We'll Always Have Summer (Summer, #3)

by Jenny Han

I believed him when he told me that he’d never cared about me. And then, later that night, when he tried to take it back, I guess I believed him again. Now I didn’t know what to believe. I just knew I didn’t believe in him anymore.

But as we got older, I saw that that wasn’t it. It was that he saw himself in me. To our father, I was just a reflection of him. He thought we were so alike. Jere was like our mom, I was like our dad. So I was the one he put all the pressure on. I was the one he funneled all his energy and hope into. Football, school, all of it. I worked hard to meet those expectations, to be just like him.

And then I started to hate myself, who he’d made. Because I saw it too—how alike we were. That scared me.

“I need you to know that no matter what happens, it was worth it to me. Being with you, loving you. It was all worth it.”

So no, he didn’t give me flowers or candy. He gave me the moon and the stars. Infinity.