Page 37 of Terms + Conditions
“What, are you moving in?” I called down to her, catching her attention.
She slammed the back of her Jeep. “I was thinking about it. You have room for one more?”
“Suppose I could get rid of the guest room, not like I get many guests anyway.”
“I was thinking the master,” Elizabeth said with a smirk as she approached me. Before I had a chance to respond, she stepped up, and without hesitation, kissed me.
“What was that for?” I asked, eyes still closed, when she pulled back.
“I missed you.”
“I missed you too, Sugar.” I kissed her forehead, taking the bags from her. “C’mon, let’s get upstairs.”
“Wait, Josh,” Elizabeth said, her hand covering mine when I tried to take hold of her bags. “I have something I want to say.”
“You don’t want to do that upstairs where it’s a bit, I don’t know, warmer?” I chuckled.
“No, because if I don’t say it now, I don’t know if I will.”
Hearing the nerves woven into her words, I dropped my hold on the bag handle and brought my hand up to cradle her cheek. “What’s going on, Liz?”
Elizabeth rolled her shoulders back, standing a little straighter, before she looked up to meet my stare. “I want to do this. Us. I want to try…for real. And I know that may sound silly because now that I’m hearing myself say it, it does. But I want to know if there is something—”
I kissed her and she melted into my embrace. “Thank God,” I whispered against her. “You took the words right out of my mouth.”
She smiled against me and I pecked her lips once…twice…three times before pulling away.
I opened the door to the lobby for her, following behind with her bags. “Let’s take this stuff upstairs and we can go get food.”
“Thank God, I’m starving. What’s for dinner?”
“Whatever you want, Sugar,” I said and scanned my resident card.
Things went well, really well, until about two months ago. We were one week out from our first anniversary and we had a small argument that turned into a big one that turned into a breakup. The difference is when we break up, we can’tbreak up. We’re still stuck with each other. Guess we didn’t think that one through. To this day, I still don’t understand what started the whole thing. I showed up in Savannah on Saturday morning and she was in a bad mood the moment she opened the door. Everything just seemed to escalate from there.
Now I get to spend time with my ex-girlfriend, pretending to be happy-go-lucky while wishing to be anywhere else…it’s not exactly my idea of a good time. The fact it happened around the holidays makes it that much harder. Any other time of year, we could’ve lived more separate lives, minus a few appearances here and there. But that’s not the only reason it’s been hard. Thehardest part is wanting to touch her, hold her, and kiss her when she’s near, even though I know she wants me as far from her as possible.
Later came a lot sooner than I expected. Mom and Uncle Jim packed an entire smorgasbord of food to take back to Nina’s, despite my protests that we didn’t need that much food. Finn offered to join me, but I declined the offer. I’m sure it would be nice to have the company, but I don’t think Nina is in the mood to entertain any more than she already is with us.
Securing the to-go container in the backseat, I jump a little, not expecting someone to be there when I turn around. “Give a guy a heart attack, why don’t you?” I mumble.
Mom stands with her arms crossed, lips pulled into a thin line, and I can already tell I’m in for it. What about? I have no idea, but I’m sure I did or said something that was out of line. And she wasn’t about to let me have it in front of the rest of the family. She probably guised her disappearance as making sure I had everything for the girls before I came back in to tell the family goodbye. “Why didn’t Elizabeth come with you today?”
“I already told you.”
“You shouldn’t be leaving your soon-to-be bride alone on the holidays.”
“Can you not say that so loud?” I snap. She isn’t exactly the quietest person on the planet and our family is known for being nosy, especially one person in particular. The last thing I need is my sister overhearing this conversation.
“You better get your act together, Joshua. Fix whatever you’ve broken. We can’t afford for Elizabeth to decide to walk out on you before time is up.”
What she really means isshecan’t afford for Elizabeth to walk away. If anyone has reaped the benefits of this relationship more than me, it would be my mother. Since Elizabeth and I started dating, Mom has been invited to more social gatherings in the elite society—the whole family has. And while the rest of us didn’t seem to care, to Mom it was everything.
“Josh,” she says with a gentle tone, reaching out to touch my cheek. “You’re a good boy, right? You don’t want to mess this up for yourself. You don’t want to lose everything you’ve worked so hard for, do you?”
I try to look away from her prying eyes, but she refuses to let me.
“I don’t care what happened between the two of you, fix it. Elizabeth doesn’t have to love you, but the two of you better startactinglike it before the rest of the family gets suspicious.”
