me-home brunch.”
“It is,” my mother said weakly.
Ethan looked at Chloe. “Why is she dressed like that?”
I folded my arms. “Because apparently while I was overseas, my sister stole my wedding dress and married your brother. My parents approved because they assumed they were inheriting the Callahan fortune by association.”
My father barked, “That is a disgusting thing to say.”
Ethan turned to him. “Is it inaccurate?”
No one answered.
The silence was answer enough.
Ethan had changed in six months. He looked harder now, less like the polished investment attorney I had once planned to marry and more like a man who had spent too much time cleaning up messes created by his own family. The softness that used to make him charming was gone. I hated how much I still noticed him.
Chloe recovered first, as she always did. She lifted her chin and walked toward Ethan as if she still had a performance to save.
“You were impossible to reach,” she said lightly. “Things changed. Savannah abandoned everyone. Daniel and I fell in love.”
Daniel let out a short, humorless laugh. “No, we didn’t.”
She whipped around. “Shut up.”
Ethan looked between them. “You told Daniel you were Savannah?”
Daniel rubbed a hand over his jaw. “At first, yes. Then she said it didn’t matter because you and Savannah were done, the family would accept it, and there was no reason to drag old details into it.”
My mother gasped. “Chloe, you said he knew exactly who you were.”
Chloe turned on her instantly. “Don’t do that. Don’t act shocked now. You told me to move fast before Savannah came back.”
My father slammed his hand on the table. “Watch your mouth.”
“No,” I said. “Let her keep talking.”
Chloe’s breathing sharpened. She knew she had miscalculated, but she still believed she could outtalk everyone in the room. That had always been her gift. She lied with total conviction, and our parents rewarded confidence more than truth.
