Cait flipped open the sketchbook, paging through one picture after another. Several depicted Aiden looking at Abby when she was unaware, with so much love in his eyes, it jumped off the page. Each image hit Abby like a knife to her chest.
“If he’s a dick, then he totally had me fooled, because all I saw was a guy who believed in you, fell in love with you, and would move mountains to make good things happen for you,” Cait said. “And if that’s the case, you should run in the opposite direction, because I’m pretty damn good at judging people, and that would mean he’s a master manipulator.”
“I know he loves me,” Abby said vehemently through tears. “I know he believes in me and wants good things for me. That’s why it hurts so bad.”
Cait reached for her hand, her eyes pleading as she said, “You’re my sister, and I want to be wholly on your side with this, but I’d love to hear what he has to say, because it makes no sense to me.”
“I don’t even know what my side is. I love him, and I know he loves me.” Sobs stole Abby’s voice.
Cait embraced her.
“Abby, you can love him and still believe he’d hurt you. Look at Mom,” Deirdra said.
Abby gasped to fill her lungs, stepping out of Cait’s embrace. “He isn’t Mom! He said he never told me that he was the investor behind the original offer because he wanted me to see him as a regular person, not some rich guy who apparently could buy the whole island if he wanted to.”
“If that’s true, then it makes even less sense as to why he would bother trying to take the house and the restaurant,” Cait pointed out. “They have sentimental value to you, but if he’s a cold-blooded investor with no attachment to you or the island, much less this house or the restaurant, then why waste three weeks acting like he’s falling in love with you?”
“I don’t think he acted,” Abby fumed. “I said I know he loves me, and I believe he wanted me to think he was just a regular guy at first, because when he told me who his sister was, he said he usually made a point of not telling women about Remi. He said once women found out he had a famous sister, it changed everything, negating him as anything more than a means to an end. He didn’t say it in those words, but that’s how I took it. And I believe that, too.” She flopped into a chair, crossed her arms on the table, and plunked her forehead on them. “I hate this.”
“I guess it makes sense why he didn’t tell you about the original offer,” Deirdra conceded. “But what about the other deal, the one you said he suggested?”
Abby met Deirdra’s scrutinizing gaze. “He said if I had gone forward with an angel investor deal, he would have had a legal agreement written up indicating that the money I paid back would be set aside for me.”
“Now, that sounds like Aiden,” Cait exclaimed.
Deirdra gave her a deadpan look. “Or a really good manipulator.”
“Don’t villainize him,” Abby warned.
“Me? You’re in tears over him not telling you the truth.”
“Yeah, but that’s my boyfriend, my choice. I’m hurt, and I’m mad, and I’m trying to figure out if I’m walking down a path with a guy who’s going to lead me to a lifetime of lies, or if his fucking heart is too big and he’s so used to making things happen, he doesn’t realize gray areas don’t work for me. I need crystal-clear lines.”
Deirdra held her gaze and said, “The fact that you even have to say that worries me.”
“Deirdra, this is the same guy who believed in Abby enough to enter her into the competition and help her every step of the way to get there,” Cait said angrily. “He even went to the bank with her to make sure she didn’t get screwed. And did you notice the gardens? Or that he power washed the house? Do you know that he’s the one who had your dad’s paintings framed for the Bistro? Or that he was filling those little shells on the porch with birdseed every day just so Abby could see the birds?”
A sob burst from Abby’s throat. “I thought the birds weren’t eating it.”
“He was like the flipping birdseed fairy,” Cait said. “I saw him doing it when you were cooking dinner one night, and he asked me not to say anything.”
“You didn’t find that curious?” Deirdra accused.
Cait crossed her arms, eyes narrowing. “No. I found it sweet and romantic that he wanted Abby to see the birds but not worry about maintaining the feeders.”
“So you’re on his side?” Deirdra shook her head.
“I’m not on either side. Abby has a right to be pissed that he didn’t tell her. But come on, you guys. This is Aiden. The guy who basically lived with Abby for three weeks, stuck by her side working his perfectly manicured fingernails to the bone for her. Abby said she turned his money down, so it’s not like he was hiding the fact that he wanted to help her. It sounds like he tried to help her in another way.”
Deirdra snapped, “That’s called a lie of omission—”
“No shit, Deirdra, but it’s not like he was lying about another woman or having a wife, for Pete’s sake!” Cait snapped. “He lied to try to help her, and in doing so, to help us, too. We’re all in this restaurant together, whether you’re a silent partner or not.”
“Okay, I can see that,” Deirdra relented. “But I’m on Abby’s side, first and always, and right now I’m pretty pissed at him for hurting her.”
Abby pushed to her feet, feeling sick and exhausted. “This is all too much. I’m going upstairs to lie down.” She picked up the sketchbook and said, “Thank you for these. I really love them.”
“Want to take the pitcher?” Deirdra asked.
Abby shook her head and went up to her bedroom. She kicked off her sandals and lay on her bed. Aiden’s cologne lingered on the pillow. She rolled onto her side, catching sight of a framed picture of her and Aiden that hadn’t been there before. It was the selfie they’d taken the first day he’d helped her at the Bistro, right after she’d agreed to help him work through his list.
She sat up to pick up the picture and found a handwritten note from Aiden along with the letter from her mother tucked beneath it. Setting the letter from her mother aside—she didn’t need to go down that rabbit hole—she read Aiden’s note.
Dear Abs,
This is one of my favorite pictures. I would have kissed you then if Cait hadn’t walked in. I never knew three weeks could feel like three wonderful years. I probably didn’t say this enough while I was there (I was too busy falling in love with you), but thank you for helping me with my Let Loose list and for bringing a new level of happiness and true love into my life. These next two weeks can’t pass soon enough.
Yours always, Aiden
Abby’s tears fell onto the note. She pressed it to her chest as she lay down and closed her eyes, wishing she could rewind time. Wishing he had told her he was the investor. Wishing she could believe he was the liar she accused him of being, because that would give her the clarity to walk away. But in her heart she didn’t believe it, and walking away would mean losing the truest love she’d ever known and the only love she wanted.