Persuaded by Alicia J. Chumney

Author:Alicia J. Chumney
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: second chance romance, young adult, new adult, jane austen retelling, retelling, high school, college
Publisher: Alicia J. Chumney
Published: 2021-06-01T00:00:00+00:00

Later that night, Sophy found Derek working out on the treadmill in the exercise room. She couldn’t know that he had already used the barbells, the bench press, and the elliptical all in an attempt to get his brain to shut down and let him get some sleep.

“What’s the matter?” she inquired from the doorway.

“How do you know something is the matter?” he asked back, not even out of breath as he ran on the treadmill, waiting for his knee to give him a sign that it was time to stop.

“Because you are working out at eleven o’clock at night instead of curled up in bed with whatever history book has gotten your attention.”

“I can’t sleep,” he admitted.

Sighing, Sophy wrapped her housecoat tighter before sitting down on the bench. “What’s the matter?”

“Anne is everywhere,” he admitted.

“I thought this had to do with Anne Elliot,” Sophy stated. “Why did you have us rent this house if you knew it was Anne’s.” She moved into the room and sat on the weight bench.

“I thought it would help.”

“And.”

“It’s not. And then I agreed to tutor her brother-in-law. I didn’t know he was her brother-in-law at the time. How could I know? I deleted all of my social media accounts after...”

“After she gave you back your engagement ring.”

“How did you figure out it was her?”

“Bob deduced it by her reactions that day she came to pick up a box of books she had forgotten. She didn’t have a clue you were my brother and you would be staying here with us. Her father had neglected to tell his daughter that piece of information.”

“Oh.”

“Yeah.”

Derek slowed down his pace, beginning to tire out as he started getting everything off of his chest. “Charles’ little sister, Louisa, has started to cling to me. I don’t think she’s realized I’m not that interested in her.”

“Well,” Sophy grinned, “have you told her.”

“Not in so many words.”

“In any words?”

“No.”

“Why not?”

“Because Anne’s always around.”

She wasn’t really. He knew that he was being hyperbolic, but it felt as if she was always around. In his bedroom... which was originally her bedroom. In his bathroom. He’d even found a loose tampon behind the toilet and toilet paper holder the first week he was in the house.

And of course, the School of the Art Institute of Chicago brochure was stashed away in his sock drawer. On occasion, he would pull it out and torture himself by looking at it. How much would be different if Anne had never been accepted into the art school of her dreams? The dream she had to give up because her sisters couldn’t take responsibility for their own lives.

“Derek,” Sophy softly said, putting her hand on his shoulder after he had stopped walking. “It’s okay to forgive her. She was eighteen and you were nineteen. Most of the time relationships go south really quickly when people are that young. She might have even started to resent you for stealing away her dream, even if you would have been together in Italy.

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