Page 67 of Love to Hate You

Then again, she’d thought that before he’d opened up about his past. The Wes he’d shown her in the last several days would accept the support. Maybe even appreciate having someone to help him work through whatever was going on at his company. To stay or to go, that was the question.

One she didn’t get to answer, because Autumn came bouncing in with her pink boots and braids. “We look hot, sis.”

“That we do,” she said, trying to force a smile.

“Hot doesn’t even cover it,” Randy said, walking in behind Autumn and wrapping his arms around her from the back. “This is every guy’s dream, to go on a date with twins.”

Autumn playfully elbowed him in the gut and he gave a dramatic gasp. That’s when Summer noticed it. The T-shirts. Autumn’s saidI’LL BE YOUR BONNIEto Randy’sI’LL BE YOUR CLYDE,with arrows pointing to the other.

“Where’s yourTWINNINGshirt?” Summer asked as her heart sank, because she knew that just like Autumn’s shirt, this day was about to end in a shootout. “It’s Twin Day.”

“I know. I know. But—”

“Don’t blame her,” Randy said. “The first night we met she told me about this day and I just wanted to be a part of it. Is that okay?”

“The whole point of Twin Day is for Autumn and I to have alone time. Our parents don’t even come.”

“Well, we’re a package deal now, right, baby?” Randy asked.

Autumn kissed his chin. “Right.”

Randy kissed her nose. “It’s not a big deal, right?”

How was she supposed to answer that honestly? It was a gigantic freaking deal. Being alone with the Swifties would be uncomfortable as hell. But she’d promised to give him a fair chance, and sharing the day with him might give her insight into who this man who had stolen her sister’s common sense was. So she let herself sit in the uncomfortableness for a moment and decided that it would be easier to endure the awkwardness than start another fight.

“You know what?” she said. “If you want him to come, then he can come. Far be it for me to stand in the way of true love.”

Autumn yanking Summer into a bear hug and Summer could feel their hearts beating out of sync. “This is going to be fun, I promise.”

Summer couldn’t think of a single circumstance where being a third wheel would be fun, but she’d promised to give Randy a chance. She was turning over a new leaf when it came to Wes and treating him like she treated everyone else—with respect, acceptance, and a genuine smile on her face.

“Bring on the fun.”

Summer was trying, she really was, but she was struggling to get into fun mode. Ice cream had been shared, pizza consumed, and candy had been inhaled, but she’d felt like an interloper the entire time.

Randy had made an effort to include her, but between the PDA and the sexy talk she felt like an outsider.

They were standing in line for the Gravitron, and instead of holding Autumn’s hand like always she was standing behind them trying to hold onto her cookies. They hadn’t even reached the top of the line, and already Summer was getting cold feet. Not that she’d let anyone notice. There was no way she was going to wear thatLOSERcone for the rest of the day.

So far she’d smiled when she was supposed to smile, laughed when Randy made a dad joke, listened when he went on and on about how he was the new VP at the company and how much his car cost. Unfortunately, the only thing they had in common was their love for her sister. And by the time they made it to lunch it was even more clear that he was enamored with Autumn. So Summer decided to play on that.

Autumn was a beautiful soul, even when she was acting a little self-centered. Not many people saw that deep into her twin’s soul and got the gift of Autumn’s immense capacity for love. But Randy had seemed to uncover that in her, and that was something to celebrate.

Summer had opened her mouth to say something along those lines, but instead she blurted out, “Are you going to fuck over my sister?”

“Summer!” Autumn scolded. “Take that back.”

“It’s a fair question,” Randy said, slinging his arm around Autumn’s shoulders. “And no, I would never hurt Autumn.”

“What happened to ‘love can conquer all’?” Autumn said. “You’re supposed to be my ally here. You’re always my ally.”

“And I am being that now. Do you know about his past two fiancées, who he left after they’d uprooted their lives for him?”

“Yes, as a matter of fact I do. I know the whole story. I’ve even DMed with one of them and they spoke highly of Randy—told me how he’d helped them transition back into single life after the breakup.” Autumn crossed her arms. “The question is, how doyouknow?”

Summer’s face went beet red. “I may have looked him up on Insta.”

“You promised me that after the Stanly fiasco you’d never do that again. You promised!”

---