially sitting at this table with him. I felt suffocated under the weight of his expectations.

Ella’s hand slid in mine, and she squeezed it. I appreciated her touch—her silent reassurance.

“And studying?”

“Oh, Cam’s practically got his nose buried in that book these days, Mr. Edwards. I practically have to pull him out so we can get dinner most of the time.”

My father frowned, but itwastrue. Ella wasn’t exaggerating. Any spare moment that I wasn’t working on class assignments or studying for tests, I was studying for the LSATs. I couldn’twait till it was over, so at least I wouldn’t have all the apprehension around it.

“I’m all registered to take them in June.”

“That’s good.”

Ella frowned, cutting in. “Your son is doing an exceptional job, you know.”

“What?” My dad stared at her.

“He’s been working his ass off—pardon my language—all semester, serving as president of his fraternity, and still doing extremely well in all of his classes, but you can’t so much as ask him how he’s been?”

“Ella…” I said, my voice soft.

“No. It’s not fair. You don’t deserve to be treated like this.” She pinched the bridge of her nose. “Cam told me about his little brother. I’m so sorry for your loss, but that doesn’t justify how you’ve treated Cam for the last decade.”

Telling her about Declan had felt good. Like someone else would help me carry on my little brother’s memories. One day, I would tell her everything—how he loved Pokémon, and collecting rocks, and how his face would light up when I came home from school when he was still too young. But that could all wait.

We had time. Because I wasn’t going to let her go.

He frowned. “You told her?”

“Yeah, Dad. I’m tired of dancing around the subject, acting like Declan didn’t exist. I miss him too, you know. And I know Mom does, but maybe there are other ways we could have coped besides packing up all his belongings and pretending everything was okay. It wasn’t.” It never was.

He looked away. I knew it had hurt him too, losing one of his sons. But I was still here. After they’d lost Dec, they’d still had me—but instead of giving me attention, I’d been shuffled between nannies and then boarding schools until my high school graduation.

Luckily, our food was delivered at that moment, saving us from any further conversation.

Ella shivered as she picked at her pasta, and I looked over at her. “Cold?”

She shook her head. “I’m fine.”

“Nonsense.” I shrugged off my jacket, draping it around her shoulders. I ignored my dad’s look and settled back in my chair. “Better?”

“Yes,” she said, voice quiet. Subdued. “Thanks.”

“Anything for my girl.” I kissed the side of her forehead.

After we finished eating, my dad cleared his throat. I thought maybe he was going to apologize, but he just placed his napkin on the table. “Dessert?” He asked.

I shook my head, wanting to go. “I don’t think so. We should get back. We have an early morning tomorrow.” The sorority and fraternity had planned another joint-service event. It didn’t start until the afternoon, but he didn’t need to know that.

“It was nice to meet you,” Ella said as we stood up, wrapping her arms around mine. I noticed she didn’t offer a hand to my dad again. Good. He didn’t deserve it.

My dad worked his jaw, and I narrowed my eyes. “What? Just spit it out.”

“I think you’re wasting your time.”

Ella froze, still clutching onto me, and I gritted my teeth. “What?”

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