Page 71 of One Golden Ring
“Roan knows,” I explode. “That’s it. Are you happy now?”
“You’re asking me to pretend to be engaged to you,” she says, her voice bell-clear and firm. “Please don’t make me feel cheap by bragging to people that our relationship isn’t real.”
Before I can respond, there’s a little gasp behind her.
I look up to see J.B. standing in the living room, her scarf and gloves in her hand. We didn’t really bundle up for the trip to town earlier. She must have come back for them.
The devastated look on her face tells me that she heard Darcy.
“Oh, J.B.,” Darcy says, the steel gone from her voice, leaving only sadness. “Let us explain.”
But J.B. is already darting back out the front door, slamming it hard behind her.
I’m off like a shot, opening the door again and following her onto the porch.
“Stop,” I yell to J.B., who is taking off down the steps. “I’m sorry you heard that, but I need to explain.”
She stops in the drive and turns back to me, her hands pressed over her ears.
“I can’t do this,” she yells at me. “I need to think.”
She takes off before I can say another word, and I’m standing on the cabin porch in my socks, my heart trying to break free out of my chest to follow her.
When I duck back in for my boots and coat, Darcyhas already slipped on her boots. We fasten our coats in silence.
I sense Darcy by my side as I grab for the handle on the front door and I turn to her as she reaches for me. I let myself hope that she’s going to touch me—grab my hand or slide her hand into the crook of my arm to tell me we’re a team.
Instead, she presses my grandmother’s engagement ring into my palm.
“Darcy,” I growl.
“Just go,” she says flatly. “She’s upset. We need to find her.”
She’s right, as usual.
I shove the ring in my pocket and we both fly out the front door and run for the lodge.
23
DARCY
It’s the coldest I’ve felt since we got here and the wind whips angrily at my hair. The flurries from earlier have turned into full blown snow and I can’t see anything past Derek, who is a few steps ahead of me.
I picture J.B. realizing the weather is changing, and innocently coming back to grab her scarf and gloves only to hear me say so plainly that the new family she’s been so excited about is fake.
“Why did we do this?” Derek asks himself.
But I can’t answer because I don’t really know.
I mean, I know whyIdid it. I did it because I would do anything Derek asks of me. I did it because I was already half in love with him. I did it because I could see the connection he has with his grandfather and how much the two of them needed a win.
But I also told myself that no one would get hurt.
And ever since that first day I’ve been letting myself hope that maybe this fantasy could come true after all.
But I’ll never be able to forgive myself for letting J.B. down. She deserves so much more than to feel like the grown-ups in her life don’t respect her enough to be honest with her.
And even if we think we were trying to make Michael happy, what kind of lesson are we teaching her about how to treat the older generation?
