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broken up, you would know about it. And you wouldn’t be wearing what looks like an ultra-expensive piece of jewelry around your neck, either.” She pointed to my rose necklace, which I hadn’t been able to take off, as heartsick and angry as I had been when I saw it in the bathroom mirror. My hand went up to touch it, and Chloe continued. “Rafe was probably too scared of you at the moment and figured you needed a week to cool off before he tried to discuss whatever it was the two of you were fighting about.” A wicked grin flashed across my sister’s face and she wiggled her eyebrows. “Were you talking about sex?”
    “ What? ” I had just shoved a large spoonful of ice cream in my mouth, and of course it went flying everywhere.
    Chloe squealed and wiped a chocolate chip from her cheek. “Gross, Gabi!”
    “Why are you talking about…” I lowered my voice, looking around the room for Dad even though I knew he was upstairs, doing some last minute packing. “Sex?”
    “I’m trying to figure out what you could possibly be arguing about with your hot boyfriend,” Chloe said calmly. “Poor, innocent Rafe. You were probably trying to jump him in the car, like you tried to jump him in your bedroom—”
    “ Nobody was doing any sort of jumping, Chloe!” I glared at her. “And for your information, what happened that day in my bedroom was completely innocent.”
    She laughed. “Right, so that’s why Rafe is banned from the second floor.”
    “No, he’s banned because Dad loves ruining my life.”
    “Who loves ruining your life?” Dad asked, coming down the stairs.
    I elbowed Chloe in the side as she started laughing again. “No one.”
    “No, really,” he said, “what were you girls just talking about?”
    Chloe opened her mouth. “Se—”
    “HOW EXCITED WE ARE TO GO TO VERMONT TOMORROW,” I proclaimed loudly over her. Dad gave me a strange look, probably wondering if I had been drinking with Rafe. Great, another thing for him to give me hell about.
    “Hmm,” was all he said. Dad glanced at the clock on the wall. “Speaking of, you girls better head to bed. I want to get up early tomorrow, remember?”
    Chloe stopped laughing to groan. “Why, Dad, why? Why must you torture us with early mornings?” She slid off the couch and dragged her feet to the stairs.
    Dad smiled and patted her on the shoulder. “Because it’s my greatest joy in life.”
    “You need a hobby.”
    After Chloe vanished upstairs, Dad came over to me. “Gabi, you too. Go to sleep now. I need you to help me with the maps tomorrow.”
    I couldn’t help but roll my eyes, giving him a small smile. “That’s what the GPS is for.”
    “You know I don’t trust that thing.” He paused, looking me over. “Is everything all right, honey? I didn’t expect you home so soon, honestly. I thought you’d want to spend as much time as you could saying goodbye to Rafe.”
    Thanks to stupid Chloe, all I could think of was the various ways I could have been saying goodbye to Rafe, but then I remembered our fight and my stomach soured. “No, the evening kinda sucked, to tell you the truth. We had a fight and… now I have to wait a week to find out if we’re okay or not.”
    Immediately Dad sat down next to me, putting his arm around my shoulders. I leaned against him, the way I used to when I was younger and had had a bad dream. “Honey, I’m sorry. But I’m sure it’s nothing. I see the way Rafe looks at you. It scares me, you know.”
    I let out a surprised bark of laughter. “Why does it scare you?”
    “Because I see how much he cares, and I know I’m going to lose my little girl to him.” My mouth dropped open because that was the last thing I expected my dad to say. He chuckled softly at my stunned expression. “Despite what you may think, I do want you to be happy, Gabi.”
    “And you think I can be happy with Rafe?” I can’t believe I had just uttered that sentence. Until the big blowup tonight, I had been