Free I Now Pronounce You Someone Else by Erin McCahan

him.”
    “You can talk about him with me if you want,” he said. “I’d like to know about him.”
    “His name was Percival, which he hated. He went by Pete, and he had green eyes,” I said happily. I nodded toward the house. “I’ve got to go in.” And I made a face that led Jared to believe I had drunk a gallon of water at his place and needed to uh, powder my nose, but I just didn’t feel like talking any more about my dad. I had said all I wanted to.
    That night I forgot about our Here-No joke.
    We arrived at the Sondervans’ cottage on July 2, midafternoon. Jared carried my bag up to the room Ishared with Lauren, and Spence made me cry when he remembered to say, “Hey, Bronwen, I looked at that picture of your dad at the office. If it weren’t for your blonde hair, you’d look just like him.”
    I didn’t boo-hoo, snort, or make a big soggy mess of myself, but I did get teary and noticeably so. “These are good tears,” I said to reassure everyone as I wiped them away. Mrs. Sondervan hugged me.
    “What’s this?” Jared asked, walking back down the stairs and putting both arms around me from behind. “I leave the room for thirty seconds and you all make my girlfriend cry.”
    “Spence did it,” Mr. Sondervan teased as I—looking up and backward at Jared—insisted I was fine.
    And I was. I liked that someone unrelated to me said I looked like my father. Of course, it meant that the Lilywhites probably weren’t coming for me anytime soon, as it was unlikely I was theirs. But that hardly mattered anymore, especially after that weekend.
    After that weekend, I was on the fast track to becoming what I had wanted to be for so very long—Bronwen Someone Else, with a Real Family all my own.

Chapter Ten
    After settling in, we hit the beach, right out the front door, until dinner, and then returned to the beach to watch the sun set at nine twenty-four. Mr. Sondervan knew the sunset schedule better than his work schedule, he said. He and Mrs. Sondervan, however, stayed behind on the porch, and Spence teased them about wanting to be alone. And they teased back that he was right.
    Spence and Lauren chose to walk up the beach and invited Jared and me along.
    “Sure,” I said, as Jared said, “No, thanks. I’m just going to sit here.” He dropped a blue-and-white striped towel in the sand.
    “Oh. Uh, okay, then I’ll join you,” I said and helped him spread the towel out while Lauren and Spence walked off.
    Jared sat. I remained standing, staring at the setting sun underneath a watercolor sky of blue and purple.
    “You know what I’d be doing if you weren’t here?” Jared asked.
    “No.”
    “Racing Spence and Lauren up to this huge piece of driftwood that’s been there for years. We call it Seahenge.”
    “You could still do that,” I said.
    “No. I’m trying to look really cool and mature in front of you.”
    I smiled. “You are cool and mature,” I said as he tugged at the back of my shorts. After I sat, I pushed my shoulder against his.
    “Getting fresh?” he teased.
    “No, I’m trying to steal your body heat.”
    “You’re cold?”
    “Not too bad,” I said as he got up and ran back to the cottage, returning a minute later with one of his Hope College sweatshirts—navy blue with bold orange letters just reading hope.
    “For you,” he said formally as he took his seat on the towel.
    “Jared,” I said. “You didn’t have to do this. I could have gotten my jacket.”
    “Did I impress you with my speed?”
    “Yes. Of course. That was very chivalrous.”
    “I just didn’t want to miss the sunset.”
    I put the sweatshirt on, breathed in the Polo cologne that clung to it, and told Jared how much I liked the scent.
    “Yeah?” he said. “Lauren said chicks dig cologne. No, really. She gave it to me with strict instructions that I was to wear it, and she said I’d thank her later.”
    “She’s right.”
    “I knew it. You’re using me for my smell.”
    “That and this