“What happened to refusing to give in, huh? You'd do whatever it took to save Slicker Image. That's what you told me.”
“Things change. This is for the best, you know. You don't have to hand over your store. We don't have to carry on with this ridiculous wedding charade that probably would have blown up in our faces anyway.”
“And you walk away filthy rich. Don't try to pretend you did this out of the kindness of your heart.”
His face reddened as he crumpled the paper and stuffed it back into his pocket. Why was he mad? What did he have to be so pissed off about?
“I made a sacrifice here. Thought you'd be pleased, but this is the thanks I get.”
“A sacrifice? That's hardly what I'd call getting to own half a freaking luxury mall.”
Mom had finished berating the receptionist and was now yelling for me out in the lobby. I didn't move.
Asher looked at her with a frown. “My mother tried to convince me you were marrying me for money, that you'd find some way to bleed me dry because your family's not exactly rolling in cash. I thought she was being crazy, but not anymore.”
“What exactly are you trying to say?”
“You're mad that I'm calling off the wedding when you should be happy. Why would it upset you – unless my mom was right?” He gestured to mine, who was again raising her voice to the nurses about grandma. “If we got hitched and I owned half the Galleria, that money would be yours too. It'd solve all your problems.”
So that's what he thought I was, a gold digger!
“I never wanted your money or your charity. What I really wanted was...”
You. I'd fallen for him, spent hours a day thinking of him, wishing he'd call so I could hear him laugh or take me in his arms for another kiss.
Not anymore. If this was what he thought of me, then it had become clear. He didn't understand me. He didn't feel the same way at all.
“Sarah, come here this instant!” Mom waved her arms. “Go and find Cole for me while I handle grandma's paperwork.”
Hot tears fell from my eyes as I pulled the ring off my finger. Asher gaped at me and started to say something, but his voice cracked.
“Since money matters so much to you, take this,” I said, throwing it at him. “I'm sure it must have cost a fortune. At least now you can get some of it back.”
The ring bounced off his chest and rolled beneath a chair. He didn't move to pick it up.
“Sarah, come on.”
“Goodbye, Asher. Good luck with your mall.”
Mom quieted when she saw me crying. I pushed past her and went outside, so numb that I didn't even feel the cold.
Chapter 21 - Asher
“I'm so glad you finally came to your senses.” Mom smiled and ruffled my hair. “Although it is a bit troubling. We've got dozens of people flying in who can't cancel their tickets and hotels, and we're still on the hook for that fancy reception. Well, at least it will be a family reunion that no one will ever forget.”
She handed the cashier a stack of movies and games to buy for presents. Outside, a construction crew was beginning to set up shop. They'd already put trailers and a bulldozer in the parking lot.
Come the new year, Slicker Image would be no more.
Losing my business stung, but what hurt most of all was losing Sarah. When she threw the ring at me, something in me simply broke.
“It's hard to believe,” the cashier, Mindy, said with a frown. “The store's shutting down on such short notice.”
“I hear there will be an electronics shop in the Galleria,” offered another girl. “I'm sure they'll give us jobs.”
Ken was dealing with some other customer nearby. He said nothing, but it was clear I'd hurt him with my decision.
“Nothing will happen to Slicker Image,” I had promised. But now, dozens of people were losing their jobs because of me.
Had I really made the right choice?
“Oh, Asher.” Mom called to me with a scowl. “This girl refuses to take my coupon. It's only expired by a week.”
“Just give it to her.”
I wasn't in the mood to fight. Giving in to dad had sapped the strength out of me, and what was the point anymore?
I went to the window and looked across the street. There was Sarah, tucked away in her cozy little shop. She actually had customers for once.
“It is a shame the store must close,” mom said, rolling up to me with her cart. “You've done a fine job with it. I know your father never praises you, but he really is proud of what you've accomplished.”
“If he's so proud, he should let me keep it and build his damn mall some place else.”
But we all knew that money mattered to him more than pride in his own son. If he had to destroy my store for his personal gain, so be it.
Mom must have noticed me gazing at Sarah. She collected her purchases with a little sigh.
“Well, I do hope that one day, you'll find a good woman to marry for real.”
I resisted the urge to shout at her as she sashayed away. Sarah was a good woman, but my parents seemed content to treat her like less than trash. It was all their fault the wedding got canceled. Their fault that Sarah hated me so much now.
The wedding I could do without, but not her.
She was so angry with me yesterday at the hospital. Thought I was taking dad's deal for the huge payout, never mind that it saved her store. Was she mad because mom
