Chapter Nineteen

Tate

It's been a week since we arrived in Sunset Lake, and they've been the seven longest days of my life. I don't know whether to thank Oscar for insisting I come down here or wring his neck. I've spent more time with Fallon than I have in my entire life, Ledger is visibly less distressed with each passing day, I don't think I can look at that bird again without being tempted to commit an act of unspeakable animal cruelty. But… things with Piper and I are the best they've ever been. I went from feeling like a man hiding in the top floor of a penthouse, hoarding his gold and his feelings, to a man surrounded by wine-buzzed strangers on a party boat, floating on a lake I swore I'd never look at again, let alone sail on, with the world's sexiest, smartest, most fascinating woman on my arm the entire time.

She's wearing the same dress as the last cruise, the long white jersey number with the plunging neckline that makes my mouth go dry and my heart stutter every time I look at it. This time last week, I would've been nervous as hell, not knowing where to put my hands or how close I should stand or whether or not she'd want me to bring her another glass of wine. But surrounded by all of these happy couples, I'm confident in both us as a unit and what we've managed to build in such a short time. The resort is working. The app is working. And Piper and I are working, whatever it is that we're doing.

Supporting my point, Piper seems to be reading my mind, slipping a hand around my waist and leaning against my chest.

"It's working." She sips from her flute, letting the bubbles sit on her tongue before continuing. "Your app is going to kill it."

"Well." Out there among all of the happy faces is one that looks decidedly less than enthusiastic. Leaning against the rail, staring out along the surface of the lake with a soft and mournful scowl, is my sister. "There are still some outliers."

She tilts her head to the side. "Meaning?"

"Look at Fallon." I gesture toward her with my chin, trying not to point and draw anyone else's attention toward the sad looking girl all by herself. I may not be the most socially conscious person, but even I'm aware of the optics. "I've tweaked this algorithm. I've tried to factor in everything."

She should be happy. The algorithm keeps matching her with Leo. I keep putting her and Leo in the same place, over and over again. Yet they keep repelling each other, like two magnets of the same polarity. And I, like a naive child, keep trying to shove them closer and closer. It doesn't make any sense. My sister doesn't make any sense. She must be broken. We're from the same gene pool. It's not implausible.

"That's impossible," Piper scoffs with a laugh.

Impossible is not a word I like to hear. It certainly isn't one I've let stop me before. "How so?"

Looking out across the crowd at my sister, Piper's face softens, crossing her arms over her chest with a sigh. "How do you account for the human factor in your new algorithm?"

"The heart," I sneer with more derision than is probably considered tasteful. Piper makes a face like I've just belched or wiped my nose on my sleeve.

"It wants what it wants," she insists. "No logic. Just… chemistry. And that chemistry sometimes turns into love."

"I knew you were going to say that." Unfortunately, love isn't as easily programmable as logic. If I look at the people around me, I can see the truth of what she's saying. My parents were never a logical choice for each other. "Before this, I'd have thought you were being sappy. Only… I'm watching Fallon. There is no other explanation."

Fallon and Leo could and should be happy. All of the elements are there. You can match a horse with water, but you can't make it take the first step. Or something like that. I didn't pay attention in English class.

"Yup." Piper downs the rest of her wine, handing the glass off to the guy working the beverage station. She can sense that Fallon is gearing up to snap out of her little reverie and make an announcement as we near the bridge again. We need to handle this better than we did last time, especially knowing that Sunset Fake is somewhere out there, watching our every move. I also don't want to embarrass myself in front of Piper again. I don't think I could handle that twice. "Algorithms will only take you so far."

"I get it. Then people take over." I take in the crowd one last time as the boat gets ready to slip under the bridge. Everyone looks so happy, but in their own different ways. No single face has the same expression as another. It's as if love itself has a different meaning to every person present. I guess this is something that people usually realize much younger than I am now. Maybe the reason I never believed in love is because I always thought it would look like my parent's marriage. What a great thing to bring up to my therapist. I should jot that down for later. "Love. There's no measure for the human element."

Piper's fingers lace with mine, letting our hands dangle in the air. She smiles at me, with so much care in her eyes that I don't know what to do with myself. There's a moment of silence in which I almost find myself saying something stupid, possibly that word that begins with ‘L', before Fallon starts counting down over her mic until we pass under the bridge. Piper leans forward first this time, and I tilt her chin up with my hand. I swear she blushes as she looks up at me from under her eyelashes, her lips brushing against mine, softly at first, then firmly as I run my tongue against them.

It isn't a chaste kiss, not by a longshot, my hand snaking around her waist as she winds her fingers in my hair. But it isn't bawdy or sexy like our last few practice sessions. It feels …natural. Meaningful. Like she's trying to tell me something with her actions that she can't say with her words, and I'm responding in kind.

I kiss her again, moaning as I sink into the bliss of her mouth, tasting the whisper of her breath. When we break away, I find myself unable to compose myself, and after a tense moment of chewing on her lip, Piper huffs out a small laugh.

I feel eyes on me from all sides of the boat, and I remember now that I had told my sister that I wanted to say a few words after we crossed the bridge. I had intended to give a speech, thanking everyone for trying out our new service, and for acting as such enthusiastic guinea pigs. There were going to be platitudes and jokes about modern love, about electronics, about meet cutes and small town dating pools and cornhole tournaments. I had been planning my speech for days. I thought about it in the shower this morning. Hell, I even wrote notecards.

But now, as I start strolling toward Fallon at the front of the boat, I find myself not wanting to be anywhere but alone with Piper. I don't want to be Tate the billionaire, or Tate the algorithm guru, or Tate the neurodivergent middle child, or even Tate the unlikely temporary front desk clerk tormented by a foul-mouthed parrot. I just want to be Tate, Piper's best friend and accomplice. Maybe even… lover. Somebody else can take all the glory and polite applause for a change.

"Thank you all for coming," I start, slowly spinning my flute glass back and forth between my fingertips. Fishing the notecards out of my pocket, I start to flick through them, hoping that one of them catches my eye and rings true in light of the little talk I just had with Piper. Instead, they all feel fake, sounding plastic and artificial and just plain wrong. I glance up from the cards, staring at the faces around me, and the only one I seem to be able to really see is hers. Those two brown eyes are all that exist in the world right now, and all I have to do is ask for them and they're mine. Swallowing hard, I give my best smile and wave to the people gathered around me. "We appreciate you being here and taking a chance on something new in the dating space. And we'll be in touch."

Backing away slowly, I let the conversation around me start to bubble up again, before grabbing Piper's wrist and whispering in her ear.

"Let's get out of here."

"You mean it?" Piper asks me with a wicked smile, trying her best to not look surprised. I've never passed on the opportunity for a speech in my life, and she knows it. Kissing her ear, I work my way down her jaw and along her throat, stopping at the dip in her shoulder.

"Seriously. The second this boat docks, we're blowing this popsicle stand."

She lifts one eyebrow. "And I know something else I could get into blowing."