Page 86 of Love and Other Champagne Problems

“I didn’t see why it would’ve mattered to you. Since you were onlypaidto be around me, anyway.”

“Jeez, you’re so—” He cut himself off with a sharp breath. “Because it’s one thing for me to let you go to a guy who called dibs first, it’s another when?—”

“Dibs.” I scoffed, pressing my hotel key to the lock. “What are we, twelve?” It unbolted with a click, but as I grabbed the handle, Sumner’s unfinishedsentence registered.It’s one thing to let you go.I frowned up at him. “It’s another thing when what?”

Sumner let out a small breath through his parted lips, and when he spoke, his voice was low. “When he doesn’t like you like I do.”

I was certain I’d heard him wrong. I was certain that the words didn’t mean what I wanted them to. Sumner looked stunned at his own confession, lips parted, but earnestness in his eyes. The small, stupid part of me wanted to jump in excitement, but it was too far buried underneath the mountain of something darker.

“Oh, you like me now, do you?” I asked emphatically, and shoved in my hotel room door. It flung into the wall as I stalked in and slapped on the lights, but it didn’t swing shut; Sumner propped it open to follow in after me. “You didn’t like me before, but you like me now, when you know Aaron doesn’t?”

“That’s not?—”

“How Aaron feels is more important than how I feel, right? I told you that I liked you, but whatAaronwanted was more important?” I whirled around, staring at him as he stood in the entryway, the door to the hallway now closed. “Why? Why are you so loyal to him? Because he’s rich? Because?—”

“Him liking you wasperfect.” The words were strained, almost as if they were painful as they were ripped from him. “Your parents wanted him, his parents loved you, and you could’ve gone the rest of your life living itexactlythe way you have been, without ever wondering what something different looked like. It was my fault, coming here and introducing you to the whatif. Aaron is the perfect pick. Me wanting you… is a disaster.”

His voice trailed off into a weak sound at the end, eyes wrought with ache. It caused something in me to twinge in tandem, the latter half of his words, his confession, bouncing around in my head. “I thought you were only hanging out with me because it was a part of your job description.” I tried to pack snark in my voice, but it came out off-kilter. “That you weren’t here because you wanted to be.”

“It was just a job at first, yes.” Sumner closed his eyes briefly, as if he couldn’t believe what he was about to say. “After that first event, after what happened, after talking to you—it felt like Ihadto get to know you. I told you before that I know what it feels like to be in a room full of people, but to feel like you don’t even exist.” A serious shadow covered Sumner’s expression. “It was the first time I’d ever seen the exact way I felt reflected back at me. And I couldn’t walk away without getting to know you.”

The intensity in his stare was almost too much to stand under, but I couldn’t bring myself to look away, either. I could do nothing more than scarcely breathe. His confession took mine from a few days ago and blew it out of the water, his words each weighted with sincerity and seriousness. There was no wavering in his voice, no hesitance—after keeping the thoughts to himself, Sumner had no qualms about bringing it all to light.

“You’re snarky and pessimistic, and you don’t smile often, but when you do—when you do—” Sumner’s chest rose and fell once, as if just the image in his head was enough to take his breath away, and he tooka step forward. “I’ve never seen anything more beautiful in my entire life. And the only thing I can think about after is how I’m going to make you smile again.”

Ten feet of space stretched between us, and it felt dangerous, like if either one of us crossed the distance, there’d be no turning back. I could picture each time he’d donned the awestruck expression when I smiled, each time it’d struck him speechless.Am I pretty when I smile?

You’re pretty when you don’t,Sumner had replied.You’re beautiful when you do.

“I didn’t push you away for Aaron’s sake, but for yours.” Sumner advanced a step, and then another, and patted his pockets, a helpless crease forming at his brow. “I’m not even close to the level of Aaron, Margot. You know that. I don’t own a multi-million-dollar business; I don’t have influential parents. I couldn’t tell you the difference between silk and satin, and the watch I wear is probably one you could find at the bottom of a cereal box. I am quite possibly the worst choice for you.”

When I spoke, I was surprised with how even I sounded despite how furiously I trembled on the inside. “And you’re asking me to choose you anyway?”

“If Aaron Astor is not going to treasure you like the gem you are, then I will.” Sumner took slow another step. “And I’ll do it gladly.”

The words unlocked something in me. I could feel them seep their way through my skin and burrow into my chest. Instead of the pain that normally came with words spoken to me from every other person in my life, Sumner’s words unwound something tight. Sumner had seenme in an undesirable light plenty of times, and yet, time and time again, he came to me.

Six feet now, close enough to imagine what it’d be like if his arms surrounded me.

“What if you were right before?” My voice was quiet. “What if I only like you because of the way you make me feel?”

“Like me selfishly. I’ll let you. Gladly. I’ve been liking you selfishly all along.”

His insistence caused me to simultaneously melt and freeze, mind playing tug-of-war on which emotion to feel. “I’ll have nothing,” I told him in more of a warning, because though I’d been the one to confess to him first, the one to open this door, it suddenly terrified me. The prospect of it all, the unknowns. It wasn’t a gilded road that I would take. There’d be no streetlights to guide me. “If I leave here, I’ll have nothing to offer you. No nice car to drive, no upscale penthouse to sleep in. I couldn’t even buy your beans on toast. I won’t be a gem anymore, but a commonplace stone.I’llhave nothing to offeryou.”

“It’ll be my turn to take care of you.” A small smile lifted his lips as he stopped four feet from me. “I’ll work to put you through fashion school and then you can be our breadwinner, and then we can eat all the beans on toast we want. I don’t want what youhave, Margot Massey. I wantyou. If you’ll have me.”

In the world of Addison high society, everyone was used to the world tipping in their favor. Besides, what did they have to resent besides taxes? Money brought good fortune to them like a magnet, multiplying the luck and growing it further. Grander houses, flashier cars,finer clothes. Everyone made bad investments from time to time, but with the devils they’d sold their souls to on their side, bouncing back from them was a given. Their difficulties were champagne problems, inconsequential and frivolous.

The world never tipped in my favor. My choices were never meaningless, never inconsequential, never frivolous. And in the eyes of everyone else, a bad investment stood before me, with blue eyes that were as enticing as the ocean after a hot day in the sun. One never knowingly walked into a bad investment. No one willingly decided to jump off a precipice without knowing what’d catch them underneath.

I once thought I was far too much of a coward to jump. That I’d rather be stuck in hell than jump. Now, though, I didn’t mind if I jumped, so long as I had Sumner’s hand in mine.

I crossed the remaining distance, standing before him with terror behind the weight of the choice. Up close, I could see everything about Sumner that I loved, from the freckles under his eyes to the curl of his golden hair. His kindness practically shined in his puppy dog eyes, creating a warmth that wrapped around me like a promise. “You’re not allowed to change your mind,” I whispered.

“Never.”

“You’d be stuck with me, with my snark and pessimism.”

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