Chapter 4
FOUR
HATTIE
What have I gotten myself into?
Making a deal with Casper? Allowing him to not only pretend to be my boyfriend, but also convince me to stay?
This is a whole lot of trouble I cannot afford. Seriously, I should not be asking for it.
And yet, it feels nice having his hand wrapped around mine. The callouses of his palm brush against my own, the feel of him sending a shiver down my spine.
Once, a long time ago, I’d imagined what it would be like to have these hands all over my body. Wondered what it would feel like to have him touch me in ways I’ve never experienced before. During the height of my crush on Casper Sterling, his hands on me stared in all of my dreams.
Now, those feelings come rushing back. My cheeks burn like he might somehow read my thoughts.
Casper pulls me towards the entrance of the barn.
I can’t see the rest of my family anywhere, though I don’t think I want to see them again today.
I’m once again thankful I passed up on the opportunity to stay in the guest bedroom, instead getting myself a room at the local inn.
At least when I leave here, I can escape the potential storm that would be waiting for me at their house.
“Well, the cars are still here,” Casper says, nodding to the two vehicles the others came here in. “So, they haven’t cancelled the wedding yet.”
I snort. “Stella won’t do that.”
“No,” he replies, glancing down at me with a smirk, “but that fiancé of hers could.”
I shake my head at that, though when we enter the barn, I fall silent.
The space is partially set up like a show room to give off the image of how the barn could be used.
Half is staged like a reception, with large round tables decorated with white cloths and different flower arrangements.
They look picture perfect with the swaths of white gauze hanging from the rafters and the fairy lights dangling from above.
The other half of the barn, though, is set with a wedding arch made of old wood probably found around the ranch, with wooden pews lined up either side of an aisle.
Both options are gorgeous, exciting. They make my mind whirl with all the possibilities.
“It’s beautiful, isn’t it?” Casper asks, pulling me out of my thoughts.
I glance up, only to find his eyes on me. I feel my cheeks burn as I look away. “Yeah,” I reply, clearing my throat. “You guys really made this place work.”
He shrugs. “I only helped with the building. The rest of this is Foster and Walter—being led by Foster’s fiancé, of course.”
I can’t help but laugh. “She’s the wedding planner, right?”
“Yep.” He starts walking me towards the wedding arch. Just the sight of it makes my heart clench.
Like most girls, I’d imagined what a moment like this would be like. Walking down the aisle towards my future husband. Brendan Fraser stared in those dreams initially, and then…
Then he’d been replaced by Casper Sterling.
I shake those thoughts from my head. “We should go find the others,” I say, stopping before we make it to the pews. “Or at least figure out what’s happening.”
Casper’s eyes narrow, but he doesn’t call me out. Instead, he starts for the back of the barn. “Let’s try the back storeroom. Lucy has her office set up there.”
I swallow hard but say nothing as he leads me into the back. My gaze stray to the arch one last time before it disappears from sight, leaving me more confused than before I got here.
Willow Ridge feels like home, but my life is elsewhere. And yet, here is Casper, trying to prove otherwise.
And I’m scared he might be right.
We wait until whatever meeting the others are in is over before intruding. Tensions run high when Mom and her husband leave the office first, followed by Stella and Brad.
The bride-to-be glares at me like I’m wearing white on her wedding day. Meanwhile, the groom is uncomfortable—and that’s putting it lightly.
Mom’s husband sighs as he checks his watch. “We have reservations at The Jade Garden. If we leave now, we’ll be ten minutes early.”
“Is that what you want, dear?” Mom asks Stella, giving her golden child stepdaughter a pitying look. “Are you up for lunch?”
Casper and I share a look like we’re intruding on an entirely different family.
Hell, that’s probably how they feel, too.
Casper gives my hand a squeeze when Stella sniffles. “We should go out,” she says, batting her eyes at her father, then at Brad. “I’m okay.”
Brad looks even more uncomfortable now, like he’s questioning everything that got him to this point. But funnily enough, he shoots me—and Casper—a look. “Will you both be joining us?”
I open my mouth to decline, but Casper answers before I can. “Of course, wouldn’t want to miss out on catching up.”
My mouth snaps shut. I’d actually just wanted to pick something up from the diner and take it back to the inn to binge while editing some photos from my most recent shoot. Anything to avoid being in their presence any longer.
But instead, Mom’s husband nods in acceptance, neither disappointed nor relieved at the addition of Casper and me. I had a feeling we weren’t expected to go, but both him and my mom like to keep up appearances. They won’t deny having us, especially in front of Brad.
Stella’s glare becomes more lethal, directed only at me. I have a feeling her hatred for me is only going to get worse, not better. And Mom…
She rolls her eyes, like somehow I’m the problem.
