I felt inside my coat pocket. The engagement ring was still there, where I'd put it after rescuing it from the floor.
“Hey Ken. I'm stepping out for a bit.”
Normally full of excited energy, Ken shrugged with disinterest. “Okay.”
If only there was some way to keep Slicker Image going. Well, there was a way, but dad would never let me get away with it.
The snow was falling lightly as I stepped out to the parking lot. I kept my eyes on Sarah and felt so much warmth that I could hardly breathe.
What the hell was I doing, going over there? What could I possibly say to her?
No idea, but I needed her. Couldn't just let things end the way they did last night.
“Thanks for your business. I hope your daughter loves it.”
Sarah was at the counter and had just finished ringing up her last customer. Lana was nowhere to be seen. Good.
She must have noticed me watching her. Her eyes met mine. Anger flashed in them, but a hint of something else, too.
“It's you,” she spat, looking away and busying her self with the cash register. “What do you want? Come to laugh at how poor we are? Maybe to gloat about how much money you're about to make?”
Her feelings were still raw, apparently. How did you calm a woman on the warpath? I had little clue, since I typically bolted at the first sign of one's screeching.
This time, I fought my urge to run away in panic and instead took a careful step closer.
“Of course I'm not. Just saw you through the window and couldn't resist having a better look.”
She scowled and slammed the drawer shut. “Your charms aren't going to work on me, Asher. Not anymore. So go on, get out of here. You already got what you wanted out of me.”
It was true I'd flirted with her madly for five years, and every rebuff or rejection made me all the more interested. But why work so hard to have her, just to let her go now? It didn't make sense.
“Got what I wanted? Not quite.”
A wisp of hair fell into her eyes as a look of confusion crossed her adorable face.
“What I want is for you not to hate me.” Another foot closer. “I can't live with that.”
“You think I'm a gold digger. No denying it now.”
An uncomfortable silence followed. Did I truly think so? Not particularly, but my evil parents had a point. Financial distress seemed to chase her and the Masters family around like a dark cloud.
She turned away, trying to look nonchalant. “Anyway, not that it matters what you think now. The wedding is off. We can go back to our old lives. You can go back to...” Her brow furrowed, there was a hint of a tear in her eye. “Sleeping with whatever slut women will have you, I guess.”
My heart had never beat so hard. Oh, how I wanted to scream that she was wrong, that screwing a harem of nameless chicks I didn't know wasn't what I wanted at all!
Why would I? Why do that when I could have her?
But I choked on the words. My throat felt as if it were closing up, like the fear of this truth was so strong it might suffocate me.
“Sarah, I – ”
She raised her hand to shut me up. “Just leave me alone, okay? Damn it. I knew having sex with you would ruin everything.”
Ruin what? I didn't get it. She got what she wanted, right? She'd keep her shop open. No fake wedding, no horrible act to keep up anymore. This whole thing, pretending to be my fiancee, had turned her into a nervous wreck.
People said I was a smart guy, but I suddenly didn't feel it so much.
“Don't see what it's ruined,” I said, starting to get a little annoyed. “Actually, things couldn't have turned out better. The whole reason for the wedding was to keep our stores. Sure, maybe I'm giving mine up, and that sucks, but I'll deal. Onward and upward, as they say.”
“The whole reason,” she repeated very quietly. “I suppose you're right about that.”
My phone rang, interrupting me before I could say something incredibly stupid. Though I figured it'd be Ken, it turned out to be Macy instead.
Macy only ever called when it was important. I started to explain to Sarah I had to take this, but she just waved me away and wandered off to straighten the shelves. The urge to follow and wrap my arms around her from behind was strong, but I resisted.
“What is it, Macy? Kind of in the middle of – ”
“Shut up,” she hissed. “You need to get home now. Both of them are out of the house. This might be our only chance.”
“What the hell are you talking about?”
There was the sound of something falling to the floor, loudly, along with her swearing.
“Dad has this safe in his office,” she said, which I already knew. “Big, obnoxious looking thing. You know he keeps all his important shit in there.”
“Sure.”
“Well, last night I came for dinner, but I guess they didn't know I was there yet. Overheard him talking to mom. He had this bunch of paper in his hand. Said something about Charles.”
My interest was somewhat piqued. We already figured out the mystery of the great Carrington scandal; Hazel herself had sworn us to secrecy so I thought that'd be the end of it.
But what if there really was something more?
“Get to the point.”
“Mom saw I'd come in and suddenly put on this fake happy face; you know the kind. Dad hurried off to his office without a word and came
