“This is the same group who didn’t tell you your fiancé was cheating on you?”
“Those are the ones. If we went clubbing, it was to some VIP lounge somewhere. And no one dared to dance…not like that, at least.”
“What did you do with your days in this other life?”
I hide my face in the pillow. “I was hoping to avoid that question.”
“How come?”
“Because it’s embarrassing,” I say, rolling onto my side.
He just stares at me, willing me to speak like he’s controlling my mind with his hotness.
“I didn’t really have an official job. I mean, I worked for my dad’s company, in a way. I planned all their parties, fundraisers, retirement celebrations. I did do charity work, but not enough.”
“Walk me through a typical day. You wake up and…”
I close my eyes. “This is so embarrassing.”
“It was your life. You shouldn’t be ashamed of it.”
“But I am, at least around you and your friends. You’re all hardworking, respectable people. I’ve been floating through life with oblivious abandon. Look where it got me.”
He just stares at me, his gaze focused on me, giving me his full attention. I can’t remember the last time Joshua really listened to me about anything.
“I would wake up and get dressed and go get a juice or something. Then I’d go to Pilates or yoga. I always got that out of the way early.”
“What’s early?”
I wince. “Like, ten?”
He just nods.
“Then I’d shower, and if I didn’t have an appointment for my hair or nails or a spa treatment of some kind or lunch scheduled with a friend, I’d stop in at my dad’s office and sort of do the rounds.”
He smiles. “What were the rounds?”
I flick him in the chest. “You’re judging me.”
“I’m not. Go on.”
Even though revealing the details about the life I just left sucks, it does feel a bit like coming clean. “I would get platters of cookies from the bakery and leave them in the different departments, or I would see if anyone needed anything for their office…picture frame for their kid’s new school photo, vase of fresh flowers for the conference room. Sometimes I’d get coffee orders for a certain department that I knew was working on a big project...that sort of thing.”
“Sounds like a generous way to spend your time.”
I scratch my eyebrow, my stomach sizzling a little. “Well, to be fair, it wasn’t my money. I had a corporate card.”
“Still. It sounds like you enjoyed taking care of people.”
I shrug. “I guess I did. I do. But now all of you are taking care of me. It’s…humbling.” I bite back the urge to tear up.
“I assume you don’t have that corporate card anymore?”
I shake my head, falling onto my back. “I don’t have any of my credit cards anymore. It was a whole thing.”
“What kind of thing?”
“When I found out about Joshua cheating, I told my dad, thinking he’d be outraged on my behalf. But he handled me like I was overreacting. I knew my dad had cheated on my mom. That was no secret. But I didn’t think he’d be okay with me being treated that way.”
“What happened?”
“I told him the wedding was off and that I was breaking up with Joshua. At first, he was kind and understanding about it, saying I just needed to cool off. But after a few weeks, when I still wouldn’t see Joshua, he had this talk with me about it. I told him I was done, and he asked me to reconsider. When I said no, he got forceful with me.”
“Like threatening?” Brett asks, looking concerned.
“Not physically, of course. But he made it clear he would cut me off if I didn’t take Joshua back.” The sting of my dad’s betrayal numbs me once again.
“Why?”
“You’ve got to understand my dad. Joshua and he are thick as thieves. He’s been grooming Joshua for years, ever since he and I started dating. My dad’s invested in him—both time and money. Joshua went to grad school on the company’s dime. My dad’s plan was for me to marry Joshua and him to run the business in a few years when my dad’s ready to retire. My breaking up our relationship tosses a huge kink in his plans.”
“So your dad’s just okay with you being with a guy who cheats on you?”
“Like I said, he cheated on my mom, constantly. To him, that’s just what men do.”
“Yeah, but to cut you off is a big deal, isn’t it?”
“To me, of course, but I’m sure he thought just the threat of cutting me off would be enough to make me change my mind. I think I’ve rattled him, forcing him to make good on his threat.”
He quirks a smile at me. “That’s kind of badass.”
I shrug, accepting the win, no matter how small.
“Do you think he’ll give in?” he asks.
“You don’t know my dad. He’s never given in a day in his life. Everyone’s always talked about how ruthless he is in business. I never thought I’d be on the other end of his gun, but here I am.” The hole in my chest deepens.
“You’ve never crossed him before?”
“Not really. Not where it counted. There’s a lot at play here. He wants to avoid the scandal of it all. Everyone was super involved in our relationship…always asking why we hadn’t gotten married already so we could start pumping out babies right away.”
“Why hadn’t you? Was one of you holding out?”
I purse my lips at him, running my fingers along the trim of the blanket. “Yeah, me.”
He lifts his eyebrows.
“My aunt I was telling you about…she’d made me promise that I wouldn’t get engaged until I was twenty-five. She talked a lot about the frontal lobe and how it wasn’t fully developed until that age and that no young person should make any important decisions until after it was done developing. I think it was just her way of delaying the inevitable.
