Chapter 24
REID RATHE
My car roars as I pull up to my parents’ estate’s circular driveway, the sound bouncing off the house’s brick walls.
Dustin likes to call my family’s home a mansion.
As I park the car and stare up at it, I suppose that it is.
There are eleven bedrooms and thirteen bathrooms, way more room than what’s needed for a family of three, but my parents like to live extravagantly. Always have and always will.
Hell, my mother has joked many times about being buried with her jewelry, but I secretly think she’s being one-hundred percent serious.
My mother called me here for lunch, and since it’s Saturday and there are no classes on the weekend, I had no excuse to get out of it.
I know what she wants. She thinks that I’ve had time to think over everything I said to her last time.
That I’ve had a moment to reconsider my arranged marriage with Dorothy.
I honestly thought I put an end to this. I was so sure that the subject would be dropped, but I should have never guessed that my mother would let that slide. This marriage means too much to her.
The sun shines brightly in my car, and the autumn leaves swirl around the gardener, who is trying to rake them up on the east side of the house.
Ever since the rainstorm, the temperature has plummeted, bringing a chill to the atmosphere.
Autumn will forever remind me of Avery because, just last night, I snuck her out and took her for an evening picnic, laid her in the leaves, and kissed her under the sunset.
The way her scent complemented the smell of autumn will forever be etched into my mind.
I sigh and look back at the house, at the towering three stories.
Pulling on my college sweater, I step out of my car and make my way up the steps.
I almost knock on the door because this house represents a home that is no longer my home.
I am not the same person I was when I left for college two years ago, and I’m certainly not the son they thought they raised.
Heading inside, I call out my mom’s name and shut the door, listening for her response.
The house cleaner pops her head out of the office with a duster in her hand and greets me with a warm smile.
She’s been with our family since I was a young child, except, when I was younger, I don’t remember all the gray hair.
She’s always had it tied in a tight bun, though.
She’s wearing simple jeans and a plain T-shirt, and the skin around her eyes wrinkles with her grin.
“Reid,” she greets. “Welcome home.”
I clear my throat a little, not bothering to correct her. “Hi, Sarah. Are my parents home?”
She nods and points her duster down the hallway that leads to the kitchen. “Just follow your nose. I baked some cookies for you, and they’re waiting on the counter.”
“Macadamia nut?” I ask, feeling slightly better about having my favorite treat on hand for whatever my mother wants.
Her smile grows, and she taps her temple. “I’ll never forget it.”
I touch her shoulder as I pass her. “Thanks.”
“Any time, dear. Say goodbye to me before you leave.”
“I will,” I agree, already halfway down the hall.
She was right. I can smell the cookies from here and follow the trail of them.
Once I enter the grand kitchen, I nod to my father, who is reading the newspaper at the white marble island.
I head around it and straight to my mother who is sorting the takeout boxes.
I press a kiss to my mother’s cheek, and she leans into it, patting my shoulder in thanks.
“How was the drive?” she asks as I snatch a cookie from the plate settled on her right. My parents’ estate is a thirty-minute drive from campus.
“Windy,” I answer honestly around a mouthful. Cookie crumbles fall to my sweater, and I brush them off as I stuff the rest of it into my mouth.
She takes the takeout boxes to the large dining hall and sets each of our meals down on the massive table. My father follows me, and the chair legs scrape against the wood floor as we pull them out and take a seat. Grabbing a fork, she asks, “And school?”
Opening my box and picking up my own fork, I say, “Harder than last year. How’s work?”
My parents own several grand apartment and condo buildings, all acquired because they own the largest real estate company this side of the country.
They built it from the ground up. Nothing was inherited, and I always admired them for it.
What I don’t admire now is how they flaunt their money.
Hell, my fork is gold. I grimace about it as I take a bite of my sweet and sour chicken.
My mother’s eyes light up. “We just bought out Echo Realty, actually.”
I raise my eyebrows. “That’s what, the third real estate company you’ve taken over?”
She waves a hand in the air. “I don’t keep track, dear. Accomplishments are accomplishments, and goals are goals.” Under her breath, she adds, “You’d know if you had any.”
My father grumbles a warning, saying her name.
“It’s fine, Dad.”
Her head whips to me, and she narrows her eyes, and I know the real reason for me being here is about to begin.
“It’s not fine. You could have chosen any college you wanted to, but you chose Smithson University.
You could have gone to Harvard. You had the acceptance letter in your hand, and you just threw it away. ”
I shrug and lean back in my seat, my food looking unappetizing now. “It didn’t feel right.”
And honestly, if asked if I’d ever change my mind, I wouldn’t in a heartbeat. I made the right call. That school wasn’t for me, and I knew it even then, an eager high school graduate.
“Well, we can’t all go on our gut feelings. Look how that turned out with your last girlfriend.”
I sigh and pinch the bridge of my nose. “When are you going to let that go?”
She points at me. “You let her destroy you, and she almost destroyed this family. Think what would have happened if you’d have married her.”
Flicking my gaze back to hers, I pin her with a stare. “But I didn’t, so the point of this conversation is …?”
“We didn’t call you here to fight,” my father interjects.
“Then what did you call me here for?”
After a moment, my mother takes a deep breath and releases it with a smile. She settles her posture and says, “Dorothy’s parents would like to move the wedding up to next summer. Oh, and they found the perfect venue. You should see the view and the -”
I slam my hand on the counter. “I am not marrying her.”
My mother startles and has the audacity to look at me with a shocked expression. Once the shock clears from my outburst, she whispers fervently, “It’s been arranged.”
“Then unarrange it because I will not be waiting at the altar for her.”
“Reid,” she presses.
I shake my head. “I don’t love her, Mom. She’s not the one I love. I won’t marry someone I don’t love.”
My parents are silent for a moment until my dad breaks it. “But you do love someone?”
It’s a no-brainer for me, and I immediately nod. “She’s great. You’d like her.”
“What’s her name?” he asks.
“Avery Moore.”
My mom gasps and places her hand over her heart. “Dustin’s sister? Reid, now, see reason. They come from a poor family. This will end exactly like your last fling, and it won’t be pretty.”
I shake my head. “She’s not after the family money, Mom.”
“You can’t know that for certain.”
“I do, actually. She’s not like that.”
“Reid—” my mother begins, setting her fork down to give me a lecture.
I beat her to it, standing up from the table and preparing myself to leave. This isn’t worth it. “I know the family, Mom. They’re not like that, and neither is she. They couldn’t care less about money and inheritances. All they want is what’s best for each other.”
“Don’t leave, son,” my father asks of me.
“I’m not going to sit here and listen to this.
” I look directly at my mother. “I won’t marry Dorothy.
I don’t give you permission to rule my life anymore.
I’m a grown man, and I get to decide what I do with my life, and if that means marrying someone with less money and making your image look bad, then so be it. ”
I turn and walk away, but the smallness of my mother’s voice has me pausing. “Do we at least get to meet her?”
Looking over my shoulder, I see the plea in my mother’s eyes. My heart softens a little bit. “When the time is right, I’ll bring her over.”
And then I leave, stomach still empty and my mood soured. I wave goodbye to Sarah and thank her again for the cookies, and then I head back to campus to be with the one and only person I want to see right now: my girl.