Christmas Promises (Sugarville Grove #4)

1. Laney

1

LANEY

T he truth was as obvious as the pattern of freckles that mimicked Orion’s Belt on Laney Gray’s left wrist. There it was. As plain and simple as could be. A text exchange between her fiancé and her best friend that went on for at least six months.

And here she was, standing at the window of the wedding venue with Josh’s phone in her hand and her mermaid-style wedding dress with lace made in Italy fitting perfectly well thanks to her mother’s insistence on the carrot and ginger cleanse she’d endured for three days before the wedding. Reading message after message of their clandestine love affair.

She’d accidentally grabbed Josh’s phone that morning instead of her own. Obviously, she’d been distracted and nervous when her mother had come to take her to the salon for her hair and makeup.

The highlights of what she’d read played before her eyes. She could practically see them texting each other, both slumped over their phones, typing desperately.

From Josh: I can’t stop thinking about you. I don’t know how I’m going to get through another evening with Laney when all I want is to be with you. She doesn’t make me feel like you do. I know this is hard, but I’m going to come through for you.

From Dahlia: We can’t keep doing this. You have to tell her.

From Josh: I hate lying to her, but I can’t lose you. Just give me time to figure it all out. I’ll tell her. I promise I will.

From Dahlia: I can’t stand up there and watch you marry her. You have to tell her. NOW. The wedding’s next weekend. If you love me, you’ll end it.

From Josh: I tried tonight. I really did. The words just wouldn’t come out of my mouth. It’s like kicking a puppy.

From Dahlia: She’s pathetic. Do you really want to be with that limp noodle for the rest of your life?

A rising panic felt like a hand closing around her neck. Josh and Dahlia. Nothing racy. No inappropriate photos. Instead, perhaps worse. Declarations of love. Promises to tell “her” before the wedding weekend began.

Limp noodle. Kicking a puppy.

Laney was her .

Neither had told her anything. Not when Dahlia was helping button the back of her gown or when they were having their hair and makeup done. Nor last night at the rehearsal dinner when touching speeches had been given by other members of the wedding party. Dahlia’s, though? Laney had thought at the time that it sounded a little hollow. A bit fake.

But that was Dahlia. She’d been that way since the first grade when Dahlia had come up to her and said they would be best friends and there was nothing Laney could do to stop it. Dahlia had worn a sparkly pink dress and patent leather shoes and walked into the classroom as if she were on the red carpet, blowing kisses to her parents and giving our teacher that bright, phony smile before sitting at her desk in the front row where she belonged. Maybe their teacher had sensed what she was getting with Dahlia and assumed she’d need her in the front where she could keep a pair of bespectacled eyes upon her.

With Dahlia it was always about appearances. Once in a blue moon Laney saw what she imagined to be the real Dahlia. Insecure. Petty if she didn’t get what she wanted. Jealous. Manipulative.

How the tables had turned. Laney held in her hand evidence that the two people she hoped she could trust were in love, with each other.

At the moment, Laney was alone in the bridal room. Her mother had stuffed her in here while the staff bustled around the wedding venue just below. The Ibis Estate was a coveted wedding venue for the women and men in her parents’ social circle. Typically, it had to be booked years in advance. Somehow Laney’s mother had managed to snag it right after Laney and Josh announced their engagement to their families. Laney suspected her mother may have reserved it years before, just in case. Kind of the way she’d done with the private preschool—getting on the waiting list before getting pregnant seemed a giant leap of faith. Or maybe not. For people like Penelope Gray, assuming everything would work out exactly as one wished was a kind of birthright, given to the beautiful.

Laney continued to stare at the phone, but she no longer scrolled to read further. She’d always been very good at reading comprehension. Dahlia and Josh were in love. Laney was “her.”

A knock on the door caused her to turn. It was her mother, dressed in a beautiful pale blue dress that matched her eyes. Perfectly highlighted blond hair coiffed in an elegant chignon looked as if it would not move even in a strong wind. Diamond earrings dangled from her ears that matched the necklace Laney’s father had given her last Christmas.

