Total pages in book: 96
Estimated words: 91357 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 457(@200wpm)___ 365(@250wpm)___ 305(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 91357 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 457(@200wpm)___ 365(@250wpm)___ 305(@300wpm)
He swore under his breath. She knew the feeling.
Nicole watched in disbelief as her mother’s driver stepped out of the vehicle, strode around the back of the car, and opened the door for Marian Farnsworth to climb out. That she’d made the drive to Serendipity at this hour didn’t bode well for Nicole, and she straightened her shoulders in preparation for confrontation.
“What’s she doing here?” Sam asked.
Nicole didn’t answer, already rebuilding the walls and distance she’d maintained all week. If Sam thought her father was cold, wait until he witnessed her mother in action.
Marian Farnsworth walked up the driveway, her heels clicking as she approached Nicole and Sam.
“Mother, what are you doing here?” Nicole thought it best to get down to business.
Her mother tilted her head, her perfectly blow-dried hair sweeping her shoulder. “I came to ask you the same question. To see what’s so attractive about this small town.” She glanced at Sam, assessing him and finding him lacking, all with a single dismissive glance.
Nicole did her best not to react.
“Your father told me you paid him a visit. He appreciated the heads-up you gave him about his partner’s . . . activities. Personally, I think you should have kept quiet. Discretion being important.”
Nicole raised her eyebrow. “Too late.”
“Ah. You think this changes things? That we no longer need you to come home and fulfill your role?”
“I can’t imagine what good you think me marrying Tyler will do.”
“Your father and Tyler will rebuild the firm and our standing in the community with a united front. You, darling, are the glue that will hold the families together.”
Nicole felt the weight of Sam’s disbelieving stare on both her and her mother. To his credit, he remained silent, at least so far. But shock tended to render a person mute, Nicole thought.
“Nothing has changed,” she informed her mother. “Tyler and I are finished. And my life is here now.”
Marian rolled her eyes. “Give me a break. Give your father one. It’s time to stop playing games and come home. I’m finished humoring your little crisis.”
“Be blunt, why don’t you,” Nicole muttered.
“Well, humoring you hasn’t helped.”
Nicole stiffened. “Humoring me.”
“Yes. Letting you come here to this small town, play house, sow your . . . oats—” Marian flung a careless hand toward Sam, who watched her with an impassive expression. “You’ve had your fun. It’s time to come home and live up to your responsibilities.” Her tone lacked any lightness or warmth.
Nicole dug her nails into her hand and latched onto the only important part of her mother’s statement. “Letting me? You think you let me come here? I’m an adult. You don’t own me, control me, pay for anything in my life, or tell me what to do,” Nicole said, her voice rising. “And contrary to what you might think, you haven’t since I turned twenty-one and my trust fund kicked in.”
At which point she’d finished paying for her own college education, so she could have her independence.
“Can we have this discussion in private?” Her mother looked dismissively at Sam.
Nicole would rather not have this discussion at all, but Marian had driven this far, and when she intended to have her say, nothing short of being physically restrained would stop her. Normally, she wouldn’t give her mother the satisfaction of doing anything she asked, but the thought of Sam witnessing any more of her family dysfunction turned Nicole’s already upset stomach.
“Let’s go inside my house.”
Her mother turned her nose up, no doubt at the thought of entering Nicole’s modest, older home. “Fine,” she said, obviously knowing she had no choice.
“Not fine,” Sam said, speaking for the first time.
Nicole turned a pleading gaze his way. Please, please, don’t do this again, she silently begged him. Her mother was just getting warmed up. Whatever she said to Nicole would be painfully humiliating if she was alone, but she’d survive. If Sam witnessed it, she might not ever be able to face him again.
The whole time she’d been speaking with her mother, she’d deliberately shut off the mortification of Sam witnessing her being belittled and talked down to, the weight of her unreasonable family expectations, and the fact that she was a constant disappointment. Nicole’s parents stood out in stark contrast to Sam’s family’s warmth and caring, and she wanted to curl up and die, knowing worse was to come. The longer he stood by her, the harder the fall would be when he was ready for this affair between them to end.
And he’d made it clear that it would.
“Please?” she asked softly.
He shook his head, not speaking but letting her know that no way would he allow her to go through this alone.
Well, that was nice of him, but while dealing with her domineering parents, she’d always been alone. She was the child who’d never lived up to their hopes and dreams and never would. And if this shame was how it felt for someone to be by her side, maybe she was better off by herself after all.