Chapter 26
Chapter Twenty-Six
“W hat?” He’d heard her fine, but he couldn’t believe what had just happened. Brandon now knew he was adopted. Questions exploded in his brain like popcorn kernels in a popper. Would it change their relationship? Would he question Gabe’s role with Beach Island? Would the board? Would they vote him out before he made it back to Ohio? Could they?
He’d wanted to reveal the truth in person, on his own terms. Use the opportunity to present his arguments against the sale. Now they might not let him in.
“I’m sorry,” she said for the third time.
“I was going to tell them,” he said. “Just not yet.” It’d taken him until last night to figure out the answer to the question Sunny had asked him in the hotel café the morning before. He wanted to remain a part of Beach Island if they’d let him. It was what his parents—Luke and Lucy—wanted. For him to nurture what they’d built. But more than that, it was what he wanted. To protect their employees and guests from the big corporations that focused only on the bottom line. To continue the Armstrong tradition of treating them like family. He needed a minute to plan how to have that conversation with the board. Now that time was gone.
Because of Sunny.
As if she hadn’t already hurt him enough with her armful of makeup. And the bottle of orange flower–scented shampoo, gone from the shelf in the shower.
“Is there anything I can do?”
She looked small, delicate, standing there next to the bed. But then her suitcase caught Gabe’s peripheral vision. She was leaving him. Like all four of his parents: Forzas and Armstrongs. Like Riley and every one of his girlfriends. Only Sunny was taking his heart with her.
“You’ve done enough, haven’t you?” he snarled. “And now I guess it’s time for you to leave. God forbid you’d stay to fix what you broke. But that’s what you do. Leave when things get difficult.”
Her eyes went wide, and she blinked. “What?”
“Poor Cade.” He hadn’t realized her ex’s name had stuck in his brain. “He didn’t stand a chance, and I was a fool to think I did. No, you’d rather make the big, dramatic exit scene than quietly do the work. Because relationships are work, Sunny. And sometimes that’s not fun. But I guess you’re only here for the fun parts.”
Her lower lip trembled. But his heart was bleeding out, and he had no comfort to spare for her.
“That’s what you think of me?” She cleared the tremble out of her voice. “That I’m only interested in fun? I’ve been on my own since I was seven. Nannies and housekeepers aren’t the same as parents. At least you had those. I thought you’d understand that I need to go back, try again with mine. Prove to them I’m worthy by following through on what I promised.”
She flung a hand at herself, at the exquisite body he’d worshipped the night before. “Exercise. Injuries. Hours of memorization. Singing until I was hoarse. None of that was fun. But I did it anyway. And now I’m off to join my family’s business and finally get some goddamn recognition for it.”
Gabe understood the pull of a family business all too well. He had his own job to do. A job she’d made infinitely more difficult. By forcing him to confront his past. Question his identity. And then by worming her way into his heart with her gorgeous voice and her encouragement and her goddamn sparkle. In the end, she’d broken him. “Fine!” he roared. “Give up on us. On what we had. On what we could’ve been!”
“What we could’ve been? I saw my parents’ relationship. I did everything I could to hold it together. And I learned it doesn’t work. I don’t want any part of that. Any part of this.” She gestured at the invisible tension, the jagged words between them.
The connection they’d built over the past two weeks severed like the train his parents had ridden that terrible day.
She yanked her phone charger out of the wall. “Maybe I don’t have my shit together like you do. Maybe I’ve made some mistakes. But at least I’m not stuck in the past. I’m focused on the future, and I’m the only one I can rely on for that. I have dreams, and I’m not letting you or anyone get in my way.” She snatched up her suitcase and purse. With one last flip of her red-gold hair, she walked out, letting the door crash behind her.
The hotel room went silent like the Sunny-shaped void in his heart.
Was that what he’d done? Tried to stand in the way of her dreams? He hadn’t said that, had he? She was right about one thing: he’d been living in the past. If he’d spared one thought for the blissful present he’d experienced over the last few days, he’d never have said those hurtful words to her. Now all that remained was his Sunny-free future.
You drive. I pay. Their agreement from weeks ago echoed in his head. Because she’d driven. And his shredded heart had paid the price.
Gabe was still staring at the door when his phone rang. Was it Sunny, calling to apologize yet again? Or offering to give him another chance? He leaped for it over the bed.