Her mother beamed. Laney had pleased her these last few days. Dressing her up like a doll was her mother’s absolute favorite pastime. A wedding weekend was Penelope’s sweet spot.

“Honey, you’re gorgeous,” Mother said. “But your nose is shiny. Let’s put a little more powder on there?”

“It’s not necessary.” Laney could still speak. How strange considering the way her stomach churned, not from the heinous carrot and ginger juice but from a very specific concoction. That of betrayal.

“Why are you shaking?” Mom came to stand next to her, both of them looking out the window at the grand Atlantic Ocean, just doing its thing, ebbing and flowing.

Laney handed her the phone. “It’s not mine. It’s Josh’s. Look at the texts.” More of a sob than words.

Mom paled and drew in a deep, agonizing-sounding breath. When she looked up at Laney, her eyes had darkened to a stormy blue. “No one named after a flower has ever been anything but trouble.”

Laney almost laughed. Her mother could be a pain at times—a nagging, judgmental one—but she was also funny. Laney’s father called it an acerbic wit. Others might describe it more unkindly. Maybe a word that rhymed with witch . Penelope Gray wasn’t someone people liked. They feared her. Respected her. Enjoyed her? Not so much. Laney felt certain her mother preferred it that way.

Mom cursed under her breath. “I can’t believe I didn’t see this. All these months they’ve been carrying on? All this wedding activity and they’ve been fooling around behind your back?”

“More than that. They’re in love.” I started to cry. All that makeup would go to waste. The dress too. Ten pounds lost for this? “They were going to tell me. Call off the engagement.”

Mom placed her hands on Laney’s bare arms. “In love? Doubtful. Neither’s capable of understanding the concept of loyalty or love. That lying cheat looked me straight in the eye last night after dinner and said how happy he was to be joining our family. How could anyone be so duplicitous? Do you know how much we’ve spent on this wedding?”

Laney nodded, more miserable than she thought possible. “What do I do?”

“Give me a minute to think.” Mom stomped to the window, looking out at the terrace where white lights were wrapped around bushes and trees. A holiday wedding had seemed like such a good idea. Laney loved Thanksgiving to New Year’s more than any other time of the year. But now the lights mocked her.

Laney sank onto the sofa, a buzzing in her ears, feeling as if she might pass out. Her thoughts jumped around from one question to the next. How could Josh do this? Why hadn’t he just told her the truth? Most of the guests had already arrived. All the gifts would have to be returned. Her father was going to lose his mind. Josh had better run away fast.

Mom turned slowly to face her daughter, the expression on her face terrifying even though Laney wasn’t the one in the wrong. “Why do you have his phone?”

“I picked his up by accident,” Laney said. “I guess.”

“How did you know the code to get into his phone?” Mother asked, handing Laney a box of tissues.

“It’s my birthday.” Laney hiccupped.

“And you’ve never looked in there before?”

Laney shook her head. “Of course not. It’s a violation of privacy. I only opened it to send him a text to my phone, hoping he would see it and know that I had his phone. I thought we should exchange phones before the ceremony. I don’t know why I thought that would be important. Maybe I didn’t want him to be worried. You know how he gets whenever anything’s lost.” She understood she was babbling, but she couldn’t seem to stop.

“I don’t actually,” Mom said drily.

“Well, he doesn’t like it. If he ever misplaces anything, he tears up the whole house to find it.”

“You picked his phone up from pure intuition, baby. Never underestimate the power.” She glanced up at the ceiling for a second or two. “Unless that idiot took yours on purpose. A coward’s way out.”

Laney closed her eyes, remembering a detail from that morning. They’d both stayed over at her parents’ after the rehearsal dinner the night before, in separate rooms, of course. He’d left before she’d gotten up that morning. Her phone, or the one she thought was her phone, was in the charger in her mother’s kitchen, where she’d left it overnight. Laney didn’t like to sleep with it next to her. Josh had often mocked her for it. But she didn’t care. She didn’t want to be addicted to it or social media. Instead, she liked to read actual books in bed. Give herself a break from the world by falling into another. Laney was the only one of her friends who didn’t habitually post on Instagram. She’d always preferred reading to the seduction of sharing every detail of her life.

