Page 86 of Love on Deck

I put her soup back on the coffee table before it could drop on my floor and took her by the shoulders, pulling her in for a hug. “You’re scaring me.”

She sniffled. “I don’t know how I can stay married now.”

My body froze. “Did Kevin do something?”

A look of horror splashed over her face. “Gosh, no. Of course not. He’s amazing.”

“So... his parents?” I remembered she was supposed to go to their house yesterday and tell them about the wedding. “You told them about the elopement.”

“Yeah,” she said, the word silent, her mouth forming around it. “They were furious, which we expected. But I guess I thought once the wedding was over, they would at least take us more seriously. I was wrong.”

I couldn’t really imagine Kevin throwing Amelia to the wolves, but he wasn’t here, and neither was her ring.

She caught me looking at her hand. “They wanted the ring back.”

“Can they do that?” I tucked my chin. “Like legally?”

“It’s a family heirloom. Technically, it wasn’t Kevin’s to give.”

“Seriously?”

“Well, if he’d offered it to a pre-approved woman, it would have been fine,” she said bitterly. “I’m not on that list.”

I had no words. What was wrong with these people? So what if Amelia lacked the private prep school training and oil-dirty hands in her lineage? She had a golden heart and sincerely loved their son. “I still don’t understand why Kevin isn’t here.”

“I left. I put the ring on the table and walked out while he was arguing with his dad. He doesn’t know where I went.”

“It won’t take him long to figure it out.”

“Maybe, but he’s leaving me be. I got him on the phone before it died and asked him to give me a few days.”

“And he agreed?”

“He respects that I need time to come to terms with this.”

That was hard to swallow. I wanted to pull my phone out and check it to see if he’d checked in, but I refrained. I’d look later. “So, what now?”

“I don’t know. They’re going to disown him if he stays married to me. Kevin won’t leave me, but I could leave him.”

“You won’t, though.”

She lifted her gaze to me in a challenge. “I haven’t decided yet.”

“You can’t tell me you think Kevin would take his inheritance over you.”

“Without me, he could still afford to rent yachts or fly to Maui whenever he wanted to. Married to me, he would have to let go of some of the things he’s lived his entire life with. He says he doesn’t care, Lo, but the truth is he doesn’t know the difference.”

I hated what a good argument that was. “Shouldn’t love trump all, though?” I was about as cynical as they came, but never once had I questioned Amelia and Kevin. Yes, I thought they were too young to be married, but that didn’t mean I thought they wouldn’t still be married one day. I just thought they could take a few more years to do it.

And maybe a small part of me didn’t want to admit that my younger sister had her life together better than I did.

A loud knock at the door startled both of us, and I almost kicked Amelia.

“Ames!” a man’s voice called.

Kevin. It had to be.

“He’ll give you a few days, huh?” I challenged.

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