Page 116 of True Honey
It was so long ago that even trying to remember felt impossible but given our conversations surrounding Drew it could only be one thing. Fuck Arlo was an asshole.
“She told you not to let the world's disappointment harden you to love.”
“If only you had listened to her we wouldn’t be here,” Arlo groaned.
“I’m not hardened and the world isn’t disappointing,” I brushed him off.
“It's not? You have a fucked up little brother, a dad in jail and your girlfriend is your fake fiancé because your grandfather thought it would be more fun tomake a game out of your family’s fortune.” It really pissed me off when Arlo made sense. He was supposed to be the irrational one.
“I’m not hardened,” I argued in a defeated voice.
“You’re making it hard,” Arlo said with a small shrug.
“I’m not making it anything,” I groaned.
“Shut up,” he clipped. “I’m not running in this circle with you again, if Drew is what you want, act like it. Stop pretending like she’s the last priority. Are you ready to make a fool of yourself yet?”
“Not if it means losing family,” I huffed.
“It seems to me like you’re missing the point here, Si.” Arlo licked his lips. “They are family.”
“I hate when you do that,” I said.
“What?” Arlo laughed.
“Make a good point,” I groaned, “it’s fucking annoying.”
“If anyone can have everything Silas, it’s you.” He said, “you’re the only one that deserves it.” I watched him stand, shoving his hands into the pockets of his shorts. “Don’t fuck this up because you think you don’t.”
“Go back to Ella, you’re pissing me off.” I said with a laugh and turned back to the rising sun. I hated how right he was about my feelings.
COURTNEY
“We’re leaving aren’t we?” August stood in the doorway of my room…Silas’s room.
I shook my head with a smile as I ran my fingers through my hair, the half-packed duffle three feet out of sight in the closet. Red curled around August’s feet, sitting beside him in the hallway while my son stared at me for a little while longer. Seeing right through my lie.
SHORE
It had been a week.
A week of dancing around Drew trying to pretend like I wasn’t waiting on her every word. She was all smiles, all the time and I couldn’t tell if I should be worried or happy about it. Not a single one of them seemed real. She kept checking out on me and was bright but distant. Like a light I couldn’t reach no matter how much ground I covered.
It was frustrating but if she thought it was going to be enough to make me give up. She was wrong. I could be stubborn if I wanted to be,especiallyabout her. I climbed off the bike, fixing the crinkles in my suit and brushing my fingers through my hair, my eyes turning up to the high-rise in downtown Lorette. My head was beating so fast in my chest it felt like it was in my throat and before even leaving the house I had sweat through two shirts.
Today marked the day I either pulled off the most idiotic plan, or failed miserably. I could only hope that the countless dinners, outings and horrible conversations had done enough. Preston would have gone straight back to his dad with gossip about Drew from the weekend in New York, cementing that even when the shareholders weren’t paying attention we were very much in love.
Well, I was in love.
Drew was terrified.
Everything was tangled up too tightly to know what was real and what had been fake in my mind. The day I met her marked a challenge that I never expected to be so difficult. But every single knot we managed to undo proved that we were still very much tied together.
My phone rang in my pocket and I groaned.
Harbor Correctional
I picked it up only because if I didn’t he would continue to call through the entire meeting and I couldn’t have my phone vibrating in my pocket while I was attempting to lie my way into a fortune.