“Mommy, he left it on purpose.” She hadn’t called her mother Mommy in a long time, but it slipped out. She wished she were still small. She would climb into her mother’s lap and never let go. “He wanted me to see it.”

“Spineless little boy. That’s what he is.” Mother’s eyes snapped. “I need to talk to your father. He’ll know what to do.”

Laney stared at her. In all her thirty years, she’d never heard her mother defer to anyone else’s judgment. Even her father’s, whom she clearly adored and admired. They had a relationship built on mutual respect, but her mother had her opinions on things and wasn’t usually influenced by anyone else. “I can’t marry him.”

“Well, honey, obviously. I mean, this is going to be the talk of the Hamptons for months. You know how it is. I’ll meet friends for lunch at the club and they’ll all stop talking the moment I come to the table, but I’ll know anyway. But they can all go straight to you-know-where. No daughter of mine is marrying a cheater.”

“I’m sorry.” She swiped tears from under eyes. All that perfectly applied eyeliner washed away.

How could he do this to her?

How could Dahlia do this to her?

“This is not your fault, do you hear me?” Mother took her own phone from the small handbag she’d been carrying. “I’m going to text Daddy. I’ll ask him to come up here.”

While she texted, Laney pulled more tissues from the box and doubled down on the crying. After her mother sent the text, she sat next to Laney on the couch.

“You didn’t see any signs?” Mother asked.

“No. I mean, Dahlia was being kind of weird, but she always is. I thought it was just that she was jealous I was getting married before her.”

“She’s always wanted everything you have. I should have seen this coming. Do you remember how she stole your prom date?”

“Yeah.” It was true. Dahlia couldn’t stand it if Laney got more attention than her for whatever reason. Did she really love Josh, or did she just not want Laney to have him? “I didn’t even think they liked each other.”

“I mean, sweetie, Dahlia is almost impossible for anyone to like,” Mom said. “You were the exception.”

Not really. Laney didn’t really like her so much as she felt stuck with her. Kind of like that cousin that everyone felt obligated to invite to holiday dinners. They’d been friends for such a long time. And truthfully, Laney had often felt sorry for her. Dahlia was this combination of entitled princess and know-it-all, which resulted in a personality that almost no one wanted to sit next to pretty much anywhere. Over the years, Laney had invited her to various events with some of her new friends, hoping they would like her, but they never did. Regardless, Dahlia was like family.

Or she used to be, anyway. Laney certainly had an excuse now to cut her out of her life.

The door opened, and Laney’s father entered the room, red-faced and out of breath. He rushed over to sit on her other side. “I’m going to kill him.” Tucker Gray was dressed in an impeccable blue suit and red tie. He had thick salt-and-pepper hair, which often stood up in tufts but had been gelled into submission for the occasion.

“You might have to beat me to it,” Mother said. “I’d love to inflict a slow, painful death.”

“I’m sorry, Daddy. All the money.”

“Never mind that,” Dad said. “You’ve done nothing wrong. That little snake, Dahlia. I never liked her. None of us should be surprised. She’s always been painfully envious of you.”

“She was my best friend since we were little,” Laney said. “I didn’t mind that she wanted what I had. Or that she’s kind of mean to me. My circumstances have been so favorable and…well, she’s had a hard time.”

“How exactly has she had a hard time?” Father asked. “Her father’s stinking rich. She’s had everything.”

“Except for love. After her parents’ divorce, her mom’s been with one man after another. She rarely sees her father. It made her insecure, I think.” And super annoying.

“You should have minded how she treated you,” Mom spit out. “We should never have allowed you to be friends with her. I used to hear what she said to you when no one knew I was listening. She was poison. Always has been.”

