Page 1 of The Love Playbook

Chapter 1

CHARLOTTE

Iflop back on my best friend, Brynn’s, bed, and groan. “Ugh. Come with me,please.I’ll even pay you.”

Brynn laughs, pushing her long blonde hair out of her face, as my head lolls to the side, watching the way she neatly folds another sweater and places it in her suitcase. “If I hadn’t already told my family I’m coming home this weekend, I totally would.”

“Is the prospect of going to your father’s for your birthday really that bad?” a soft soprano asks from behind me.

I glance over to where Elizabeth, Brynn’s roommate, sits on her bed, a worn novel in her lap and a packed suitcase beside her.

“Considering his new flavor of the month will be there? Most definitely. And after I spend dinner with him on Friday, I get the added bonus of going to my mother’s for the weekend whereI’ll be grilled about said flavor.” I prop myself up on my elbows and give Brynn a pointed look. “You wouldn’t understand. Your family is wonderful and loving and normal.” I flick my gaze to Elizabeth once more. “What about you, Liz, do you wanna come with me?” I slap my hands together in prayer to emphasize just how much I want this.

Liz scrunches her nose. “Sorry. My brother is coming home this weekend for a visit, so I promised I’d be there. It’s kind of a big deal since he goes to school in California and doesn’t fly home often.”

“You like your family, too, don’t you?” I ask in a flat tone.

Elizabeth smiles and offers me a little shrug. “Guilty.”

“Damn you, lucky bitches.” I release a pained groan and shoot a conspiratorial look toward my roommate, Samantha, at her perch by the door. “Why are we the unlucky ones?” I wave between us.

I lived with Samantha all summer, and it was long enough to swap horror stories. Her family is more dysfunctional than mine. The only difference is her parents are still together and mine aren’t.

I cross my arms over my chest, pouting as I blow a stray lock of dark, chin-length hair out of my face. “Fine. If neither of you will come withme, then take me with you,” I demand, propping myself up so I can shoot Brynn a pleading look.

“I’d love to bring you back to Riverside, and you know my parents would be thrilled to have you . . .”

Hope soars in my chest. From everything I’ve learned about her, Brynn’s family is the quintessential picture of a happy family with the big, beautiful house, stable careers, and parents who are still madly in love after four kids and twenty years of marriage. They’re unicorns; it would make me sick if I weren’t so secretly envious.

Brynn hesitates, shifting on her feet while she chews her lower lip.

“I’m sensing abuthere,” I say, my tone glum.

“But do you really want to skip out on seeing your father? He seemed so excited that you were going home for your birthday.”

“Ugh. I knew playing his voicemail to you was a mistake,” I grumble under my breath.

For reasons unbeknownst to me, this birthday trip home seems especially important to my father. So much so he’s been texting me about it nonstop. First, it was about the food. Then the table settings?did I want real plates or was paper okay? Like I freaking care. Then he messaged me about sleeping arrangements, to which I had to remind him I’d be staying at Mom’s. Then it was about his girlfriend, asking if I minded if her son joined us. He’s even texted me about the desserts.

If I get another text confirming my time of arrival, I might go mad.

“You’ve never gone into specifics about your family, even though I spilled my guts to you over the summer, so what’s the deal?” Samantha asks.

All eyes turn to me, and I groan. Ever since I started college, I do everything in my power to avoid my parents, and that includes discussing them.

“Let’s see.” I tap my finger on my lip. “They were college sweethearts who married right after graduation and had a nasty divorce when I was fourteen that may or may not have scarred me for life. Since their split, my father has become a middle-aged player who has done nothing but serial date everything with legs while my mother is . . . well, my mother . . .” I trail off and clear my throat, leaving it at that. “Anyway, let’s just say trips home aren’t fun, and it’s going to be a long-ass weekend.”

A knock sounds on the door, and Brynn grins as she turns to answer it. The second it opens, her boyfriend, Jace, swings herup and into his arms, carrying her over to her bed with a growl. “Damn. I miss you already.”

Brynn laughs. “I just saw you this morning, and I haven’t even left yet.”

“I know, but just knowing I won’t see you until Sunday night when you get back kills me.”

I roll my eyes and stifle a gag. I was thrilled when Jace and Brynn finally hooked up in our first year, but they take PDA to a whole new level. Even a year later, their mushiness is both awe-inspiring and puke-inducing.

“Okay, enough of the cuteness, you two,” I grumble. “You’re madly in love. We get it.”

Brynn chuckles while Jace beams over at me. “Hey, Charlotte.”

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