Page 34 of Terms + Conditions
“Because you’re right.”
“No!” Elizabeth shouted. “No…You don’t do this. You don’t justagreewith me.”
Okay, now it was my turn to be confused. What does she want me to do?
“You never do that.”
“I mean, I guess, in the past, I’ve not been quick to apologize…But I was wrong this time. It was a low blow.”
Since then, I’ve been trying to think of our other arguments. Did I really never say sorry or agree with her? Surely not. Surely, I had apologized and admitted I was wrong before. And there were times I had agreed with her. The only time I can think of is the fight right before she left—because I wasn’t wrong. I was looking out for myself like she had been doing for months, even years, before that, but she didn’t want to hear that explanation.
Elizabeth was already in bed when I retired to our room last night. Everyone had gone to bed, but Elijah and I had one more drink, catching up on life—minus one major detail. She slept as close to the edge as possible without falling over, and part of me wondered if I should just make a pallet on the floor, but my back couldn’t take sleeping on the hardwood. I’d never be able to move in the morning. Instead, I crawled into bed and cuddled up to my edge.
When I woke up this morning, the sun had just started to peak over the horizon, and it became quite apparent I was not in the same position I had fallen asleep in. My left arm draped over something. Not just something, someone. My hand splayed across her stomach underneath the long sleeve she had worn to bed.
Shit. If she wakes up, I’m a dead man,was the second thought that popped into my mind. The first was how good it felt to be this close to her again. I took a deep breath, inhaling the scent that had become so familiar to me—hints of florals and sandalwood mixed with her coconut shampoo.
She began to stir, and my body tensed.
Fuck. Fuck. Fuck.
But she only settled further into me before falling back asleep. I took one more moment to enjoy this, being so close to her, feeling her body against mine, because I wasn’t sure I’d ever get this opportunity again.
One part of me is happy she didn’t wake up. I didn’t want to fight the whole weekend. It would only make this whole thing that much more difficult. This entire trip was all for show. We weren’t really together (or back together, I guess?). I’d spent the past ten years pretending to be her husband; I could do it for three more days, right? Besides, by the end of the weekend, she’d tell them about the separation, and it would all be over with.
A different part of me wishes she had woken up. Maybe it wouldn’t have been a fight. I mean, shedidsnuggle closer to me, right?
Trekking through the sand, I climb the wood steps leading to the boardwalk, winding through the dunes to the house. It empties out into the side yard, where another set of stairs leads up to the back patio.
“Finally!” Elijah says when I walk through the sliding door into the dining room. “I was about to send out a search party.” He and Jeremy sit at the table with empty coffee mugs in front of them.
“Dramatic, much?” I roll my eyes.
“Georgie and Elizabeth went into town already.”
I check the time on my watch: 8:48 a.m. They left already? It’s not even nine o’clock. That’s strange. Not to mention they went without Selena and Lola. That’s even weirder.
“We’re meeting them at Teddy’s whenever you’re ready,” Jeremy says.
Normally, we don’t leave for breakfast before nine-thirty, maybe even ten.
“Let me go shower real quick, then we can go,” I say.
CHAPTER NINETEEN
THEN
December 2016
WHY I LET HER talk me into this I’ll never understand. After what happened last year, I thought we would be officially uninvited for the rest of our lives. When the invitation showed up in my mailbox, I sent her a picture with a quick “lol,” but she told me to shove that “lol” up my ass because we were going. Truth be told, we both knew we couldn’t refuse. It would look far worse than showing up.
With my hand on her lower back, I guide her through the double doors of Cawthorn Manor with Finn and Michaela in tow. They had been going at it the entire ride here, and pulling into the driveway, I warned them to be on their best behavior, or they’d be walking home in the rain.
I spot Nina in the foyer at the same time Elizabeth does, but our line of sight is blocked when none other than Harvey Cawthorn steps in front of us.
“Josh! So good to see you. We’ve missed you around here.”
“It’s good to see you, sir,” I say with a tight-lipped smile.
