"America, the answer is no." Dad shook his head, holding up his hands, palms out. "We're not financing an apartment with your boyfriend, and we don't feel like you could hold satisfactory grades and work enough hours to pay rent, even half the rent. We don't know how Shepley's parents feel, but we can't agree to it. Not yet."

My shoulders fell. For weeks, Shepley had been preparing a speech with calm reb.u.t.tals and sound arguments. He would be devastated-again-just like the last time when we'd announced that we would be moving in together and were shut down.

"Daddy," I whined, a last-ditch effort.

He wasn't moved. "Sorry, sweet pea. We'd appreciate it if you didn't bring it up at brunch. It's our last day. Let's just-"

"I get it. Okay," I said.

They both hugged me and then walked toward the restaurant. I pressed my lips together, trying to figure out a way to break the news to Shepley. Our plan had been sunk before we even had a chance to present it to our parents.

Shepley "s.h.i.t," I said under my breath.

America's conversation with her parents hadn't looked pleasant, and when they walked off and she looked at me, I already knew what had happened.

"Trav, look at me," Abby said, holding his chin until his eyes focused on hers.

"I can't tell you. That's as truthful as I can be."

Abby put her hands on her hips and bit her lips together, scanning the horizon. "Can you at least tell me why you can't tell me?" She looked back at him with her big gray eyes.

"Thomas asked me not to, and if I do ... we won't be able to be together."

"Just answer me this," Abby said. "Does it have to do with another woman?"

Confusion and then horror reflected in Travis's eyes, and he hugged her again. "Christ, baby, no. Why would you even ask that?"

Abby hugged him, resting her cheek on his shoulder. "If it's not someone else, then I trust you. I guess I just won't know."

"Really?" Travis asked.

"Travis, what the h.e.l.l is it?" I asked.

Travis frowned at me.

"Shep," Abby said, "it's between Thomas and Travis."

I nodded. If he didn't tell Abby, he wasn't going to tell me. "Okay." I play-punched Travis's shoulder with the side of my fist. "You feel better? Abby's cool with it."

"I wouldn't say that," Abby said. "But I'll respect it. For now."

A cautious smile spread on Travis's face, and he held out his hand to his wife.

"Hey," America said. "Everything good here?"

"We're good," Abby said, smiling at Travis.

Travis simply nodded.

America looked to me, the ocean breeze blowing thick strands of her long blonde hair in her face. "Can we talk?"

My eyebrows pulled in, and she winced.

"Don't look at me like that," she said.

Travis and Abby walked down the beach, leaving us alone.

"I saw you with your parents. Looked like an intense conversation."

"It wasn't pleasant. They knew why we'd asked to have brunch with them and your parents. They asked me not to bring it up."

"You mean, moving in together?" I said, my entire body feeling tense.

"Yes."

"But ... they haven't heard what we have to say. I have points."

"I know. But they're focused on my grades, and they don't feel like I'll be able to work and keep a three-point-oh."

"Baby, I'll help you."

"I know. But ... they're right. If I don't have time to study, it won't matter how much you help me."

We had picked out an apartment. I'd already paid the money to hold it.

I frowned. "Okay, then I'll support us. I'll take a break from school if I have to."

"What? No! That's a terrible idea."

I gripped her tiny arms in both my hands. "Mare, we're adults. We can move in together if we want."

"My parents won't support me if I live with you. They said that, Shep. They won't help me with tuition or books and definitely not living expenses. They think it's the wrong decision."

"They're wrong."

"You're talking about quitting school. I'm thinking they're right."

My heart began to race. This felt like the beginning of the end. If America wasn't interested in moving in, maybe she was losing interest in me altogether.

"Marry me," I blurted out.

Her nose wrinkled. "Pardon?"

"They can't say anything if we're married."

"That won't change the facts. I'll still have to work, and my grades will suffer."

"I told you. I'll support us."

"By dropping out of school? No. That's stupid, Shep. Stop."

"If Travis and Abby can do it-"

"We're not Travis and Abby. We're definitely not going to get married to solve a problem like they did."

I felt my veins swell with anger, the pressure making the blood boil in my face and compress behind my eyes. I walked away from her, folding my hands on top of my head, willing the Maddox temper to wane. The waves were slapping on the sh.o.r.e, and I could hear Trenton and Camille talking from one direction, Travis and Abby from another.

