Chapter 28
TWENTY-EIGHT
Ihad no idea what Nathan and his father had talked about for an hour. I just knew that Nathan seemed like a new, much happier man when he emerged. I was tentative when stepping forward—Nathan had told me stories about Andrew Cooper—but I’d been met with a hearty embrace and a warm smile.
Nathan would tell me what they’d talked about eventually. It would probably take an entire night to get the story out. I was looking forward to it. For now, all that mattered was that his father had a plan… and it involved him leaving the campground for several hours.
“I don’t understand,” I said as I stood shoulder to shoulder with Nathan and waved Andrew off. “What are we doing here?”
“I honestly don’t know. He said to leave it to him. He didn’t even give me a dirty look when I told him we started out fake dating. I figured he would find that juvenile.”
“It was juvenile.”
He laughed and slung an arm around my shoulders. “I’ll never be sorry for it.”
“You won’t?”
“Nope.” He shook his head. “It brought me to you, Bellarino. How could I ever be sorry about something like that?”
I didn’t know what to say. The naked emotion in his eyes touched me, and before I realized what I was going to do, I cupped his cheek. “I won’t ever be sorry either.” I meant it. “I can’t even be sorry about dating Preston.”
He made a face. “Um… excuse me?”
I laughed at his reaction. “I’m being serious. If I hadn’t dated him and had the worst breakup in history, I never would have come here and found you.”
He wrapped me tight against him and looked longingly into my eyes. “We could leave right now,” he said. “Rather than wait for Preston to spring his trap, we could leave.”
“Then he’ll just spring another trap down the line. Don’t you want to get him out of our lives now?”
“Yes, but I don’t want you getting hurt, Bella. More than anything, that’s what I’m afraid of. Whatever he has planned, it involves hurting you.”
I understood that—probably better than he realized—but shrugged off his concern. “I know how you feel.” I rested my hand above his heart. “I believe in you. Whatever he tries, if I have a reaction, just know it will be an act, because we’re in this together.”
He lowered his lips to mine. “We are in this together. I want to crush him, though. Like a bug. I just want to stomp the hell out of him.”
I laughed, enjoying the smile that spread across his face when I did. “We’ll stomp him together.”
He gave me a long, lingering kiss and then pulled me tight against him, resting his cheek on top of my head. “It’s going to be okay,” he whispered.
Just as he said it, the sound of tires against gravel drew my attention to the parking lot. There, a bland Jeep Cherokee idled. One person sat in the front seat and one in the back.
“Uber,” Nathan mused.
I nodded, staring. As the figure in the backseat began to move, my heart moved up to clog my throat. Hope flooded my chest, and I was practically running the second I pulled away from Nathan.
“Mom!” I threw my arms around her with enough force that she rocked back.
She dropped her bag on the ground—she wouldn’t have bothered packing a suitcase because she’d booked the trip so fast—and hugged me back.
“Bella,” she said on a hefty exhale, stroking my hair. “There’s my Bella.”
Confused, I pulled back from her. “What?”
“You’re back,” she replied simply. “You were gone for so long I wasn’t sure I’d ever see this version of you again. I was wrong, though, because here you are.” She laughed as she pulled back to look me in the eye. “Your light is back.”
My breath escaped in a gust. “I…” What was I supposed to say here? I understood what she was referring to. Rather than argue or cry or even swear an oath to kill Preston, I laughed. “I’m glad to be back.”
“Of course you are.” Mom gave me one more hug then turned to Nathan. “And here is the man who brought my Bella back to me.”
Nathan started to shake his head, but it was too late. Mom threw her arms around his neck. She was small but had a lot of force behind her motions. Nathan caught her and balanced both of them.
“I didn’t bring your Bella back,” he said in a voice just loud enough for me to make out. “She brought herself back. I’m just the lucky guy who gets to take advantage of it.”
Mom laughed and slapped his shoulder as she pulled back. “Take your accolades. You deserve it.” Her eyes moved to me. “Where is he?”
“Probably in the administration building, plotting,” I replied. “I haven’t seen him in the past few hours.”
“Heather is missing too,” Nathan mused. “I guarantee she’s the lynchpin in this plan of his, whatever it is.”
“Which means they’re probably doing it tonight,” I guessed.
“I want to hear everything,” Mom said. “I need to know one thing before we settle in for that story, though. Why not just leave? Is that not an option?”
I hesitated then sighed. “We signed contracts, and Preston has been very careful not to do anything that we could point to as a reason to leave. He’s diabolical.”
