I shake my head. “Nope. I’ll make this work.”

“Summer, I want to help. We want to help,” she says, her tone upbeat. “I’m very good at helping, as you know. I’ve done it for years.”

And that, right there, is why I don’t entirely want it.

What if I take it and feel indebted? Annoyed? Resentful? She says she likes helping, but why does she always bring it up? Because she wishes she were still running her bookstore, I suspect.

“I know, Mom. But this is just a little speed bump. I’ll figure it out.” I check my watch. I need to go to Sunshine Living in two hours, so I’ve got one-hundred-and-twenty minutes to process my disappointment. I refuse to bring it to work with me. “I have to go to work in a little bit. I’m going to go for a walk. But I’ll text you later.”

“Do that. Love you.”

“Love you too.”

I hang up, walking toward the park, trying to work through these obstacles before I clock in with Travis.

The moment I hit Fifth Avenue, my phone trills again—my brother this time. I’m tempted, so damn tempted to ask him for a loan. The words are on the tip of my tongue. He has the money.

He also has a six-year-old and the scars from a painful and expensive divorce.

And if I won’t take it from anyone else, I won’t take it from him.

I sigh so heavily it’ll send the Dow Jones plummeting. I’ll just wait a little longer, save a little more. It’s all I can do.

“Hey, Logan, what’s going on?”

My brother is cackling. “Sexy. Ex. Boyfriend. Dude, that is the funniest thing you’ve ever written.”

My brow pinches. “What are you talking about?”

But when I click on Twitter, I see I’ve made so much more than a grammatical error.

12SUMMER

I. Am. Trending.

Or rather, “America’s Worst Boyfriend” is.

It’s all over Twitter. The letter I wrote. The dissection of it. The whodunit. And there is little social media loves more than a good outing. How was it even published? But I don’t have time to figure that out because right now, I need to rubberneck at my own ten-car pileup.

I scroll through a river of comments hashtagged #AmericasWorstBoyfriend as I walk, head bent, face buried in a mess of my own making.

@NYer14: I bet he’s a celebrity.

@GossipLover1andOnly: A reality show star.

@SportsFan: An athlete.

@Anglophile2200: Hello? You twits. He sounds British. English breakfast tea and all.

@GossipLover1andOnly: No, she said he hated tea.

@Anglophile2200: No, she said it would be cliché if he loved it. Learn to read, dimwit.

@RoyalWatcher: Could it be one of the royals?

@BTSLover: I bet he’s in a boy band.

@HatesBoyBands: Yes, that has to be it. Guys in boy bands are royal douches.

@TheThird: Wait. I know this guy.

@SexyLady: No, I know him.

@SexierLady: No, I dated him.

I stomp like Rumpelstiltskin.

No!

My hair is on fire, my blood heats to a thousand degrees of fury. I can’t believe I did this. I can’t believe this happened. I can’t believe . . . oh shit.

I can’t believe the next comment.

@TheThird: I’m pretty sure it’s Oliver Harris the twelfth. He came with Summer to my wedding. I gave out very nice pens. I’m not surprised they split though. He seemed like a bit of a playboy, truth be told. Also, my pens were cool.

Screw one thousand degrees. I am an inferno, and I want to throw balls of fire at my very douchey ex Drew.

Because his comment is all it takes.

What started as the funniest thing I ever wrote speeds straight into an epic dumpster fire.

@ManCandyFan: Oliver! Oh, he’s hawt.

@LovesListsofMen: That British lawyer? The one who looks like Tom Ellis and Chris Hemsworth had a love child and Harry Styles donated his hair to their baby?

@GossipLover1andOnly: Yes, the one on New York’s Most Eligible Bachelors list.

@ManCandyFan: The one who dated that heiress? Chantal. And some TV actress. That dude gets around.

@CheetahNoah: I hope he gets around! I’m doing a corporate scavenger hunt, and one of the things we have to find is a picture of an internet celebrity in the wild! If I can find HIM, I’m golden.

@MenAreJerks: I bet you’ll find him being a douche.

@PeopleAreJerks: He does look like a douche too. And I mean that in the best way possible.

@ILoveJerks: Right? Jerks are sooo hot. Why are jerks so hot? I don’t even know. They just are.

@ILoveCockyJackholes: OMG, yes. So much yes. There is just something about a jackass that I love.