Kids with their families along with young and old couples were beginning to filter down from their rooms. We were surrounded by people who had their s.h.i.t together. America and I had been together for longer than Travis and Abby, and Trent and Camille. They were either married or engaged, and America and I couldn't even make it to the next step.

From behind me, America slipped her arms beneath mine, interlocking her fingers at my middle, pressing her cheek and t.i.ts against my back. I tilted my head toward the sky. I f.u.c.king loved it when she did that.

"There's no hurry, baby," she whispered. "It'll happen. We just need to be patient."

"So ... don't bring it up at brunch."

She wiggled, trying to shake her head against my back.

I exhaled a deep sigh. "f.u.c.k."

America "Happy anniversary to you," I sang, handing Abby a card and a small white box with a blue bow.

She looked at her watch and then wiped her eyes. "I liked our first anniversary much better."

"Probably because I planned it, we were in Saint Thomas, and everything was perfect."

Abby shot me a look.

"Or because Travis was actually present," I said, trying to keep the hate from my voice.

Travis had been traveling a lot for work, and although Abby seemed to understand, I certainly didn't. He was working part-time as a personal trainer after his cla.s.ses, but at some point, the owner had asked him to travel for sales or ... I wasn't quite sure. It was much better pay, but it was always at the last minute, and he never said no.

"Don't give me that look, Mare. He's on his way right now. He can't help it that his flight was delayed."

"He could have not traveled halfway across the country so close to your anniversary. Stop defending him. It's infuriating."

"For whom?"

"Me! The one who has to watch you cry over your anniversary card that he wrote before he left because he knew there was a good possibility he'd miss it. He should be here!"

Abby sniffed and sighed. "He didn't want to miss it, Mare. He is sick over it. Don't make it worse."

"Fine," I said. "But I'm not leaving you here alone. I'm staying until he gets here."

Abby hugged me, and I hooked my chin over her shoulder, glancing around the dim apartment. It looked so different from when I had first walked through the door our freshman year. Travis had insisted that Abby make the s.p.a.ce her own after Shepley had moved out, shortly after they'd gotten married. Instead of street signs and beer posters, the walls were adorned with paintings, wedding pictures, and family pictures with Toto. There were lamps and tables and ceramic decor.

I turned back to look at the full plates of cold food on the small dining table. The candle had burned down to dried drippings of wax that nearly touched the reclaimed wood.

"Dinner smells good. I'll be sure to rub it in."

Shepley texted me, and I tapped out a quick reply.

"Shep?" Abby asked.

"Yeah. He thought I'd be home by now."

"How is that going?"

"He's a clean freak, Abby. How do you think it's going?" I said, disgusted.

"You were all mad when your parents said you couldn't move in with him. You both sulked in the dorms for a year and a half. They finally gave in, and now, you hate it."

"I don't hate it. I'm afraid he's going to hate me."

"It's been almost three years, Mare. If it were possible for Shepley to do anything but worship you, I doubt it would be over a pair of dirty socks."

I pulled my knees up to my chest, almost wishing it were him in my arms. I often wondered when being around Shepley or even thinking about him would stop making me feel so much, but the pa.s.sing time had only made my feelings stronger.

"We graduate next summer, Abby. Can you believe it?"

"No. Then we really have to be adults."

"You've been an adult since you were a kid."

"True."

"I keep thinking he's going to ask me to marry him."

Abby arched her brow.

"If he says my name a certain way or we go to a fancy restaurant, I think it's going to be it, but he never does."

"He did ask you, Mare, remember? You said no. Twice."

I winced, remembering that morning on the beach and a few months later with the candlelight glinting in his eyes, the homemade pasta, and the supreme disappointment on his face. "But that was last year."

"You think you missed your chance, don't you? You think he'll never get up the nerve to ask you again." I didn't answer, but she continued, "Why don't you ask him?"

"Because I know it's important to him that he ask me."

Proposing to Shepley had crossed my mind, but I remembered what he'd said about the news that Abby had popped the question to Travis. It had bothered him almost as much as the realization that his feelings on the subject were so traditional. Shepley felt it was his place as the man to ask. I hadn't realized that if I wasn't ready when he proposed, he would stop asking.

"Do you want him to? Ask you again?"

"Of course I do. We don't have to get married right away, right?"

"Right. So, what's your hurry to get engaged?" she asked.

"I don't know. He seems bored."