“Dave and Barry throw nothing away. I mean, nothing. They compost all their refuse and recycle everything else.”
“How do you know all this?”
“They let me use some of their compost for my garden.”
“Iris,” Hope asked cagily. “Are you growing anything illegal?”
“No.” She chuckled. “And if I were, I wouldn’t tell you.”
Hope hugged her friend. “I love you.”
“I love you too, child.”
“What day’s the pop-up?”
“Next Friday night.”
“We’ll have to go. Will you be my date?”
“You know I will,” Iris said, appearing pleased.
…
Brent folded his Bermuda shorts and tucked them in his suitcase. He actually had bought those shorts for Bermuda. What a total geek he was. Not to mention a super gullible guy. But that was okay; he’d learned his lesson now. Burn me once…and all that. He was a fast learner.
“You don’t have to go yet, you know,” Derrick said from his chair at the kitchen table. He’d made a pot of afternoon coffee and was nursing his second cup.
“Thanks. I appreciate that, but I’ve taken you up on your hospitality long enough.”
For the past seven nights, he’d slept on his brother’s sleeper sofa. It was comfortable enough, but Derrick had a day job and would probably appreciate having some evening time alone. Brent was sure it had gotten old, hearing the whole sordid tale three times.
He’d gone over the story those two additional times because he kept finding himself leaving out important details. Like that bit about Hope’s necklace. Now that he’d exorcised himself of the information and dumped all his angst on his long-suffering brother, it was time to go. Lest he force Derrick to suffer longer.
“When are you going to tell the parents?”
“Don’t know. Maybe never.”
“Come on, man.”
“Okay. All right. Sometime soon. Maybe once I’m back in Boston.”
“You could run into her there.”
“Jackie? Sure. But I don’t have to see her to get the marriage annulled. I researched it online, and it should be straightforward enough. We both just have to sign the paperwork, but we don’t have to be there at the same time. I doubt very seriously that she’ll fight me on it.”
“Here’s what I don’t get,” Derrick said. “Why did you want to marry her to begin with?”
Brent hung his head, knowing it had been for all the wrong reasons. That was something he’d come to terms with. While Hope and Jackie had abused his good nature by deceiving him and his family, Brent couldn’t pretend he was perfect. He’d been willing to marry a woman he didn’t honestly love in order to get ahead professionally. His grandpa’s hotel business somehow seemed a whole lot less important to him now.
“It was dumb, Derrick. Really dumb. I thought that—by being married to Jackie—things would be easier for me.”
“In what way?” Brent could practically hear Derrick’s keen mind working. “You mean business-wise? No way.” His jaw dropped. “You mean Grandmother Margaret was right?”
“I’ve been thinking a lot about it,” Brent said. “And maybe William’s the right one to take over for Grandpa Chad. He’s got financial training and needs the stability. He hasn’t got tenure yet, and that’s not guaranteed.”
“Plus, he and Sofia have a baby on the way,” Derrick added. “Do you think he’d even want that?”
“I’m not sure, but I have a hunch he might.”
“What about you?”
“I’ll think of something.” Brent closed his suitcase. “I always land on my feet.”
“What about Hope?”
“What about her?”
“Are you going to do anything?”
“I don’t know.”
…
The following Friday, Hope was getting ready for the pop-up when her phone rang. It was the first time she’d dressed up nicely to leave the house, and she’d decided it was time. Running to the grocery store in her sweatpants and Dancing Queen T-shirt didn’t count.
After the pop-up, she and Iris were going for drinks downtown. Hope was meeting some of her teacher friends there and wanted to introduce her to them. Iris was the closest thing to family she had in the area, and she valued her friendship greatly.
Hope walked to the kitchen table and picked up her phone, and her heart skipped a beat. She hesitated only a fraction of a second before answering. “Jackie?”
“Hi Hope,” she answered, sounding exhausted. “How are you?”
“Okay. And you?”
“Not great,” Jackie said. “I haven’t slept in weeks.”
“These past two weeks? How was Bermuda?”
“Bermuda? Are you kidding? I didn’t go.”
Hope was stunned. “But I… We saw you walking toward security.”
“I didn’t know what I was doing,” Jackie said. “I was confused.”
“Yeah,” she said sadly. “Me, too.”
Jackie sighed. “So. Have you heard from Brent?”
“Me? No. You?”
“I don’t really expect to.” Her sister sighed. “I tried calling him.”
“Yeah? What happened?”
“It went straight to voicemail.”
“I’m sorry. Did you try texting?”
“I wasn’t sure what to say.”
“We did a horrible thing, Jackie. I mean, I did. Mostly it was me.”
“Hopie,” she said softly. “I read all your messages. The text messages you sent before we met up. I looked through the photos, too. Maybe a dozen times. The ones that you sent, and also the pics that got uploaded to Instagram.”
“I’m sorry if they upset you.”
“No, that’s not it. It was more like…they surprised me. There was something going on, wasn’t there? Something between the two of you?”
“I swear. I never meant for—”
“It’s all right,” she said. “I’m not judging you. Brent’s a really great guy.”