Chapter 26 #2
“You’re disgusting.” Andi sniffles. “To think I thought you were the one.”
“Let’s be real here,” Rex says scoffing.
“I didn’t even want to marry you. We had sex one time, and you told me you got pregnant, and I felt pressured into marrying you so that my kid wouldn’t be a bastard.
And then you weren’t even pregnant, but it was too far along for us to call this shit off.
” Wow, he’s a bigger jerk than I thought.
“Well, I thought you loved me.” Her face looks miserable and my heart goes out to her.
“Yeah, I loved having sex with you that one time.”
“That’s enough, Rex.” Luke shuts him down and I’m so proud of him for speaking up.
“I don’t know how or why you think you can be that disrespectful to women, but it’s not okay.
Do you hear me? I don’t care what happens with the business and what you decide between us, but do not speak to Andi that way. ”
“Are you for real, Prince Luke. You everyone’s savior now? You have a thing for her too?”
“I don’t have to have a thing for a woman to be kind and decent and respectful. You should be ashamed of yourself, Rex.” Luke squares off in front of his brother. “You are a horrible human being.”
“What did we do wrong?” Mr. Haverbrook stands there, looking ill. “What can we do to fix this?”
“Dad, honestly, it’s too little, too late.
You have let Rex become a horrible human being—and why?
Just because he lived out your glory days as a football star?
He’s horrible. He’s been horrible to me.
He’s been horrible to his fiancée. He’s done everything in his power to dismantle our family’s company.
It’s not cool, Dad. You didn’t teach us to be this way.
Granddad didn’t teach us to be this way. ”
His dad looks down at the table. “You’re right. I’ve failed you both.”
Rex just shakes his head. “I can’t believe this bullshit.” He holds his hand out, and Andi just stares at him.
“What?” Her voice is light and for a moment, I think she’s hoping that he will beg her to forgive him. That he will say he can’t live without her.
“Well, you said it’s over, right? I want the ring back. That cost me twenty grand.” My jaw cannot drop any lower.
“You’re not going to let me keep the ring?”
“No. Didn’t you just hear? My family’s fucking broke. I need that twenty grand.” He looks over at Luke. “Unless you think that you’re willing to lend me two hundred grand to start a new business.”
“Not in a billion years.” Luke snorts and his eyes catch mine for a moment and I smile at him.
“I think I’m going to go to India.” Everyone looks at Rex in shock.
“What? Why India? You going to harass more women?” I say loudly, then cover my mouth quickly.
“I have never harassed a woman in my life. In fact, I’ve been harassed.”
“Stop lying to yourself, Rex.” I cross my arms. “No way you think any of us are buying that?”
“You know what? This shit is stressing me out. I’ve had a really long couple of months.
The reason why the wedding invites and everything happened so quickly was because it was a fucking shotgun wedding,” he says, looking around like he’s looking for pity.
I’m glad no-one is coming to his rescue.
“And you weren’t even fucking pregnant. You tried to trap me, but you tried to trap the wrong one, bitch. ”
“Enough!” both Luke and their dad shout, and Rex blanches.
Luke walks over to him and stares into his brother’s eyes with contempt. “You’re disgusting. You know that? You are absolutely fucking disgusting.”
“I’m sorry I couldn’t be the golden boy like you, Luke.”
Luke stares at him for a couple of seconds, just shaking his head. I just want to laugh because his entire life, Luke thought Rex was the golden boy when it turned out that he was the golden boy all along.
I knew it. I’d always known it, but he allowed Rex and his father’s treatment of him to make him feel like he wasn’t good enough, when all along he was too good..
I step forward and grab Luke’s hand. “You’re a jerk, Rex. But I already told you that. And, Andi, I don’t really know why you were marrying him, but I’m really glad that you’re walking away before making the worst decision of your life.”
She sniffles. “I know. I was listening to Talia because she told me it would be really great if I married him, but she’s—” She shakes her head. “I think she just wanted to show me that she could have any man she wanted, and she wanted mine.”
“Well, this is kind of awkward,” Rex says as his phone starts beeping, “but I have to go right now.” He grins as he holds his phone up. “911.”
“What?” Luke just stares at him. “What the hell does that mean?”
“I just got a message, and someone needs to see me. So, you guys good?”
“You’re seriously going to leave right now?” Luke sounds angrier than I’ve ever heard him sound in his life. Knock him out, Luke. I want to shout, but I abhor violence normally, plus I don’t want his entire family to hate me. I can’t imagine his mother crying anymore than she is now.
“It seems like I’m not needed in the family business. My engagement is over, and, well, I’ve given enough of my life to Coconut Beach.”
“You’re not going to be a grownup about this?” Luke sounds so disappointed. “You can’t just leave.”
“I can. I need to find some flights to India.” Rex closes his eyes and hums loudly.
“Is he losing it?” I whisper to Luke, who just stares at his brother in disbelief.
“I need to take some yoga classes, man. I need to learn how to chill and relax. This stress is going to make me have a heart attack. Plus, Talia said she knows this yogi that—”
Andi bursts into tears at his words and I watch as she slides the ring off of her finger and throws it at him.
“Talia, can have this.” She sobs. “You can tell her the friendship is over and I’m never talking to her again.
” She puts her hands on her hips and she looks self-satisfied like she thinks that’s actually going to hurt Talia’s feelings.
I want to make a comment about Talia likely not giving a flying fuck, but I don’t.
Rex stares at her and then at the ring before placing it into his back pocket.
For a few moments, he looks like he wants to cry and I think he’s finally going to do the right thing and apologize and ask for forgiveness.
I think he’s going to own up to being a shitty human being.
