Page 103 of One Time in Paris
Isla crossed her arms, the wound from Davy’s words still cutting her deeply. “Yeah. We’re getting it annulled. I think. But yeah.”
“Oh my God. What do you mean,you think?”
Isla held her breath.
What are we doing?
She and Aiden hadn’t discussed the whole marriage thing. Yet calling each other husband and wife hadn’t seemed strange. Not like a fetish. Butreal.
They needed to hash this out.
“I don’t know. That’s the plan. But yes, we’re married. But we’re also in a relationship now.”
The two of them stared at each other in silence, the discomfort between them growing.
Then Davy blinked away tears. “Look. I’m not saying that you’re not dealing with a lot right now, but this is my career. You don’t even want to be part of the show after this,” she said, her voice wavering. “That’s fine. But don’t act like none of this matters just because your life is a mess. I know you don’t care about this like I do, but it matters. To me. To my life.”
Isla didn’t answer, for the first time understanding her father’s business advice, many years earlier, about not doing business with friends.
Isla looked at her best friend—the same girl who’d snuck her tequila at her twenty-first birthday party, who’d cried with her during Isla’s first breakup, who’d slept in the hospital room chair the night Isla had gotten viral pneumonia and Callum had been out of town on a job.
Yet, at this moment, Isla felt like she was staring at a stranger across a fault line she hadn’t even realized they’d crossed.
“I’ll talk to Callum.”
“And if he says no? At this point, it’s going to really mess up our plans.”
Something snapped inside Isla. Exhaustion from being held accountable for way too much that wasn’t her fault, maybe. “Maybe then you shouldn’t have made plans without important documents in hand, Davy. You’ve got to take responsibility, too. You can blame me all you want, but this one is on you. I saved your ass last time. Next time, don’t confuse verbal agreements with commitment.”
She walked away, anger and frustration rankling her. She didn’t want to be fighting with Davy. They’d been best friends for so long.
But it wasn’t fair, either.
She was putting Isla in an impossible situation.
Callum was going toflipat the idea of having a camera crew at his party, especially with so little warning. The guilt he’d been harboring because of everything with Tomas would probably be enough to help her convince him, even if she felt horrible for being so manipulative and using it against him.
But how could she go to her brother and say,hey, I need a huge, intrusive favorand also,by the way, I’ve been sleeping with Aiden and lying to you?
She wouldn’t blame Callum for saying no to the film crew after feeling hurt and betrayed by Isla and Aiden. And that was exactly what would happen.
Which means I can’t tell him about Aiden yet.
Or Liddy.
She wouldn’t ask Callum’s wife to lie to him. That wouldn’t be fair. She loved her sister-in-law and considered her a friend—lying to her wouldn’t be easy. Liddy would be hurt, and it would just make everything so much worse when they learned the truth.
Isla clenched her jaw, tears threatening her as she pulled her phone out. Her hand shook.
Then she texted Liddy.
Isla:!!! Hilarious. Gross, no thank you.
32
AIDEN
LONDON, ENGLAND
