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“And he doesn’t know the half of it, believe me. But I’ve enabled them all along, and thanks to you, I realized that was the wrong move. Today, I cut them off.”

“Whoa,” I say. “I’m not sure how that’s my fault, but I certainly didn’t?—”

“Oh, I’m not blaming you. I’m crediting you. You told me it was enabling. You said that you had to stop doing it with your mom, and at first I got mad. My parents aren’t junkies. But I realized that they’re even worse, in their own way. Elizabeth has told me for years not to help them, but you were the first person who really told me that I’d be helping them by cutting them off.”

“That’s not?—”

“Bea, you have made my life better in every way.”

“But now my grandfather is trying to wreck it, and if you just?—”

“Don’t say break up with me.”

“But if you?—”

“La la la la la.”

“What are you doing?”

“If it sounds like you’re going to suggest we break up again, I’m going to sing.”

“That wasn’t even a real song.”

“I never claimed to be musical,” he says. “In fact, if I recall correctly, I told you that I sound like Sebastian the Crab in theLittle Mermaid.”

He has me chuckling. “Actually, Sebastian could sing. You said you sounded like Scuttle.”

“Wait, who’s Scuttle?”

“The seagull.”

“Oh, right, that’s the one.”

Which he knew. He said it was the seagull himself, so he’s just trying to distract me from the point. “Easton.”

“Bea, I don’t know how else to say this. That’s a no to breaking up—a firm no,” he says. “I have a plan, and my plan will work. So just trust in the plan.”

“This is a plan for us to survive my grandfather the governor who wants to break us up?”

“Yes. And listen, if your resolve starts to crumble, I have a suggestion. My sister Elizabeth has gotten super into K-dramas, and she was just telling me how in a lot of them, the parents try to break up the couple, but they don’t succeed.”

“Easton.”

“I know one of them was calledBoys over Flowers, and I think another one wasSecret Garden,or maybe it was calledHeirs. Or that could be a whole different one. But I can have her text you a list if you need some inspiration.”

“Easton.”

“I love hearing you say my name, but maybe in the future, don’t use that weird, kind of motherly tone?”

“Well, our breakup didn’t go as I expected.”

“Stop saying that word,” he says. “In fact, I forbid you to use it at all from now on.”

“What if my socks get stuck together and I need to break them up?”

“You can say that you need to pull them apart.”

“Alright,” I say. “What if I need to break up a fight?”

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