Page 76 of Slow Burn (The Boston Beauties)

‘Okay, get Breton to email me those files,’ she reminded us, slipping on her heels and designer jacket.

After Abby left, I was so shaken at seeing her. While she didn’t think I would go to jail, it was a possibility. It was also likely that I was going to be charged. Worst of all, Matt could get out because I was alive, if anything, and I wasn't prepared to hear that. If the judge, DA or a jury didn’t believe his brother's confession regardless of how it was obtained, then Matt would be a free man, able to come after me. But for the sake of my father’s fragile heart, I put on a brave face.

‘You ok?’ Drew asked in a low voice as I was cutting up vegetables for dinner. I just nodded, not wanting to say anything. ‘Alright, I’m here if you want to talk. Let me know when you want to go home.’ He rubbed my back, looking into my eyes. ‘I want you to trust me, I’ve got you, always will.’

During dinner, I was distracted by everything that had been said earlier today. Abby knew I was alive, another person. I wanted so badly to reach out to Zoe, I needed her. As great as Drew was, there was just something about a best friend that I was desperately missing.

It had been hard over the past year, but now, she was so close, yet as far away as ever. As shit was getting real with my future, I needed her. I also wanted to share my joy of falling in love and gush over how head over heels in love I was with Drew. I might even be willing to have ‘sexy talks’ with her, ones I had always been reluctant to have before.

‘What do you think?’ I heard my mother say, and I looked up from playing with the roasted chicken on my plate to her and then to Drew, who was looking at me with a raised eyebrow.

‘What’s that?’ I asked.

‘We should start looking for furniture for the upstairs of your summer home,’ my mother repeated, sounding tickled. I knew just how much she loved helping to pick out the items for the living room and downstairs master, along with all the fixtures and appliances, I was happy to indulge her as she needed a creative outlet, and this wasn’t exactly my strong point.

They had told me a while ago that the condo Matt and I had purchased had been foreclosed on by the bank and already re-sold. I was fine with it, I had no interest in ever going back to it, let alone live in it.

I didn’t know if I wanted to live in Boston; I didn’t want to fall back into the life I once had where my parents dictated every move I made, where every decision I made was first pre- approved by them.

‘That’s something that Drew and I still need to sort out,’ I told them confidently. I closed the subject, not wanting to get into it all with her, not now, not until my father was healthy again. And it was true, Drew and I still hadn’t nailed down plans for when I got back. It appeared to me that he was based out of the Cape and he was setting up the house to be a permanent address, not just a seasonal one.

CHAPTER 24

DREW

I took a few deep breaths to calm myself before ringing the doorbell at the Cahills’ Cape Cod home. This afternoon was more than a business meeting with Steve. My agenda had nothing to do with business and everything to do with their daughter.

Steve still wasn’t back to work, but was starting to work a few hours a day from home, and he relied a lot on me and Colleen to help with his workload.

I was happy to do it, of course.

Colleen answered the door and hugged me as I entered the house. ‘Steve is in the dining room,’ she told me. ‘Can I bring you a drink?’

‘Thanks, I’m fine.’

I made my way to the dining room, which he had turned into his home office, as his real home office had a bed in it and the desk was pushed out of the way. I sat in one of the chairs near him placing my messenger bag on the table, and a few folders from the office next to his laptop.

‘How’s it going?’ Steve asked me, looking up from his laptop.

I nodded, pulling out my tablet and a blue folder that contained a draft of a prenuptial agreement I had a lawyer draw up earlier this week.

Steve closed his laptop and rolled his chair around to what would be the end of the table, to sit closer to me, his normal place.As he did, he eyed the folder. I wanted to get the business out of the way first, so I picked up my tablet to update him on my business over the past two weeks. It was a slow time, but still, I went over numbers, plans, and contracts for the summer which was one of the only things keeping me busy these days.

After all that was complete, Colleen came into the room, ‘

‘Lunch is ready,’ she announced then turned to exit the room. It was a rare thing that we were alone without Jessa, but she had wanted to spend time with Abby, and I encouraged it so I could have exclusive access to her parents.

‘Actually, Colleen, can you come in here for a moment? There’s something I want to discuss, and I’d like it if you were here.’

She walked into the room and took a seat next to her husband. I took the blue folder and took the deepest breath of my life. I needed to relax.

I looked across to see the Cahills looking at me, then Steve looked at my hands. ‘What’s in the folder?’

‘This,’ I said, tapping it, ‘Is a draft I’d like you to have a look over.’ I passed it to him. ‘It’s a prenuptial agreement, I’d like to ask Jessa to marry me.’

They both looked up to me. Steve looked surprised, while Colleen had a huge smile on her face.

Steve laughed, ‘Well, it’s up to her, not us, son.’

---