Page 58 of Love and Other Champagne Problems

“Don’t listen to him,” Sumner said in a falsely cheerful voice. “He was just drunk. I doubt he meant any of what he said.”

I held still during his ministrations, throat tight. “What makes you an expert on my father?”

Sumner peered up at me from his crouched position with an almost haunted shadow over his face, one that matched with the darkness of the bedroom. “Don’t… don’t take any of what he said to heart.”

“Which part?” I gave a slow blink. “That I’m spiteful? Lacking in dignity? How I’m an embarrassment to everyone around me?”

“You are none of those things.”

“You aren’t a very good liar.”

Sumner let out a small breath and broke his gaze, only for a moment. “You are.” When he spoke next, his words almost bordered on a whisper, as if he hadn’t wanted to ask the question. “Did you mean it?”

For some reason, the softness of his voice made me unreasonably annoyed. “Meanwhat?”

“That you didn’t want to marry Aaron.”

I let out a slow, rattling breath, exhausted to my core. I didn’t want to talk about it. I didn’t want to talk at all. The comfort I wanted didn’t include him asking questions. “I wouldn’t have said it if I hadn’t meant it.”

“This entire time,” Sumner said, almost as if he were talking to himself. His forehead creased with his sad frown. “This entire time, I thought you wanted to marry him. You kissing me, spilling a drink on Mrs. Astor—this entire time, I thought it was just because you were impulsive. Yousaidit was because you wereimpulsive. You said itwasn’tthat you didn’t want to marry Aaron. But you did those things because youdidn’twant to.”

I found myself unable to look away from the oddity of his expression. His unease summoned a weird feeling inside me, one that made me feel like I needed to apologize. For what, though, I wasn’t sure.

He sat back on his heels and looked at the wadded washcloth in his hands, a smear of red visible. “When I asked you if you wanted to marry him, you said yes. You saidof course.”

My head swam with pressure, and it made my chest feel as though it was vibrating.

“Why would I have assumed you were lying? That you weremarryingsomeone when you didn’t want to?” he demanded, incredulous. He did, indeed, look at me like I’d lost my mind. “No one just lets themselves be forced into marriage. Except you, apparently.”

“What did it matter? Telling you that everyone wanted me to do something that I didn’t want—what would it have done? It’s not like you have any control over it.” Looking at him, it was almost embarrassing thinking he could’ve ever been Aaron Astor. The childish thought was ridiculous now. “But come on, Sumner. No one would let themselves be forced into marriage? What, but people would marry someone they’ve never even spoken to?Really?”

“You’re playing the martyr, then.” The distraught expression on his face morphed into something else, something that was reminiscent of the expression he wore when he stopped me from unbuttoning my shirt. “God,Margot, you—you’re like the definition of a self-fulfilling prophecy. Why are you even doing this, then?”

I stared down at where he kneeled in front of me, warmth building underneath my skin, but worlds different from the previous moment between us. This time it was hot, suffocating, a wave of irritation that washed away the numbness. “I want you to leave. I’m tired.”

“No.” Sumner didn’t even miss a beat, his stony stare matching mine. “What your dad said isn’t true—people aren’tembarrassedto be around you. You’re the one pushing me away because I’m asking a question you don’t want to answer. You want me to leave? Call security. Because if I walk out now, I’m just giving you more ammo. Youaren’tpitiful, Margot, so why are you acting like you are?”

I’d never felt such potent anger before, all channeled toward one specific person. I got to my feet and towered over him, hands curling into fists at my sides. I’d never hit anyone in my life, but I wanted to hit Sumner Pennington now. If this was what Yvette felt after I shoved Ms. Jennings into her, I understood her rage. I trembled with it now. “Get. Out.”

Sumner did not rise from his kneeling position. “Make me.”

I dug my hands into his upper arms, and if I’d been able to get at skin instead of his shirtsleeves, my nails would’ve cut. Of course, though, with Sumner as unwilling, there was no moving him more than an inch.

I tugged again, straining against the grown man on the ground, before falling to my own knees beside him. “Fine,” I gasped out, chest heaving with painful pressure. Fire flamed in my eyes, but Sumner didn’t melt with it. He remained still, solid beneath my grip. “I can’t call myself pitiful if I’m practically asking for it, right? But you heard my father. If I refused to marry Aaron, they’ddisownme. They’d have no more use for me. They’d throw me out and never look back.”

As I spoke, incensed tears began to burn, and I blinked at them furiously. Sumner’s expression softened when he saw them.

“I’m crazy for marrying someone I don’t want to? As if it’seasyto just throw away everything I’ve ever known, huh? Tell me, when you moved here, did you move here broke? Not a single dollar to your name? Or did you have a savings account to fall back on?”

His voice was quiet. “I had something to fall back on.”

“Then you haveno rightto tell me what to do in this situation.” An angry tear slid down my cheek. “I may not want to marry Aaron, but I’d much rather avoid being homeless without a penny to my name.”

And that was the epitome of it all. I didn’t want to do it, any of it. Marry Aaron Astor, inherit the Massey Suites empire, spend the rest of my life attending the revolving events the Alderton-Du Ponte Country Club always hosted. The future of it all yawned wide before me, dark and gloomy and suffocating, but I still marched forward toward it. The paralyzing fear of turning away was far, far greater. As frightening as walking up to a precipice and jumping off with no knowledge of how far the drop was.

I’d rather not jump. I’d rather be stuck in hell than jump. I was tooafraid to jump.

I was messed up beyond saving because I couldn’t be bothered to save myself.

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