I almost didn't want to admit it. But if this wasn't love, then why care if he chose to marry Rosa? My store was spared. I should be happy.
But instead it made me miserable.
“We gotta stop that wedding. And no thanks to you, we've got even less time than before.” Macy shook her head, apparently disgusted with Cole's interruption.
“What? You're seriously trying to keep that playboy from marrying that psycho Rosa? I remember her from the bar a few weeks back. Those two deserve each other.”
Macy grabbed a teddy bear off the nearest shelf and pitched it at Cole's head with a growl. He managed to dodge it while looking afraid of a woman for the first time in his life. Even the parrot eyed her suspiciously.
“Idiot! Can't you see your sister is devastated over this?”
He quieted for a moment, then headed for the exit. As he pulled open the door and let in the frigid air, he looked back at me.
“If you really intend to try and stop the wedding, I might be able to help.” His gaze quickly fell. “If he marries that chick, all hope of Ellen getting what's due her is gone, that's all. I won't let it happen.”
Out he went, into the flurries of snow that were falling faster and harder by the minute. Lana squeezed my shoulder as I watched him peel off down the road.
“Don't worry. With his help, we're gonna pull this off.”
Macy scoffed. “I don't really see what that dork has to offer us, but... Wouldn't hurt to have another diversion, I guess.”
I checked my phone. I'd grown so used to the flirty messages Asher would send me, but there were none today. All I had was the picture we'd taken together at the bar. He'd stolen my phone to take it himself, threw his arm around me and wore the sexiest grin.
It was the night he finally broke down my walls and got me into his bed. I'd thought it was just a night of fun, but now it had become much more.
“It's noon,” I announced. “We'd better get a move on.”
“Uh, do we have any kind of actual plan?” Lana wondered.
Macy was unusually quiet. I followed her stare to the wedding dress I'd slung over the back of a chair. I'd picked it up from a consignment shop myself after the shopping with Vivian didn't quite work out.
A sly smile spread across her face.
“Oh, I got a plan, all right. Sarah, you're gonna be a bride after all.”
Chapter 25 - Asher
My wedding day. They say it's supposed to be the happiest day of your life, right?
The stage was set with all of the right props. Upbeat piano music echoed across the church halls. In the main room, hundreds of people, family and friends, were packed like sardines into the pews. I watched them all from the perch where I hid.
Dad lied to them all. Well no, in the end, I guess he didn't really – because his scheming plan to make me marry Rosa was about to work.
“Damn this!”
I slammed my fist into the wall. Pieces of plaster fell away from the hole I left.
“Uh, is everything okay, man?”
Ken peeked his head in at me. Boy, did he look weird in that suit. I'd only ever seen him at work. Whatever. There was nobody else to serve as my best man on such short notice, so he'd have to do.
“No, things are not okay.”
He inspected the damaged wall. “I can see. Y'know, I have to say I'm really kind of confused here.”
“You and me both.”
“I thought you were with that girl from Hazel's Curiosities.”
Snoopy bastard. Well, not like I'd made a secret of it for too long.
“Her name is Sarah.”
“But the girl you're marrying isn't her.”
“How astute.”
I didn't have time for inane chatter. If there was any way left out of this hell, I had to figure it out now.
I'd never forget the look on Sarah's face at the club, when I was forced to announce my plan to marry Rosa instead. She was so hurt, wasn't she? Even a moron like me could tell that.
I'm doing this for your own good. That's what I kept repeating to myself over and over, hoping that eventually I might believe it. There was the parrot I sent her for a Christmas gift, and the donation to the orphanage for Ellen's family. Those things were a way to say I still cared, that I hoped she could forgive me.
Mostly, I was just trying to assuage my guilt.
“Am I really doing the right thing, Ken?”
He scratched his head, understandably puzzled. “Couldn't really say. It's not as if you make a habit of telling me stuff about your personal life. But if I were to take a guess, well, you look pretty damn sad to me.”
Sad, yes. More than that.
“A case of butterflies is one thing, but a guy shouldn't be sad on his wedding day,” he continued.
This was wrong. All wrong. What was I doing? Ruining my life forever because dad said so?
A soft knock on the door broke through my dark thoughts.
“It's almost time, Asher,” mom said.
“Go away.”
“I hope you're not having second thoughts.”
“What do you think? I'm being forced to marry this chick, all so the family name keeps looking good.”
She sighed. “It really is for the best. For all of us. One day you'll see that.”
“I don't love her.”
“You'll learn to.”
Damn it! I shouldn't have to learn to love a woman! It should be natural. Easy. Like it was meant to be.
Like it was with Sarah.
She was the one I loved. Why did I
