Ethan's Edge

Here's my situation. I'm one of triplets, which means I have never once in my life been alone inside my own head. Ben's my identical twin and reads me like a billboard. Abby's eight minutes older and runs the entire operation. We live on a quiet road outside Burlington, Vermont, where nothing ever happens — except the kind of year that leaves a mark. I've got the scar on my temple to prove it.

I had one secret left that was actually mine, and I was holding onto it so tight I could barely breathe. I'd gotten really good at watching the world through my bedroom window and pretending I wasn't.

Then Jacob Monroe showed up.

He's the senator's kid from Minnesota, staying with his aunt for the summer. He's quiet in a way that makes me want to fill every silence, and he looks at me like he already knows the thing I can't say. He's also carrying something heavy of his own — a loss that taught him it's safer not to want anybody at all.

So now I've got my family all up in my business, a whole town that somehow figured me out before I did, and the most patient, infuriating, wonderful guy I've ever met — just waiting for me to be brave.

Turns out the edge I'd been standing on this whole time was the start of everything.

• YA LGBTQ romcom
• Burlington, Vermont
• Lake Champlain summers
• Coming out & being seen