Chapter 14 #2
My parents cheered from the sidelines. Mom held Lee up to cheer, and West was sitting on Dad’s shoulders, clapping.
Pride shone from Sheridan’s face. I’d forever be in my family’s debt for this.
For lifting her up when she’d been held down for much of her life.
More people could see how fucking amazing she was.
When the game was done—my team lost—we went back for seconds of all the foods we hadn’t eaten during the first round. I slid behind Sheridan in the line at the table. “Great catch.”
She shrugged. “I wasn’t fast enough to get you out.”
Always hard on herself. She was excellent. “Don’t be hard on yourself, or we’re going to have to play again.”
She narrowed her eyes. “You wouldn’t. I already know I’m going to be too stiff to move in the morning.”
“One word to Poppy is all it’ll take.”
Her smile was grudging, but it made an appearance. “I was terrified it’d go over my head.”
“It would’ve been fine if it did. Especially since I could’ve gotten a home run.”
She dished out some cookie salad that Clover made, mostly for her husband but also for me. “Is this how it always is?”
The weight in her tone gave me pause. “It wasn’t always,” I answered honestly.
“We were closer, but not like this. After graduation, we all scattered and did our thing. We’d get together at holidays and stuff—the big ones, like Christmas.
But then Grandma Annie passed away, and that brought us all here. ”
“Why? You just all missed Coal Haven?”
Shit. We shuffled down the line, and I used it as a chance to consider my answer. “Yes, mostly, I guess. Grandma left her house in a trust. Lily moved into that.”
“Oh, how nice. Keep it in the family.”
The back of my neck heated. Please don’t ask more. “Good that it worked out.”
“Are you talking crap about me?” Lily said from behind me.
Dread prickled down my spine. I had to play it cool and bypass the whole trust talk. “I said you use your kids to cheat at kickball.”
“They’re better than you, and one day you’ll have to accept that.” Lily played along, but she probably didn’t know what Sheridan and I had talked about. Regardless, the change in subject was a cool wash of relief.
Sheridan shot me a playful glare. “He was telling me about your grandma’s place.”
A burn in my throat matched the back of my neck. Oh no.
“Oh, the trust?” Lily shook her head, and I tried to send her a stop talking warning with my eyes, but she was looking at Sheridan.
“I don’t know what Grandma was thinking.
I guess I do, once Dad explained it. But marriage?
Really?” She lifted a shoulder and grinned in the way that she often did when she was talking about Eliot. “I guess it worked out.”
Sheridan tipped her head. “Marriage?”
Lily blinked and glanced at me.
I’d been publicly dumped once, and I didn’t need to follow it by only proving that someone would marry me if they got something out of it.
Sheridan talked openly to me about how she needed to prove herself—to her and to everyone else.
It had resonated with me for a reason, only not when it came to what type of work I did.
It mattered when it came to someone who wanted to invest in me.
Could I still get out of this discussion and bypass the topic completely? “Grandma made it a stipulation that Lily needed to be married a year.” Let that be the end of it.
I tensed when Poppy and Clover approached the table on the other side.
“Are you regaling her with tales of the trust?” Poppy asked. She planted her hands on the table. “Have you heard all the stories?”
Confusion passed over Sheridan’s face, and my stomach dropped to my toes and flopped on the floor. Crap.
I should’ve been honest. But maybe they wouldn’t get to the cabin.
“We have to be married for a year before we can get the property,” Clover said.
“And we can’t even live in it until we’re hitched,” Poppy added.
“Married?” Sheridan echoed. “Seriously? Can she do that?”
“It was hers. She did it.” I tried to nudge her along. “Thanks for the cookie salad, Clover.”
“No problem,” Clover answered but didn’t walk away. My muscles vibrated to shove past her and run. Sheridan wouldn’t understand. She’d hate me. I’d made my decision for her. For both of us.
“I was in a bad place,” Lily started, and I held back my groan. “I needed somewhere to live, and I claimed that I was marrying Eliot to Aunt Linda.”
“But you weren’t?” Sheridan asked.
“I had just met him,” Lily said. “But he married me to help me out, and well, the rest is history.”
“I love Violet’s story.” Poppy had to scoot out of the way so Clover could grab some crackers. “Evander was renting the house Grandma left her.”
Surprise lit Sheridan’s eyes. “She got a house too?”
“We all did,” Clover said, and I was tempted to hide under the table like a kid.
I could just take off across the pasture and I’d reach my house in an hour.
But I was responsible if nothing else. I stayed rooted and accepted my fate.
I should’ve been upfront with Sheridan in the first place.
She would be hurt. She’d blame herself for my decision.
Poppy flipped a finger up. “Lily got Grandma’s place.
Violet didn’t marry Evander despite being pregnant with his kid, but they fell in love anyway and then married and got the house.
” She added a second finger. “Daisy and Alder used to be married. They got remarried so he could get the house and she could save up for her own place.”
“But Alder really meant to win her back,” Lily interjected.
“And the rest is history for them too.” I bumped into Sheridan, still foolishly hoping for an escape. So much for weathering the storm of the full truth. She just stepped around me, getting closer to my tattletale sisters.
Poppy pointed to herself with her third finger. “Jensen and I were going to do the whole marriage thing to get the house so I could turn it into my office, but our wedding became real.”
When she held up a fourth finger, Clover took over. “Then there’s me. I was going to marry Van’s piece-of-shit brother, but he ditched me, and Van took his place. We got married just so we could have somewhere to stay and get on our feet.”
Sheridan smiled. “And the rest is history?”
“No, we actually divorced.” She winked. “But we didn’t want to. We were married again by Valentine’s Day.”
“That’s so sweet.” Interest radiated across Sheridan’s face.
My heart banged harder against my ribs. There was no one else left but me. This was my last chance to get away.
I took another step back, but Poppy gestured to me. Fuck.
“And that leaves Jasper. If he doesn’t get married by the end of August, he won’t get the lake cabin.”
And there it was. Nausea filled my stomach, and I could puke all over the buffet. I pinched the bridge of my nose. Sheridan’s brows drew together as she considered me.
“What lake cabin?” she asked, anxiety brewing in her gaze. A knowing. It was dawning on her that I hadn’t told her something she’d find critical.
I’d never forgive myself for the betrayal darkening her eyes. The least I could do was be the one who said it. “The one with the property between you and the shore. That’s mine, and I’m going to lose it because I’m not going to get married.”