As she started toward the house, she noticed a figure walking out of the garage with a plastic bag dangling from his arm.

Trihn froze. She was seeing things, daydreaming all over again.

Then, he took another step forward.

She would recognize that gait anywhere.

Preston.

“Oh my God!” Trihn cried.

Then, she was running. Her feet carried her faster than she had ever known they could, heading straight toward him.

He’s here after all! It must have just been an act, one big front, so he could surprise me like this so completely.

She never would have guessed in a million years that he would be able to pull this off, but it had worked. Now, he was here, and they could be together.

“You’re here!” she said as she approached him.

“Preston!” Lydia called from the door. “Don’t forget to grab the champagne out of the side door. You know how I like my bubbly!”

Trihn skidded to a halt right in front of Preston, her heart hammering in her chest. She looked in disbelief between the open door and Preston’s face. How did Lydia know Preston? And how could he know what kind of drinks she liked? He had just gotten here to surprise her.

Then, Trihn really looked into those blue eyes, and her stomach dropped out of her body.

“No,” she whispered.

Her world disintegrated before her eyes.

He wasn’t here for Trihn.

He was here for her.

“Coming, babe,” Preston called back to Lydia, his face stretching into a slow painful smile.

“DID YOU HEAR ME?” LYDIA ASKED.

She leaned her body out the door. Her eyes caught on Preston, and she had the biggest smile Trihn had ever seen on her sister’s face. Then, she seemed to notice Trihn standing there.

“Trihn! There you are!” Lydia burst out of the house and rushed to her. “Mom said you were visiting Ian. Sorry, I had her call you back, but I was so excited for you to meet my boyfriend! This is Preston. Preston, this is my little sister, Trihn.”

Trihn swallowed the horror on her face. It was hard to reel in, but somehow, she locked away the parts of her that had shattered into a million pieces, so she could face her sister. This wasn’t the way that Lydia needed to find out about Preston. Trihn wasn’t even sure she would be able to form words to explain what had happened anyway. In fact, she was a little worried about the use of words in general.

“Nice to meet you,” Preston said. He extended his hand out to her, as if this were really the first fucking time they were meeting, as if he honestly expected her to fucking touch him after this.

“Is it?” she growled out.

“I’ve heard so much about you,” he retorted, dropping his hand. “It’s nice to finally put a face to the name.”

“Funny. Lydia hasn’t said a word about you.”

“Trihn! Geez, calm down.”

Trihn was the furthest thing from calm. She was ready to rip his fucking head off. There was no explanation for this. None. Zero. Zip. Zilch. There was only anger and fury and pain. Great lancing pain was slicing through every limb in her body and piercing her with a fiery hot poker.

Lydia reached for Preston and drew him closer to her. “So sorry,” Lydia whispered so soft that Trihn almost didn’t hear her.

“It’s all right,” Preston said. He squeezed her hand.

Trihn tightly clenched her jaw and tried to hold back the rage boiling under the surface.

Half of her wanted to lay into him about the bullshit in front of her, and the other half wanted to run as fast and as far as she could to get away from the nightmare before her eyes.

“You’re right,” Trihn said. “No reason for me to be irritated that you’re bringing random guys on vacation with your family. You always bring total strangers with you.”

Preston arched his eyebrow in question. But she didn’t know what he was asking.

“God! What’s with you?” Lydia asked. “She’s not normally like this, Preston.”

“Yeah, I’m not. This behavior is completely out of character. Normally, I’m all rainbows and sunshine,” she said dramatically. She crossed her arms over her chest to close herself off from them.

“I can see that,” Preston said with that goddamn chuckle.

He was actually fucking amused by her behavior. She was going to rip him apart.

“Just go inside with that,” Lydia told Preston. “I need a minute alone with my sister.”

“All right, babe,” he said, as if whatever was about to happen between Lydia and Trihn meant nothing to him. As if…he hadn’t called Trihn babe before.

Trihn glared at his back as he departed. How dare he call Lydia babe! How dare he be dating my sister! How dare he stand there as if he didn’t give a shit that this was killing me! How dare that motherfucking asshole!

“What the fuck is wrong with you?” Lydia exploded. She grabbed Trihn’s arm and yanked her sister farther away from the door, so she could spout venom without being heard by her precious flavor of the week.

“What’s wrong with me?” Trihn cried. She wrenched out of her sister’s grip. She didn’t give a shit who heard them. “What’s wrong with you, bringing a guy you just met on our fucking family vacation?”

“You have no idea what you’re talking about! Preston and I have been dating all summer!”

“What?” Trihn sputtered, stumbling backward, as if she had been slapped.

“Yeah! We’re in the same program at NYU to receive credit for our summer internships. We met months ago at the orientation meeting.”

All the air whooshed out of Trihn’s lungs as realization hit her. This wasn’t some fling. This wasn’t someone who Lydia had been fooling around with and invited on vacation on a whim. She was actually seriously dating Preston. They had been dating for several months. Fucking hell! They had been dating even longer than Trihn had known Preston—a month longer, if memory served, since that was when Lydia had started her photography internship.

“All summer?” Trihn asked, her voice sounding small and distant due to the ringing in her ears.

“Yes,” Lydia snapped. “And if you get off your high horse and give him a chance, you might even like him instead of judging me and the guys I bring home!” She shook her head and then started to head back inside.

Trihn didn’t like Preston. She was madly in love with him. And all of this was so, so wrong.

“Lydia, wait!” Trihn called before Lydia opened the door.

“What?” Lydia asked. Her anger dissipated as quickly as it had come. It always did with Lydia. She always won, and her life was perfect. What reason would she have for holding on to anger?

“I don’t think this is such a good idea,” Trihn said. She tried to find the words to warn her sister without coming right out and saying it. “What do you even know about this guy?”

Lydia sighed heavily, pushing forward into the house again without an answer.

Trihn anxiously followed behind her. “Lydia, I’m serious!”

“Look, just because your boyfriend couldn’t come with you doesn’t mean you can question mine. You guys have only been dating for a short while, too, right?” Lydia asked.

Lydia’s words carried down the hall, and their mother stuck her head through the doorway. “Is everything all right, girls?”

Trihn looked up to see her mother, her father, and Preston staring at them. She gritted her teeth but didn’t look away. She was ready to explode at any second.

“Yes, we’re fine,” Lydia said. She bounced from one foot to the other with a giant grin. “I was just asking about Trihn’s boyfriend.”