“You’re my sister,” Trinity maintained. “I like your mess. Your mess is great. Perfect. And you know me better than anyone else.”
“I don’t want to embarrass you,” I shot back, a little anxious now.
Everybody was looking at us.
Everybody.
It was becoming clear she was asking me to do it, and that I didn’t want to. Funnily enough, I didn’t mind being the bad guy anymore.
“You’ll never embarrass me.” She handed me the microphone, her eyebrows shooting up to her hairline. “Please.”
I snatched the mic from her hand, standing up with a low growl. I was going to make her pay for it. A round of applause came from our audience as everyone took me in.
I put the microphone to my mouth, sighing. “Don’t be so happy, you still haven’t heard what I’m about to say.”
A roll of nervous laughter swept over the open-spaced room. People clapped again. I looked around the room, drawing a breath. I felt Bear’s fist curling around the hem of my dress, tugging.
I looked down.
He smiled and mouthed, “You’ve got this.”
I looked at the familiar faces, realizing that they all blurred together in my vision.
“First of all, I was tasked with giving this speech exactly two seconds ago, so my guess as to what’s about to leave my mouth is as good as yours, but knowing me, I suspect it will at the very least be entertaining.”
More laughter.
I stole an anxious look at Cruz. He sat back like he was made out of stone, taking a long sip from his beer, checking his phone.
The jackgass.
“Trinity and Wyatt. Wyatt and Trinity.”
I played with one of my earrings, buying time. Saying their names in different variations wasn’t going to do me much good. It wasn’t an essay I was trying to fill with words to hit a word count.
“Who would’ve thought, huh? Not me, that’s for sure. I always thought she had a huge crush on Justin Kent.” I winced. “Sorry, Justin, who is here. And his wife, who is also here…it worked out fine for everyone. Other than Wyatt, obviously.”
This really made people laugh.
Everyone, including Trinity herself and Wyatt, who leaned into her and gave her a quick kiss on the cheek. As far as I was aware, this was the first time he’d shown her any type of warmth in public since they’d started dating.
My chest swelled with pride.
I held onto the microphone a little tighter.
“I mean it, though. Trinity’s always been the golden one. The one with the straight A’s. She helped me so much when Bear was born. Even gave up all of her savings to help me pay for his ear surgery. She’s the best sister anyone could ask for.” I turned to look at her, my eyes crinkling. “Which is why she became a nurse. I don’t know any other woman in the world who could charm her way into a toddler’s good graces even though they know she’s about to stick a needle in them.”
More laughter.
I wasn’t doing badly at all.
“I think that’s the trouble with living in the shadow of a hero, though. You don’t know just how much you have until you drift apart. I almost lost…I mean, I did lose a hero like that, I guess.”
I snuck another look at Cruz.
His jaw was stiff, his eyes narrow and darkened, but at least he was no longer focused on his phone.
Now his entire attention was on me.
“I just…” I shook my head. “I’m glad my sister bagged the man she wants. The man of her dreams. Because it’s not to be taken for granted. Sometimes the good ones slip between the cracks, and you can’t reach and pull them back to you.”
By the way my mother placed a hand on the small of my back, I knew I was detouring, fast.
But it was too late.
I had a chance to be heard by Cruz, and I wasn’t going to mess it up this time. I didn’t even care that I was stealing Trinity’s thunder.
This was truly the only time I’d ever done that maliciously—deliberately—and she needed to deal with it.
For the first time in my life, I was selfish.
“I’m not going to sugarcoat it. A lot has changed since Trinity got engaged to Wyatt. For one thing, our families went on a cruise together. And that’s when I…”
Don’t say had wild sex with Dr. Cruz Costello. I repeat don’t say had wild sex with Dr. Cruz Costello.
“That’s when I fell in love with Dr. Cruz Costello,” I finished.
People gasped and choked on their drinks in the audience. I soldiered through, the hysteria bubbling in my throat reminding me that I’d just admitted to a room full of people who despised me, that I was in love with their idol.
“I fell in love with him, and I think maybe, for a moment in time, he fell in love with me, too.”
I turned to look at him fully now.
He stared at me with fascination. There was no tenderness or love there. Just the surprise and awe of someone who was witnessing the carnage of a train wreck happening in slow motion.
It was too late to back down from this, though, so I let it all out, even if Catherine Costello looked like she was about to stab me with her steak knife.
“I can’t live without you, Dr. Costello. I mean, I can, but I don’t want to. Not in the spoiled way people don’t want to do things, like laundry and the dishes. I know this is the wrong time and certainly the wrong place. But Cruz, I’m going to take my chance and tell you—the ultimatum you gave me the other day? I accept! I accept your offer!”
I thought it was a nice touch. To finally give him what he wanted, move in with him, after being all wishy-washy. I’d seen scenes like that in movies and TV shows all the time.
This was my grand gesture, and as such, he couldn’t deny me.
Cruz’s expression was unreadable, his mouth pressed into a hard line. Not exactly the way a Disney prince looked before whisking his favorite princess away on a magical carpet, but hey, I had to work with what I got.
“Sorry, sweetheart, that offer has expired.”
What.
There were more gasps.
People pulled out their phones and directed them at my face. Catherine clutched her heart, like she was about to have a breakdown. Her husband side-eyed her quietly, undoubtedly not buying into her theatrics.
Trinity surprised me by shooting Cruz a murderous stare and reaching across the table to give my hand a squeeze. I felt the air leave my lungs. The earth shaking under my feet.
He’d said no.
He didn’t want me anymore.
I closed my eyes, letting the humiliation sink in.
Then he continued.
“I’m not an interlude to your ordinary program, Tennessee Turner. Nor am I a life choice like veganism you can slip in and out of, depending on your family’s mood. I love our families, but not enough to let them tamper with the big love of my life. But you don’t seem to feel the same. I don’t want you to move in just so you can move out the first time I piss you off. When things go wrong. When your sister decides to have a fit. When my mother thinks you’re unsuitable for me and things get hard. In short—I don’t want to let you in, when it’s so perfectly obvious you are going to bail on me as soon as things get hard again.”
“I won’t,” I cried out. “I promise.”