“Of course he is.” Mom made an exaggerated face. “He’s always been that way. Well, if you can’t leave—”
“If we don’t end this tonight, he’ll just keep coming back over and over again,” I complained. “I want him gone now.”
“So we’ll get rid of him now.” Mom was matter-of-fact. “I booked a hotel room—I knew better than trying to stay here with the two of you—but I need a place to keep my bag until we’re done with the little puke.”
I laughed at her delivery. “You can put it in our cabin. We should have our talk in there anyway.”
Mom’s smile was sunny. “Lead the way.”
We took off in the direction of the cabin, and I looked over my shoulder once to search for Preston. There was no sign of him. I couldn’t decide whether that was a good or bad thing. I wished for the former and braced myself for the latter.
Preston’s time was up, and I was looking forward to it.
HOURS LATER, DINNER AND DUSK WERE approaching, I was prepared. I felt as if I were in a Mission Impossible movie, which Nathan laughed about when I told him.
I wanted to spend the afternoon in the cabin alone together but with my mother there, that was impossible.
She had something up her sleeve, but when I asked her about it, she just smiled and changed the subject.
I was suspicious, but she’d gone out of her way to drop everything in her life and get to me even though I was an adult and should be able to handle my own problems. I had to let her do things her own way. I owed her that.
We didn’t know Preston’s exact plan or whether it would happen tonight or over the weekend. He was clearly going to do something, but the what remained elusive.
So we isolated ourselves for the afternoon and only left the cabins when it was time for dinner. We weren’t going to make it easy for Preston to launch his plan. He would have to work for it.
The look on his face—he stood next to Heather between picnic tables, acting as if he didn’t have a care in the world—when we headed toward our normal area for dinner was annoying.
He smiled smugly at Nathan and waved a hand as if they were old buddies.
Nathan didn’t play along. That would have been a dead giveaway we were up to something ourselves.
When Preston saw my mother, however, his smile slipped.
“Taffy,” he said dumbly, seemingly confused by her presence. “I… wasn’t expecting you.”
“Preston.” Mom’s smile was as warm as fresh-baked cookies and just as sweet. “What a surprise. I had no idea you were here.” She lied much more smoothly than I’d expected. She was a straightforward person and never lied. Apparently she could, she just didn’t want to.
“You didn’t know I was here?” Preston’s forehead wrinkled in confusion. “I would have thought Bella told you.”
“Why would she?” Mom adopted a puzzled expression. “She hasn’t mentioned you in a good, oh, two years I would say.”
From all outward appearances, she was guileless. I knew better. She wanted to destroy Preston as much as we did.
“It was an accident that we crossed paths again,” Preston lied. He was nowhere as smooth as Mom. “It feels sort of fated to be, if you know what I mean.”
Mom’s eyebrows moved toward one another. “I’m not sure I understand. How would it be fated if Bella and Nathan are engaged? It seems far more likely their romance is the one that’s fated.”
Preston’s eyes flashed dark but he kept smiling. “I’m sure things will work out how they’re supposed to work out.”
“I’m sure they will too,” Mom agreed. “Now, where’s the delicious dinner I’ve been promised? Bella said the food was to die for.”
“Oh, it is,” Nathan agreed. “Just make sure you pile about four or five servings on your plate so you get enough.”
Preston glowered at him. “The servings are perfectly adequate. You shouldn’t eat so much that people mistake you for a glutton. You’ll live to regret that when you get older and your metabolism slows.”
Nathan’s smile was blinding. “Oh, I’m not worried about that. I’ve been burning a lot of calories of late.” His arm came around me and he anchored me to his side. “I expect that to continue.”
“Yes, well, we should all get settled for dinner.” Preston turned on his heel and stalked back toward Heather. Whatever he said to her under his breath was harsh. She merely nodded in understanding.
It was going to happen tonight, most definitely.
DINNER CONSISTED OF CHICKEN, ROASTED RED-SKINNED potatoes, asparagus, and cake for dessert. I hadn’t thought I was hungry—the anticipation had been too much—but I ate everything on my plate.
Once dinner was over, Preston suggested a walk around the lake, but only for the women. Bree darted a look toward me, correctly reading the situation. This was it.
“Maybe we should all go,” Brody suggested. He was much more nervous about what was to come than Nathan, who had prepared himself for an obnoxious evening.
“Oh, I think it would be nicer to have an event just for the women,” Preston countered. “All the men can stay here and do… manly things.”