And it hurts more than I expect it to.
We’re silent as we make it out to the cars. Casper keeps my hand tightly in his until we get to the rental.
“Let me drive,” he says quietly, somehow ignoring the death glares being sent our way.
I look at him, then the car. With a sigh, I pull the keys from my purse. “If you total it—”
He smirks, grabs the keys, and opens the passenger side door for me. “Don’t worry, shortcake, I’ve got you.”
My eyes narrow, but he rounds the front of the car before I can call him out.
The stupid pet name came from Calder, and it’s one I’d hoped to escape a decade ago.
I slide in without a word as he gets into the driver’s side. “I know you probably don’t want to have lunch with them,” he says, adjusting the seat and starting the car. “But trust me.”
I cross my arms as he pulls out. “You would be correct on the first point. Whatever you have planned won’t work, horse boy.”
Instead of rolling his eyes or shoving me like he would have once done, Casper grins. The smile is so boyish and charming, reminding me of what he’d been like when we went to high school—before Stella changed everything.
It’s strange, realising how much life she sucked from him. She’d been toxic to me—as my bully, as my step-sister—but she’d been a leach to him, too. I thought I’d been making it up, that it’d just been jealousy because he’d chosen her over me and our friendship. But it seems clearer now.
As we leave the ranch with the others following close behind, I say, “I’d hate to be in any of those cars.” I look over my shoulder and grimace. “I can only imagine what they’re saying about me.”
“Us,” Casper rectifies. “I’m making myself the problem.”
I shake my head before turning back to the road ahead. “You’ll never be the problem in their eyes,” I reply honestly. “Not only are you a Sterling, but Stella still obviously thinks you belong to her. That’s why she’s so mad about this.”
Casper makes a sound in the back of his throat. “I never belonged to her,” he says, voice tight.
I raise a brow at that. It’s clear he’s not telling me something. That he’s hiding something about him and Stella.
Which should be impossible. I knew every little detail about their relationship from Stella herself. When they first kissed, when she screwed him, every detail she could spit at me, she did.
It was just another layer of torment from her. And she’d been happy to do it.
“Try telling her that,” I reply instead, sitting back with a frown.
“I sure will,” he replies. “But you won’t like how I do it.”
I keep my mouth shut the rest of the drive to the restaurant.
It’s new, somewhere I haven’t been before.
Located halfway up the mountain, it sits by a small bundle of shops that once fed the resort up the road.
Now, these businesses are something else.
I’m tempted to go to the bookstore and make a note of going later.
First, I need to survive lunch.
The large deck overlooking town is quiet. Midday on a weekday means a whole lot of privacy, which will either work in our favour—or bring a hell of a lot more drama.
The young waitress shows us to a large table and leaves us with a pile of menus and a promise to return soon.
I miss the buffer she provided almost immediately.
“So, when did you two reconnect?” Brad asks, taking Stella’s hand as we all sit. The tension in his shoulders is even more prominent than when we left the ranch.
Which means their drive wasn’t nearly as relaxing as ours.
I glance at Casper, but he just smiles. “After the article about Hattie in that fashion magazine. I’m sure you know the one. My mother found it, shared it with me. I reached out to congratulate her on her success, and it just went from there.”
My stomach tightens, heart fluttering. Based on the uncomfortable looks shared between Mom and her husband, they have no idea what he’s talking about. That should piss me off more than anything.
And yet, knowing Casper knew about it?
That makes the anger disappear.
Brad hums under his breath. “You know, I think I might have seen something about that.”
I blink in surprise. “Really?” I ask, sitting back. Beneath the table, Casper grabs my knee, the warmth of his hand startling me.
“Yep.” Brad reaches for the ice water in the centre of the table and pours a glass for him and Stella before offering it to Casper. “Saw the interview while I was in New York.”
Casper takes the water, pours our glasses, then pours water for Mom and her husband. Both look almost surprised, then guilty immediately.
“It was fantastic,” Casper says, leaning back, hand going back to my knee. “She’s pretty sought after.”
“I guess Hattie travelling makes it hard,” Mom’s husband says. “The relationship, that is.”
I tense, but Casper is somehow able to go with it. “Not really,” he replies. “Do I wish I could see her more? Sure. But she’s successful, talented, and some of the most famous people in the world want her. Can’t argue with that.”
Mom shifts uncomfortably, and even Stella looks a bit embarrassed.
My heart is pounding, beating out of my chest with the way his words settle between us.
Again, I should be mad that none of my ‘family’ ever cared to know much about my career—my life.
But I don’t. They were never really much of a family to me, anyway.
But the one person I thought disregarded me hadn’t.
When I thought I had no one, I had him.
And that’s more trouble than I expected.