Page 69 of Sins and Secrets

What? Who?

Darren: The guy would do anything to get back into her good graces.

Kyle: He stole Angie’s moment.

Darren: What did Waverly do?

WHOA. What? What does Waverly have to do with any of this? My other room companions start to mumble, and I hear Uri’s dad say, “Is he okay?”

But I’m too busy typing.

Me: Back the fuck up, what happened?

The dots bounce on my screen.

Kyle: Adam proposed to Waverly at the bridal brunch.

“WHAT!” My heart tries to make a hasty retreat out of my chest. My vision blurs, and ringing is coming from somewhere in the back of my head.

There’s a hand on my shoulder. “You good, son?”

A slow shake of my head betrays my thoughts.

Me: What did she say?

Why am I asking him? I should know already. We talked for like a half hour this afternoon. Why didn’t she say anything?

“Sit down,” Mr. Mcleod says and ushers me toward the bed. “What’s wrong?”

“Adam proposed to Waverly,” I mumble, and it ignites a flurry of fatherly fury around the hotel room.

Various “What the hells?” and “He didn’t fucking ask permission!” and “Who the hell does he think he is?” fly over my head as I try to get my shit together.

Kyle: According to my sister, Waverly left the brunch, and Adam was escorted out.

Darren: Did she leave with him?

Kyle: No. My sister saw Waverly walking around outside.

None of these are the answers I need. “I’m calling her, shut up!” If it was a different situation, I would be more careful with my words when talking to mob bosses, but Waverly was proposed to and I’ve got to do something.

Her chipper voice slices through me. “Hey!”

“HE FUCKING PROPOSED TO YOU!” The words echo around the room. Even the other men pause their violent gestures and turn to me.

I can see her flinch on the screen. Shit, she doesn’t like to be yelled at. She regroups and asks, “Do you want notes on how not to propose to someone? Because Adam could teach a masterclass on it.”

“Why am I finding out about this now?”

She shrugs. “Because we were talking about the inn and you had questions aboutThe Nights of Knight, and that was more important than Adam.”

Waverly was very excited to answer all my questions, but that can’t possibly be the reason she didn’t tell me. I start pacing around the room and lean against a wall. Too much pent up energy to sit. “What did you say?” The question comes out like an angry plea.

She squishes her face and side-eyes me. “I said no.”

The camera moves a lot as she vanishes from the screen, then she’s back and I can tell she’s laying on her bed. “Have you ever made a choice and the instant you could correct it, you think, ‘Yep, good call, self.’ Well, I’ve never been more certain dumping Adam was the right thing. Three years together and he couldn’t figure out I hate big displays of affection and ugly flowers. He didn’t deduce asking me in front of his whole family was only going to result in a no.”

My head rests against the wall like it’s being held by magnets. “There’s no other reason why?”

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