Brandon. Crap. He sighed and answered.
“Is it true, what that girl said?” Brandon asked without a hello.
“Her name is Sunny. And, yes, it’s true. Turns out, I was adopted. I’m in Las Vegas meeting my birth siblings.” What was the point of hiding anything now?
“Yeah?”
“Yeah. I’m like the ugly duckling. I finally found my people.” He sagged onto the bed, which still smelled like sex and Sunny’s orange-flower shampoo.
“You’re no swan, coz.”
“No.” Gabe rubbed his hand over his mouth, his bristly jaw snagging the calluses.
“So you like them.”
“The Forzas? Yeah. They own an exotic car rental company. I got to work on a ’66 Mustang with my oldest brother. It felt right, you know? Like where I belong.”
“Right?” Brandon’s voice rose into its upper register. “You belong in Ohio. With us. Or don’t the past thirty years mean anything to you?”
What the hell? It wasn’t like they’d spent much time together since Gabe’s parents died. Still, Brandon was the closest thing to a brother he’d ever known until he’d met the Forzas. “Of course I?—”
“You like these…these strangers better than us? Than me? After all we’ve been through? Don’t forget that time the cops caught us with those twins in the back of your dad’s pickup, and I had to talk them out of calling our parents.”
A weak joke was better than Brandon’s uncharacteristic anger. “Not better. It’s not or, it’s and. At least, I’d like to think so. You’ll always be my cousin.”
“Hmm.”
Had he really hurt Brandon’s feelings? Gabe wished he could see his face. “Brandon, you okay?”
“Yeah, just thinking.”
“So why’d you call me?”
Brandon paused for a moment, and when he spoke again, his voice was business school–slick. “I have some concerns about your email. About the purchase offer.”
“Oh?”
“A sale is what’s best for the family. The older generation is getting older, and they’d like to retire. Selling would give everyone a nice nest egg, some security for their golden years.”
Was that what Aunt Pat wanted, to retire? Gabe couldn’t picture it, but Brandon was her son, and he’d know better than Gabe would. When she found out the truth, would she think it was still his business to care about her?
“Plus…” Brandon paused for a long moment. “I think it’s what’s best for you. You’ve shouldered too much responsibility for too many years.”
“Someone had to do it,” Gabe snapped.
This time, the silence stretched on so long Gabe pulled the phone away to check that the call hadn’t disconnected. “Look, I’m concerned about the employees. There’s nothing in the agreement that says the new owner would keep them.”
“I’m sure they’ll be fine. Who else would they hire?”
Lots of people. Unqualified, untrained people. People they brought in from their other parks. Speaking of which… “Did you know they had over twenty injuries at their other park last year? Someone lost a hand five years ago. What if there’s an accident?”
“Not your problem, Gabe, if you’re not the owner. You’ve always hated that place, ever since…you know. Won’t it be a relief not to have to worry about it?”
Gabe hadn’t been able to look at the hills and loops of the coasters since his parents’ deaths. What would it be like to be free of it, to go about his life without his stomach clenched, bracing for news of some accident? Not to have to worry about how to pay for the safety mechanisms he insisted on? Not to have to fight the Armstrongs for every improved restraint?
But he’d never stop worrying about Beach Island, even if it wasn’t his responsibility anymore.
“The park is our legacy,” Gabe said at last. “Those people are our family. I’m not ready to let it go. I’d like to talk to the other board members about it. I’ll be back for the vote on Saturday.”
“Gabe, I—” Brandon sounded like his cousin, then. Not like the city dude who flashed a fancy watch and designer ties whenever he came down from Chicago to visit. Like the seventeen-year-old kid he’d gone to high school with, flirted with girls at football games with, ridden in the rear car of Twister of Terror with, hands up and shouting with excitement. But his next words ground the broken pieces of Gabe’s heart into dust.
“If I can’t count on your support on Saturday, I’m going to call a vote to relieve you of your responsibilities. Considering this new information about your lack of a blood connection to the Armstrong family. You know the bylaws require a unanimous vote for the CEO position. I’m not sure how Mom and Uncle Bobby and Grandpa would vote, given this new information.”
Gabe gripped the phone so tight the case popped.
“It’s just business, Gabe,” Brandon said. A beep told him the call had disconnected.
Business. Not family. Because his favorite cousin didn’t consider him one of them anymore.