Page 2 of Against the Current

Jackie herself didn’t want to think of it. Her heart felt ripped in half whenever she said Joel’s name. Joel Sutton. She blinked back tears.

Jackie turned to look at Dana. From this close up, she could see the fine lines around her mother’s eyes, proof she wasn’t as young as she wanted the world to believe. Why was she so stuck in her ways?

“Mom, you know I’m not the biggest fan of Trisha either.”

Dana’s shoulders loosened.

“But Ryan loves her,” Jackie reminded her mother. “He’s loved her for years. There’s nothing we can do about that.”

She refused to do anything to make her son hate her. What if she pushed him away?

These were things she couldn’t say aloud to her mother.

Dana used a handkerchief to dot her hairline. It was clear Ryan’s approaching wedding was a jolt of anxiety Dana was unaccustomed to in her very easy and well-tended-to life. Being Suttons and living in the immaculate Sutton Estate, Jackie’s mother and father had several maids, a part-time chef, three gardeners and landscapers, and an interior designer who came over four times a year to instruct Dana on how to switch things up to keep with the times.

Jackie and Josh were well-off, but they worked hard for it—Jackie at Sutton Real Estate and Josh as a contractor. Jackie had founded Sutton Real Estate with the help of her parents’ money,which was never far from anyone’s mind. Jackie often wished to this day that she hadn’t been in a position to ask for the money. (She’d been young! Naive! So sure of herself and her position in the world!) Now, it felt like something they held over her, even without saying so.

Even now, that subject sat in the room with them.Force your son not to marry Trisha. We’ve done so much for you. Haven’t we? Don’t you owe it to us?

Of course they would never say it so bluntly.

Jackie had a hunch her father would never say something to that effect at all.

“What does Dad think?” Jackie asked.

Dana snorted. “Your father has his head in the clouds. You know that. He can’t think further than five days ahead.”

Jackie soured. She hated when her mother spoke ill of her father—that big-hearted and kind and generous man who’d taught Jackie to ride a bike and sat on the sidelines during her sporting events and given her secret cookies when Dana said no more.

But suddenly, there was another knock on the door. Jackie recognized the sound of this one, too. Before Dana could say another word, Jackie tore across the room to open it. She found her son—already in a pair of black trousers and a white undershirt—carrying three glasses of champagne. Ryan’s cheeks were red, and his eyes glinted with laughter.

“I heard a rumor that my favorite two ladies were in here!”

Jackie’s heart melted at the sight of her son. Trying to hide her disdain for her mother from Ryan, she cast Dana a look that meantLook at how happy he is.

“Ryan, you’re a darling!” Dana got up to take her flute of champagne.

“Isn’t he?” Jackie filled her lungs and raised her glass.

“I can hardly sit still,” Ryan confessed, pulling his fingers through his hair. “I’m so nervous! Three hundred guests? Did we really need to invite so many?”

Dana’s laughter sparkled. “It’s a big crowd, isn’t it?” She cast Jackie a look that Jackie read aswe need to end this immediately before everyone arrives.Don’t embarrass us.

Jackie put her hand on Ryan’s shoulder and smiled. “Tell us. How do you feel?”

Ryan laughed again. He looked joyous and youthful. It was hard to believe he was twenty-five years old.

“I feel like this is the happiest day of my life?” Ryan said.

“Why the question mark?” Dana asked. She was digging for information she wouldn’t find.

“Well, it hasn’t happened yet,” Ryan said. “It’s all still happening. I want to soak up every minute. I don’t want to forget.”

Jackie smiled wider. Ryan had always been closer to her—sappier and bigger hearted. Maybe that was why he’d fallen for Trisha.

“I just keep thinking about everything that will happen later,” Ryan said. “You know, what does her dress look like? What will she say in her vows? What if she bails at the last minute?”

Dana and Jackie laughed nervously.

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