“I said school starts tomorrow. I didn’t say I was going to be there.”

“Madame Guillotine gets mad at me. Not because I told them to shove it, but because I didn’t say it in French. What is wrong with this school?”

“I spun away from him. I didn’t need his pity.I started walking in the opposite direction of the house. I didn’t know where I was going, I just wanted to get away from him.He called out, “I still love you.”I froze. And then slowly, I turned around to look at him. “Don’t say that”

“There’s nothing wrong with your daughter, Mrs. McIntosh. I said we’re not sleeping together. I didn’t say I didn’t want to.”

“Allie,” he said. “You told me once I had a white-knight complex. You said I saved you.”He was going to say I saved him. It was going to be so romantic.“But the truth is,” he said, “I didn’t save you—I stole you. I wanted you and I knew I didn’t deserve you, but I didn’t care. And for some reason it seems like youdon’t either, so it seems to me that I should make it permanent before you come to your senses. Will you marry me?”

“So I got a new job, and I start tomorrow. I’m excited to have a job, and bummed out I’m going to be working.”