“How do we want to do this?” Laney’s father asked, his voice sounding shaky. He was the CEO of a media company. His demeanor typically exuded power and intelligence, but this had clearly flummoxed him. He’d always wanted the best for Laney, encouraging her to be her nerdy self instead of trying to mold herself into what others wanted. However, Laney was good at molding and pleasing everyone. That was her superpower. Go along to get along ; her grandmother had said that about her once, in a tone that made it clear it was not a compliment.

“Tucker, you have to go down there and tell the guests that the wedding’s off.” Mom stood, smoothing her gown. “And I’m going to confront that little reptile, Dahlia.” She turned to Laney. “And you’re going to have this out with Josh. He needs to look you in the eye and tell you the truth. Do not let him off the hook. You don’t have to be nice. Do you understand me?”

Laney nodded, twisting her damp tissues into a ball. “I understand.” After this, Laney might never be nice again.

Fifteen minutes later, Josh arrived at the bride’s room. While she’d waited, she’d stood at the window, hiding behind the curtain to watch the guests leave. She’d wanted to rip her wedding gown off, but those buttons were impossible to undo by herself.

“Can I come in?” Josh stuck only his head through the doorway. He’d been crying. His eyes were puffy and red.

“Yes.” She returned to her spot on the couch, wrapping her arms around her waist. “Is it true? Do you love her?”

Josh nodded, looking as miserable as Laney felt. “I’m sorry.”

“When did this happen?”

“It doesn’t matter.”

“It matters to me. When? How long have you been sneaking around with her?” How had he even had time? Josh was an associate at a law firm that kept him working long hours. Or did they? Maybe he’d only used that as an excuse. Maybe he’d really been with her.

“Do you remember that night we were supposed to meet her for dinner, and you were sick?” Josh asked.

“Yeah. You didn’t get my message, so you went anyway.”

“Right. And Dahlia suggested we go ahead and eat since we were there. We talked until the restaurant kicked us out. After that, we just couldn’t seem to stay away from each other.”

“That was six months ago. We’d been engaged for months by then.”

“I know.” Josh’s brown eyes filled. He reached for a tissue, dabbing it at his eyes. “I’m sorry.”

“No, you don’t get to cry.” Laney’s fists balled in her lap. “You don’t get forgiveness. Why didn’t you tell me the truth before we got to this day? Save me a little embarrassment? And my poor dad’s bank account. Instead, there’s a roomful of people down there expecting a bride and groom. You’ve humiliated me. And broken my heart.”

“I didn’t mean for it to happen. I didn’t see it coming.”

“But no one likes her,” Laney said.

“I do.” He lifted both shoulders, his pained red face reminding Laney of one of those nasty, deep under the skin, pimples. Or maybe a boil.

“Were you planning on going through with this today?” The pressure in her chest made it hard to breathe or talk, but she had to know answers.

“I don’t know. Yeah, I guess I was.”

“How could you do that? To me or her?” Laney asked.

“I was just trying to get through the wedding.”

“Get through the wedding.” She narrowed her eyes. “Wouldn’t it have been easier to call it off than have to get divorced afterward? My mom’s right. You’re a coward.”

He flinched. “I didn’t want to hurt you.”

“Well, guess what? You’ve failed.” Laney looked at him through blurry vision. “Did you switch the phones on purpose, so I’d find out? Because you were too chicken to tell me the truth?”

“I don’t know. Maybe.” He ran his fingers over the top of his closely cropped brown hair. A thing he did when he was nervous or anxious. She’d always found it endearing.

Not so much at the moment.

Anger rose to the surface, pushing aside her grief. “What is it about her that’s so much better than me?”

“It’s not like that. There’s no one better than you. You’re practically a saint.”

She drew in a deep breath to keep from striking him. Who would have guessed she had a violent streak in her? “Practically a saint? Is that the problem then? I make you feel bad about yourself?” As soon as she said it, she realized it was true. His sheepish expression told her everything she needed to know. Her innate personality made him dislike himself. “My God, Josh. Why would you marry me then? Why would you marry someone you despise?”

