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I settled on the edge of the bed, feeling dejected. “Love isn’t supposed to be this hard,” I whispered. “It’s supposed to fill me with confidence and happiness. At least that’s how it looks with Jenna and Kate.” I peeked up at Steve.
“I don’t know enough about love, so it’s hard for me to answer that one. But I will say this: you only get to that place of acceptance and happiness when you trust each other. When you stay and work through the hard things.”
I looked down again. Right. I hadn’t trusted Nash enough to tell him about my mother’s will. And I’d just shown up in Austin, giving him no warning, no chance to prepare. I hadn’t even known what I wanted when I arrived. At first, I’d thought I wanted closure, but as soon as I saw Nash again, I’d wanted him. I’d wanted us…even though everything else felt murky. I still did, so I needed to find a way to let Nash know that, once and for all.
Someone must have tucked me in because I woke up the next morning to the fading of night into dawn.
I’d already completed my project for my first class today, so I didn’t need to go to campus. Instead, I finished my paper for the afternoon final.
Then I managed to summon the gumption to leave the room.
No one was in the kitchen—or in the house. Good.
I ate a piece of toast and drank a cup of tea before heading back to my room where I holed up for the rest of the day.
The next day I headed up to campus to take my last final. I expected Mama, Jenna, and Kate to demand I talk to them when I returned, but they weren’t here. My summer semester was over, and I had no one to talk to.
Listless, I rummaged through Mama’s pantry for some chocolate. On the counter was a tabloid with a story about Nash purchasing Clean Water. Nash hadn’t told me; he’d just done it. Mmm… yes. The pillar of honesty, that one. That must have been why he’d spoken with my father. I grabbed the magazine and returned to my room.
I read the sparse details while sitting with my back against the wall, my legs stretched out across my unmade bed. I stared out the window, not really seeing the softly undulating hills brightened by the sun’s rays. Nash had bought my mother’s nonprofit—the last of her legacy.
That warmed me, but he hadn’t told me he was going to. And I’d specifically asked him to let me handle my father. That left me cold. I tossed the magazine aside, trying to tease out my emotions. My father had hired Lindsay to spearhead development for the organization when I left London. Fucking Lindsay. He’d done that to upset me, I was sure. To try to lure me back.
I ran my finger over the wrinkle in the sheet next to my hip. I had to face a choice: I could shift gears and return to Clean Water, or I could give up my mother’s legacy to Lindsay, and fulfill the dream to become an engineer—someone with an office job who couldn’t sneak out to her boyfriend’s concerts. Who couldn’t tour.
But that decision didn’t even seem to top the list right now, as instead of finishing school so I could spend a couple of weeks touring with Nash as we’d planned, I was back at the big house on the ranch, with Nash off in an angry huff.
In some ways, we’d come full circle. We’d made so many plans for this trip, just as we had when I was supposed to join him in Seattle after high school. And once again, it had all fallen apart.
I grabbed one of the dark chocolate bars I’d found—eighty-five percent cacao, so basically vitamins—and bit into it as I opened my phone. I’d need to head to Nash’s house to get the rest of my stuff. I wanted to see the kittens… My mouth fell open as I blinked at a photo of Nash seated at a table at an outdoor cafe, talking to Lindsay Herrington-Smythe, almost Seymore.
Really?
“What the hell, Nash? What are you playing at?”
My shoulders bunched so hard, my temples pounded with the strain. Seeing them together brought back every terrible feeling I’d had after high school. This was different… Obviously it was. Nash had just bought the nonprofit Lindsay worked for. But why did they have to look so chummy? Why did they have to be photographed together so the paps could have a field day? Tears pricked my eyes as my hope for an easy reconciliation after our fight vanished like vapor.
My phone rang, and I ignored it, not even bothering to see who was calling.
I crawled back into my bed, buried my head under my pillow, and screamed until I was hoarse.
I tensed, startled awake, when the knock rapped on my door.
“It’s me,” Steve said, poking his head through the crack between the door and the frame.
“Why are you here?” I lifted my head and shoved my hair out of my face.
His eyes burned. “We need to talk.”
“He was out in public with Lindsay, and I’m so mad at him that I’ll take it out on you.” I rose from the bed and strode into the en suite bath.
A thud hit the door then a second one hit the floor. Had he slid down to sit outside my bathroom? Well, I’d get clean and wait him out. I had water in here. I wouldn’t die.
“He wasn’t with Lindsay,” Steve said through the wood. “He met with her to discuss her role at your mother’s…no, your nonprofit.”
I stepped into the shower, slamming the door so hard I expected a million shards of glass.
Didn’t happen.
