Page 5 of Flare
Emily’s gaze dropped to her hands, which had twisted themselves together in her lap. The enormous diamond on her finger caught the afternoon light from the floor-to-ceiling living room windows and sent beams of rainbow light over the ceiling and walls.
She remembered how excited Mom had been when Andrew had proposed to Emily in the hospital room.
When Mom died two days later, Emily had retreated into grief and then immersed herself in Andrew’s world. He’d been so attentive back then, so understanding. So sweet and thoughtful.
“Things got complicated after Mom got sick,” she whispered.“I guess I just…fell out of touch with everyone from back home.”
“And now Maggie’s trying to set you up with her cousin,” Andrew said flatly.
Oh shit. He’s really pissed.
“No, she’s not!” Emily protested, feeling sick.“She’s just trying to be nice because Eddie’s coming to town for the weekend and won’t know anyone. She didn’t mean to—”
“She’s trying to make trouble.” Andrew’s thumbs moved rapidly as he typed a response.
“What are you doing?” she asked with growing alarm.
Andrew didn’t answer. He finished typing and turned the screen toward Emily so she could read his reply.
I’m too busy to meet with your cousin.
The dismissive coldness made Emily’s chest ache. She wished Andrew trusted her enough to send her own reply. She wouldn’t have sounded so…mean.
Then Andrew navigated to her contacts, found Maggie Swanson’s name, and hit Block.
“There,” he said, handing the phone back to her.“Yourfriendclearly has boundary issues And don’t even think about inviting her to the wedding… in fact, don’t contact her again.”
Emily stared down at her phone, her throat tightening.This isn’t right. His jealousy isn’t normal. If he loves me, then why doesn’t he trust me?
She opened her mouth, but the words stuck in her throat. Instead, she heard herself say,“I’m sorry. I should have mentioned I was engaged right away.”
“Yeah, you should’ve.” But Emily saw Andrew’s expression soften at her apology.“Look, I know it’s not your fault she tried to set you up with this Eddie person,” he continued in a gentler tone.“But you need to be more careful about who you associate with, Emily. You’re going to be a Brunborn soon. You need to act like one.”
Emily nodded.
Maybe Andrew was right. Maybe she didn’t understand how relationships worked in his world.
Her mom always said that rich people lived on a different planet than poor people.
Maybe leaving her history and old friends behind was the price of belonging to a family like the Brunborns.
And without them, she didn’t have any other family left.
“You’re right. I’m sorry, Andrew,” she said, swallowing her pride.“I should’ve thought about how it would look.”
Andrew bent down and pressed a quick kiss to her lips. It felt a reward for proper behavior, the kind you used when training a pet. She forced herself not to pull away.
“I just want everything to be perfect,” he said.“You understand that, don’t you?”
“Of course,” Emily replied automatically.
He straightened, checked his watch again.“I need to leave for that walkthrough with the construction supervisor over at Silverwood. I’ll be back in time for dinner.”
Silverwood Estates was Andrew’s latest high-end real estate development project. As his executive assistant, Emily had attended endless planning commission meetings for rezoning issues, variances, and other issues.
Emily nodded, summoning a smile. As Andrew left the room, she looked down at her phone again.
The conversation with Maggie was still visible, but the contact was now blocked.
