Page 25 of The One Where They Fall in Love

“You’re trying to sell me on this place, but you wouldn’t come for a run with me here?” he asks, as if that is even in the realm of possibility.

“I wasn’t kidding when I said I only run when someone is chasing me. Have you seen these boobs?” I gesture to my chest. “What do you think happens to these when I run?”

Oliver coughs awkwardly. “I… um…”

“And don’t get any ideas. It’s notBaywatch, buddy. It’s like running with two ten-pound sandbags on your chest that arenotwell secured. I’ve gotten hit in the face with these things during a cardio session.” Oliver’s eyes widen as I talk, my voice getting louder as I rant. “You know mountain climbers? That shit could knock me out!”

I nod to prove my point, a serious look on my face. Oliverpresses his lips into a line. He’s trying not to laugh, but he can’t help it, and a bark escapes from his lips, his eyes squinting from his smile. I playfully hit his side. “It’s true!”

“I’m sure it is,” he says, wiping a tear from under his eye. “You paint quite a picture.”

I push him again and he stumbles to the side, still laughing.

“Just for that you’re buying me lunch,” I say pointedly. “And I’m getting a lobster roll.”

Twelve

Oliver

“Sophia, I’d really love to know what it’s like to live in your brain,” I say, rolling my eyes at my sister, thankful that she can’t see me through the phone.

“Oliver—”

“Sophia—”

“Don’t use that tone with me,” she chides. I can hear clinking dishes and mumbles of conversations in the background behind her. I picture my sister sitting in a piazza in Tuscany, wearing one of those obnoxiously big hats and oversized sunglasses, her whole outfit screaming “I’m an American!”

It’s the first time I’ve actually spoken to my sister since she left, other than text messages here and there. Sophia and I have always had a weird relationship: we’re six years apart, so we weren’t exactly close growing up. By the time she was in middle school, I was at college. And the truth is, I only see her as much as I see my parents, at holidays and a handful of times in between. But it wasn’t easy growing upwith a father like Andrew Cole, so my sister and I do have some kind of trauma bond that makes us close, even if we don’t talk to each other every day.

“I can use whatever tone I want, Soph,” I snap back at her. “You left me with a dog I never asked for.”

“Oh shut up, Oliver! It’s a dog! Who doesn’t want a dog?”

“A guy who doesn’t like surprises!” I exclaim, my patience with my flighty sister wearing thin.

“He was at a high-kill shelter, Oliver. What was I supposed to do? Let him bekilled?”

Ugh, the good old guilt trip. Sophia is getting almost as good at it as my mother.

“Did it even occur to you to ask me why I’m in Italy?” she adds, a hint of anger in her voice. I’m confused by the change of subject.

“Mom said you’re taking a course or something,” I say, rubbing my temples. I’m dropping Thor off at Elle’s after I get back from the gym, so I’m collecting Thor’s toys and putting them in the big bag that Elle and I pass back and forth during our co-parenting pick-ups and drop-offs.

“I’m enrolled in the mostselectiveandprestigiousfashion program in the world, Oliver. Twenty people get in every year. Out of thewhole world. Mom didn’t tell you that?”

Aw, shit. Maybe sheisbetter at guilt than Mom is these days.

“She said a fashion program. She left outprestigiousandselective.”

“Of course she did, because if you’re not going to Stanford Medical School in this family, you don’t matter.” I can hear the hurt behind her words.

I stop what I’m doing and sit on the couch. Thor patters his feet, getting impatient with me. He knows I have a bone in the bag and he wants it. He sits down in front of me, his awkward hind legs sticking out from each side of him as he plops his butt down. When I look in his eyes, I’m reminded of my little sister, who has eyes that can look just as pathetic when she wants them to.

“Look, Soph, I’m sorry, okay? I’ve—” I start, but I’m not sure where my sentence is going. I am sorry. I guess I’m usually stuck on how my parents are hounding me and think that they leave Sophia alone. But maybe being the kid without expectations comes with its own set of problems?

Sophia scoffs on the other end of the phone. “You’re apologizing, but you don’t even know what for.”

“Soph, you’re giving me some serious guilt right now, can you lay off a bit?”