“Does she have any clue what's going on with all of this?”
“No. I didn't have the heart to tell her she might lose her namesake. She came here from Poland when she was a girl, built the place up herself, ran it with such pride. It was a major deal for her, an honor, to hand the store over to me. If she might lose that...”
“But she's not going to. Not with the ace we've got up our sleeves.”
“And that's the ace I want to tell her about. It will soften the blow. And telling my whole family I'm getting married, don't you think it makes sense my 'fiance' is there to share the good news?”
She had a point. I didn't like the idea of being surrounded by the peanut gallery – her mother and mine seemed ready to go to war – but leaving Sarah to deal alone was a crappy thing to do.
“I told my side. I must admit, they don't seem terribly thrilled with the idea.”
“Of course they don't. Your dad's going to lose his land to this.”
“No, it's more than that.” Mom's pitiful complaining could still be heard from inside. “My mother seems to have some kind of problem with your family. Some issue that happened in the past. When I told her of the impending ceremony, she pretty much lost it.”
“It's true, they never really got along when they happened to meet up. I wasn't ever sure why. But some 'issue' that would make your mom react that way? I don't get it.”
Neither did I, and I hated not knowing the reason for things.
I couldn't keep denying it forever. Marrying Sarah might save our businesses, but I had a real bad feeling it would ruin something with both of our families.
If the problem started before our parents, then that left only a few people who'd know the truth. Her grandma, Hazel, was one of them.
“This is such a mess,” she muttered. “I wonder if I shouldn't just give up, you know? Let your dad have the land and this shop and his stupid Galleria mall.”
“No. Don't you dare give up.”
“But –”
“Let them argue about their petty arguments from last century. I don't know about you, but I want to keep Slicker Image going for as long as I can. I'm sure you feel the same about your store.”
She said nothing. I plopped down on the porch swing, ignoring the frosty snow that soaked into the back of my jeans.
“I may have slacked off most of my life, and maybe I look for the easiest way out, but I'm not a quitter. And you're not going to be, either. I won't let you.”
I caught Macy peeking at me from behind the curtains. Let her spy on me; I didn't care. Only one thing mattered to me anymore.
I was gonna marry Sarah. Save my business I'd worked so hard for. Show dad he was wrong about me and he always had been.
“But it just seems so hard.” Her rage had faded, replaced by hopelessness. “All these lies, just to save some ratty antique shop nobody visits anymore. And trying to convince anyone that you actually love me will be damn near impossible.”
The word “love” made me twitch. That was a relic from my recent past, when any woman who dared utter the word was immediately deleted from my contacts list.
But now I had to accept it, didn't I? Even if I wasn't really in love, I had to figure out how to pretend.
I could hardly imagine a more terrifying thing.
“First of all, your store is not just some ratty shop. It's a piece of town history, and I'll be damned if my asshole dad takes it away from anybody.”
Her sniffling began to slow.
“But the dinner tomorrow, I don't know if I can get through it alone.”
“You won't have to,” I assured her, ignoring the twinge of fear. “I'll be there. I'll come.”
“You will?”
“Don't see any other choice.”
It wasn't just that. The thought of her breaking such heavy news to her parents all by herself bugged me. I refused to let it happen.
...What had gotten into me lately? I'd slept with dozens of girls and never felt like I owed them a thing. Sarah, though, was different.
It made me very uneasy.
“Thank you, Asher.” She was smiling now; I could hear it. “Maybe you're not as much a dick as I thought you were.”
“Oh, I'm a dick all right. Not even gonna deny that.”
“Then why are you doing this?”
Why, indeed? That was a question I had no easy answer for.
“I guess because it seems like the right thing to do.”
She told me what time to be at her parent's house, then we said our goodbyes. For a long while, I stood on the porch watching the flurries fall.
What I'd told her wasn't exactly the truth. I was doing this not just out of some sense of duty, but because I wanted to be by her side.
My phone rang as I went to slide it into my pocket. It was a call from some girl I'd slept with a few times, probably looking for a late-night hookup.
There was no temptation to answer it. After a few seconds, the ringing stopped.
Sarah and I were no couple. I didn't owe her monogamy.
But for once in my life, this one woman was more than enough for me.
Chapter 13 - Sarah
Flashing lights of all colors adorned every door and window of mom and dad's house. Inside, there was her collection of thirty-eight snow globes atop the mantle, plus a Christmas tree so heavy with ornaments and tinsel that the branches were drooping.
“This place looks like Santa's workshop.” Cole sipped his hot
