Page 43 of The Wedding Hoax

“Hey! What the hell?” Sean scoffed. “I would’ve been great as CEO.”

“I love you so much, baby. But no.” Ruby frowned. “Harry was born to run LA Now.”

“It’s true, Sean.” Grace sighed. “Harry is the best at what he does. We couldn’t ask for a better successor for your father.”

“I actually think Harry would be great at whatever he does. CEO or not,” I chimed into the conversation, unable to help myself. “He’s really talented and he’s so smart, you know? He’ll always land on his feet. He’s just too good.”

What was I doing?

Everyone was complimenting Harry, so why did it feel like I needed to defend him?

“Thanks for that, wife,” Harry whispered with a smile, his breath close to my ear.

“Just doing my part, husband,” I whispered back, a smile spreading across my face, too.

* * *

“They’ll kill you with kindness.” Ruby offered me a glass of wine as we stood off to the side of the living room. The rest of Harry’s family were still chatting out in the backyard, with Grace cornering Mom about their upcoming gardening project.

“What do you mean?”

“I mean, you did the right thing. Defending Harry.” Ruby smiled. “It used to be like that with Sean, too. They’d compliment him to death about his IT job. Like it was the most important thing in the world. Like it was the only thing he was good at.”

Ruby sipped at her glass of wine. “It adds a lot of pressure. Growing up like that. I think Grace and Jonah mean well, but it can be extremely limiting.”

“I don’t think they mean to do it. They don’t seem like the type,” I said. “Plus, they’re so nice to me and my mom. You’d think they might be snobs since we’re so clearly from a different world. But they’ve never even mentioned it once.”

“They’re not cruel people. They just don’t realize how they come across sometimes.”

“It gets to Harry. The way they are.”

“Of course it does.” Ruby gave me a sympathetic nod. “It would get to everyone. And with how much they expect from him…”

“They sounded so sure about him running the company.” I shook my head in confusion. “Which is so weird. Why would they even talk about handing it over to Sean? Why threaten Harry with losing his job as CEO?”

“Because threats still work even when they’re empty.”

I frowned. “What do you mean?”

“Can you keep a secret?” Ruby lowered her voice. “I’m serious, Simone. You can’t tell Harry.”

“What are you trying to tell me, Ruby?”

“Jonah and Grace never thought Harry was going to find someone. As in, ever. And then you came along and changed everything. We’re all so happy that Harry met you, Simone.”

Ruby went quiet for a moment before she went on.

“But I suspect that Harry’s parents were never going to fire Harry as CEO. Even if he never got married by his fortieth birthday. Like I said, I love Sean, but he would’ve been a disaster for LA Now.”

“Oh.” I was nearly stunned into silence.

“I don’t know for sure,” Ruby said. “It’s just what I think. Sean never said anything about it either way.”

“Well, if your suspicions are correct, I guess the threats worked, then. If the point was just for him to meet someone.”

I tried to keep the pain off my face as I took a sip of my wine. A storm was brewing inside of me, with too many emotions coming up at once. I was angry for Harry’s sake, upset that his family would put him through all of that stress for nothing.

But I was sad, too.

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