Page 62 of Hired By the Enemy
I’m about to talk through the whole thing, but instead, I blurt out, “Do you think you can fall in love with your enemy?”
Andrew blinks at me. Whatever he expected to come out of my mouth, it clearly wasn’t that. “What?”
“My date from Elite ended up being my childhood enemy.”
Andrew’s mouth drops open. “Are you kidding me?”
I run my hand through my hair. “I know. It’s messed up, right?”
“Yes, but the truly messed-up part is the implicationsbehind the question you just asked. Do you actually think you fell in love with this guy in six days on a tropical island?”
“Yes,” I say miserably.
Andrew continues to blink at me. “Well, personally, I can’t ever imagine falling in love with the jock who tortured me in high school,” he says finally.
“Yeah, it wasn’t quite as simple as the jock bullying the nerd when we were growing up. I tormented him back. We tormented each other.”
“That doesn’t sound like a healthy base for a relationship,” Andrew says quietly.
“I know. But it was different on the island. We’ve grown up. And I don’t know, maybe it’s partly because of all that history between us, but he seems to get me like no one else has.”
Andrew’s eyebrows fly up. I’m not sure if it’s due to my words or the wistfulness in my tone as I talk about Liam.
“And I get him too,” I keep going. “He projects this cocky persona to the world, and he comes across smooth and charming, but deep down, he’s incredibly sweet.”
A crease deepens on Andrew’s forehead to the point it’s almost a crevasse. “So he lives in San Francisco, he’s single, you’re single. What’s actually stopping you guys from being together?”
Andrew’s words hit me hard in the chest.
I swallow hard.
“I guess I’m scared of putting myself out there,” I say finally. “What if he rejects me?”
“Are you worried that he’ll reject you and it’ll bring back all the negative memories from when you were growing up?” he asks.
His question causes my breath to hitch. What am I truly the most concerned about when it comes to Liam?
Yes, being rejected by Liam would bring back badmemories. It would make me feel that I’d been the ultimate loser in the war between us, a reality I’ve spent so much of my life battling against.
But I realize that’s not my ultimate concern.
“I’m worried he’ll reject me, and it’ll break my heart,” I say quietly.
“But isn’t your heart going to break not being with him anyway?” Andrew asks.
I suck in a breath. “Damn you and your insanely logical brain.”
He shrugs. “I don’t know, Matthew. Only you can decide if it’s worth the risk.”
He’s right.
Only I can decide.
I thank Andrew and say my goodbyes, wishing him a happy holiday before I head downstairs to find Mom busy sticking all the Christmas star wishes onto sturdy cardboard so they can be displayed on the Christmas tree at the festival tonight.
“Are you going to write a Christmas star wish?” she asks me.
I pick up a star, turning over the card in my hand, and I can’t help remembering how I’d used Christmas stars as another arena to battle with Liam over the years.