“I don’t despise you. Not at all.” He bowed his head, pinching the bridge of his nose. “That’s the thing. I admire you. Your intelligence. Your kindness and compassion. Like I said, you’re the best person I know.”

“All of which equals what?” She peered at him, taking in his even features and long-lashed brown eyes. He had his hair slicked back for the occasion and had shaved off his stubble. Stubble he’s started wearing about six months ago. Right after the dinner Laney had had to skip because she was home with food poisoning. She vowed to give up chicken right then and there. If it hadn’t been for bad chicken, she might not be in the middle of the most devastating day of her life.

Josh splayed his hands over his knees, leaning over slightly, as if his stomach hurt. “I’m not sure. I guess I haven’t felt good enough for you. After spending time with Dahlia, it became obvious to me that you don’t bring out my best self.”

She gaped at him. “We’ve been together for two years. When exactly did you figure that out?”

“I’ve tried to tell you. Dozens of times. But the thought of hurting you stopped me. I didn’t know how to hurt such a good person. Someone who didn’t deserve this.”

“So, you left your phone for me to discover it on my own?”

“Yeah. I guess I did.”

“You’re doing a lot of guessing today.” How could any of this be happening? Her whole life had just blown up. Nothing would ever be the same. And all he could do was shake his head and look helpless? “At least own up to what you’ve done. How you’ve treated me. I wouldn’t do this to my worst enemy.”

He apologized again.

“How could you do this to the woman you supposedly love? Not me, but Dahlia. As in, how could you not make a decision—at least for Dahlia. Putting her through the last few days? That’s the sign of a true coward. Do you know that?” She narrowed her eyes, seeing him for what he truly was. An indecisive little boy. A liar. A cheater.

“Dahlia’s torn up about all of this, trust me,” Josh said.

She flashed back to the day she’d met him. They’d been seated at the same charity function dinner. Her father had been out of town, so she’d agreed to go as her mother’s plus-one.

What had Laney thought about him that night?

He wouldn’t make eye contact with her, even though they’d talked for much of the evening. She’d thought it was shyness, as she often felt herself. But no, it was something else. Now she could see it all as it truly was. He was playing a part. They were the perfect young couple. From similar backgrounds and wealth. Their parents ran in the same circles. The very same circles that were now getting into their cars to go home. God, the reactions and speculation might break the phone company with all the texts being sent back and forth. Her mother was right. This would be lunch gossip for months. Once another scandal happened, they would move on to that but for now, she and Josh were the “it” couple everyone would be talking about. All for the wrong reasons.

Had his heart ever been in this, or had he simply gotten carried away with their suitability? At least on paper they seemed the perfect match. Until he’d taken up with her best friend.

“What can I do?” Josh asked.

“Just get out.”

“Yeah. Okay. About the honeymoon—everything’s been paid for. You know, by my parents.”

“What’s your point?” An all-paid two-week honeymoon in Paris had been Josh’s parents’ wedding gift. She’d been looking forward to it so much the last few weeks as she worked fourteen-hour days to finish up with her clients. Former clients. She’d helped them to find new freelance marketing managers so as not to leave them in the lurch when she moved to Boston to live with Josh.

Now she would have to rebuild her business. She’d loved the clients she had, all of them small business owners who hired her to manage their marketing. What an idiot. Trusting this man with her heart? Trusting Dahlia too, for that matter.

“So, do you mind if I use the tickets and go without you?” Josh asked, in a tone somewhere between a wheeze and a whine.

“Tickets? Plural?” What was wrong with this man? He was going to take Dahlia to Paris? To their honeymoon. “You want to take her to Paris?”

“Yeah, I mean, it would be a shame for them to go to waste.”

Laney slid her foot out of the sparkly sandal hidden by the hem of her dress and raised it over her head, planning to smash it over the top of his overly large noggin. However, he might be a cheater, but he was also fast, ducking out of the way at the last moment. He ran to the door.

She hurled that sandal as hard as she could. It smacked against the back of his head. He yelped but didn’t stop, slipping out the door and out of her life.