But I’m a bigger fool than he is for thinking that because he promptly hurries to the door, a swag in his step that I’d hadn’t seen since his teenage years.
“Bye, guys. Love you, fam. See you later. Oh, and, Grandma?” he calls out.
“Yes, Rex?” She sounds tired.
“Let everyone know the wedding’s off, please.”
And with that, he leaves.
I stare at Luke, eyes wide. “Oh my gosh,” I say.
I hold Andi to me as she’s still sobbing. “I’m so sorry.”
“It’s okay. I knew I was being a fool. I knew that it was not the best decision of my life.” She looks up at me with wide-open eyes. “I wish I had friends like you and Juniper. Maybe then I wouldn’t have found myself in this mess.”
“Yeah, maybe,” I say because the truth of the matter is, she probably wouldn’t have.
“I’m going to go. It was really nice, being welcomed into your family, Mr. and Mrs. Haverbrook, and I’m sorry it came to this. I really hope you can save your business, but I have to go.”
And with that, Andi runs out of the house.
Now it’s just Luke and me, his grandparents, and his parents. We all stand there in awkward silence.
“So, what, we just wasted that money on a wedding?” his dad says, looking around. “Can we get any money back?”
“I very much doubt it, Dad,” Luke says. “And look, it’s fine.
I’m worth a lot of money. I can take care of this.
” He looks so solid and so nonchalant that I know that he will take care of everything.
Luke, who thought of himself as the black sheep of the family, was now to be their savior.
There was poetry in that thought and it delighted me.
“I have an idea,” Bitsy says, beaming as she heads toward us. I’m surprised that she’s not more upset about Rex, but I’ve always known she preferred Luke. Bitsy was a gossip, but she was shrewd and smart. There was a reason why she was my grandma’s best friend.
“What’s your idea, Grandma?” Luke asks, a tinge of apprehension in his tone.
“Why don’t you two get married instead?”
“Oh, no,” I say quickly. “I don’t think we’re ready to take that step yet.”
“Yeah, Grandma,” Luke says, offering her a wry smile. “I don’t even know if she’s going to marry me yet.” He looks over at me and there’s a look in his eyes that tells me that he’s going to put this all on me. Bastard!
“But you love her,” his grandma says, sounding confused. “It’s obvious to me and to your grandfather that you two are in love. Why wouldn’t you get married?”
He turns to me. “Why won’t you marry me, Mia?”
I gaze at him with wide eyes, not sure if he’s being serious. “Excuse me, what?”
“You know you’ve always been the one,” he says softly. “And you know I want you to be my wife.”
I swallow hard. “I—what?”
He grins at me. “Is it too soon for me to propose to you?”
“Yes. It’s too soon.” I punch him in the shoulder. “Luke, what are you doing?”
He laughs and pulls me into him, kissing me hard. “Just wanted to see if you’d say yes.”
He turns to his grandma. “I’m sorry, Grandma, but as much as I would love to marry Mia right here, right now—or next week or two weeks from now—I think it’s too soon for us.
And I don’t think Mia wants to take over someone else’s wedding plans.
She’s been waiting her entire life to get married.
Trust me, I know. We’ve talked about it enough times, and I think when it finally happens, she’s going to want to make all the plans for herself. Aren’t you, darling?”
I stare at him, my heart pounding with love for him because he’s so sweet and gracious and loving. And I know I will marry him one day.
I nod slowly and squeeze his hand. “Yeah. When we get married, I think I’d like to be the one to plan everything.”
His grandma just nods and smiles—a secret little smile. A smile that makes me think that she knows far more about our relationship. Maybe even more than we do.
“I have to make a call,” she says as she leaves the room. “You’ll see yourselves out?”
“Okay, Grandma.” Luke turns to me. “You want to go? I know it’s been a long day.”
“Okay,” I nod and try not to laugh. It had been so much more than just a long day.”
“Let’s go to Hidden Cove. Let’s see if we can find that final clue,” he says, a glint in his eyes that tells me he wants to do more than search for a clue.
“Sounds like a plan to me.”
“Mom, dad, let’s talk tomorrow.” He heads over to them and gives them both a hug. “I promise I will do whatever I can to fix everything.”
“Thank you, son.” His dad says stiffly while his mom holds onto his arm.
I can tell from their expressions that they are thankful, but I still think it’s far too little after the way they’d treated him, but I know better than to say anything.
I may have a big mouth, but even I know when to keep it shut.
We walk out of the house and to his car, and I just look at him with love and awe. Luke was even more of a good guy than I’d given him credit for.
“You know what? I was wrong about something, Luke.”
“You were wrong about something? No way. What?”
“I thought that your job mattered more than me, but I was wrong. Your job matters to you because you’re good at it, and you’re intelligent, and you like problem-solving. But I see now that it’s just something completely separate from our relationship.”
“So, you think we could actually make this work?”
His eyes look hopeful, and I feel my heart pouring with love for him.
“I think that I choose you, and I choose our love, and I choose this relationship—no matter where it leads us.”
“Are you saying what I think you’re saying?”
There’s hope in his eyes, and I nod.
“I’m saying, let’s make this real, Luke. Let’s not just have it be a fake summer romance. Let’s have it be a real summer romance.”
“No,” he says. “This isn’t just another summer romance, Mia. This is a love story—a story for life. This is a story about soulmates.”
“Am I your soulmate, Luke?”
“You’re that and so much more, my darling.”
And with that, he pulls me into his arms and kisses me softly.
Time really does seem to stand still. I feel like our spirits are fusing together, becoming one. I feel like our love is encapsulating us, covering us, protecting us.
“I love you, Mia. I love you for this summer and a million more.”
“I love you too, Luke. You are my everything.”