Chapter 26 Coco
Coco
What is happening?
Am I living in a mirror world? Is a white rabbit about to run by claiming he’s late?
Right on cue, Hercules prances past.
I suppose that’s close enough.
Stone murmurs in my ear, “I found the ring. You should have told me.”
His voice is low, intimate, like a caress light enough to coax and an iron hot enough to brand. My skin flames from the closeness of him. But before I get too cozy and wrapped up in him, a record scratches in the back of my mind, and the moment is obliterated.
A ring? He found a ring? What ring?
Oh, shit. Stone found my grandmother’s ring—the one she gave me—and he thinks it’s for our engagement?
My stomach falls into an open pit.
He presses my hand to his breast, right over his heart. It pounds, thumping so hard I wonder whether his body is lying, too—or it’s just telling a different kind of truth.
“We’re engaged,” he confirms to Rhett, as casual as a summer breeze. Like this is just a totally normal Tuesday announcement. Then he jerks a thumb toward the plans. “And the flower garden? Not in the original blueprint. That one’s all me.”
Then he whispers in my ear, “Just so we’re crystal clear, the garden is my wedding gift to you.”
He’s building a garden for me?
My knees go full spaghetti.
Is this what swooning feels like?
It has to be.
And I’m all in.
Rhett waits a beat before he tosses his head back and laughs.
When his chin drops down, fury blooms in his eyes.
“You’re joking, right? As of yesterday, I’d never heard of her, you’re MIA, and when I arrive, there are materials being used we didn’t approve of.
That I”—he points to his chest—“didn’t sign off on. Have you lost your mind?”
Stone slowly shakes his head. His sandy hair catches the sun, and streaks of dark caramel and platinum glint in the light.
I hold my breath as he looks Rhett dead in the eyes. “I’ve never had more clarity in my life.”
An explosion of air swooshes from my lungs, and new air rushes in. It feels like the world does the same, like it came to a full stop waiting to see how this would play out.
And it hasn’t started spinning yet, because Rhett isn’t finished.
When he speaks, it’s a growl of warning. “If I pull my investment, there’s no way you’ll be able to complete the resort.”
“Then pull it,” Stone replies, accepting his challenge.
“I won’t be bullied, and I won’t be intimidated.
What I’m doing—what we’re doing”—he looks at me, and that swoony, lightheaded rush fills my head again—“is creating something new, something different, something that matters and will, when it’s done, be hailed as visionary. Trust me.”
His cousin swipes a hand down his face. He looks like a mix between exhausted and furious, as if he doesn’t know which problem to tackle first: this new version of Stone or the resort.
I’d say it’s a toss-up.
“Does Pane know? What am I saying? Of course he doesn’t, because he, unlike you, would have called me.
Your brother’s not going to like this, Stone.
This is the sort of thing that destroys relationships, rips apart families.
You’ll see. You may think it’s fun to play since you’ve been left to your own devices, and this may be your way of getting revenge on Pane for whipping your ass when it came to the company competition, but this is going too far. ”
I wait for Stone to back down, to turn and change his mind, but instead he simply lifts his shoulders and keeps a steady gaze on his cousin.
Rhett’s eyes flick to mine. “Best wishes on your upcoming nuptials.” To Stone, he says, “You’re worth a lot, you know. So much that people like you get used for it.”
“She’s not after me for my money,” Stone growls. Then frowns. Worry flicks in his eyes. I squeeze his hand to convey I am not after anything.
Rhett shakes his head in disgust. “You’ll be hearing from my attorney.”
And with that, Rhett Maddox turns on his heel and enters the SUV. Dust and pebbles kick up under the tires as the driver peels out of the construction site.
I wave away the cloud of dirt that envelops us. Stone does the same before the corners of his mouth tick up into a wry smirk. “That went well, don’t you think?”
I laugh feebly, feeling both broken and filled at the same time. “Stone, I—”
I’m about to explain that of course we’re not engaged, that he misunderstood the ring. But he interrupts with, “Why didn’t you tell me we’re getting married?”
Everything’s knotted and tangled, from the way my body sings when I’m near him to the crushing guilt that’s slowly ripping me apart.
I lock gazes with his warm eyes—so mossy, so honest. And I want to be honest, too. Like Stone. Living in my truth the way he does.
For a moment I simply drink in the way he looks at me with such care. No one’s ever looked at me this way before. No one.
And I can’t let it go.
As my brain scrambles to come up with an answer as to why I didn’t tell him we’re engaged (probably because we aren’t), he waves his hand. “Never mind, I know why you didn’t say anything.”
Surprising even myself, I answer with, “You do?”
Stone looks at me so softly, with so much tenderness, that my insides melt like a snow cone on a hot sidewalk.
“You didn’t want to hit me with too much chaos with everything that’s going on.” He puts on a teasing voice. “You don’t know who you are, Stone? Well, guess what, you’re marrying me, a complete stranger! Giddyap, partner.”
And right then, I lie to myself and think I’m doing this for him. Because if I snatch it all away, everything will crumble.
His tone softens. “I completely understand, and at the same time, you could have told me. Because of course we’re engaged.”
Of course we’re engaged? I just . . . I can’t wrap my mind around this statement. It scares the hell out of me. Because it means he feels something real. This is more than just kissing in front of my dad’s music shrine.
Stone frowns. “Why didn’t your family say anything when we went to their house?”
My ribs squeeze so hard it feels like my lungs will burst. I can tell the truth right now and Stone will never look at me with tenderness again. He’ll never hold my hand.
He’ll never kiss me in a way that fills me to my toes and makes me feel seen. I’ll never feel like I’ve been picked first ever again.
I’ll be starved of light.
If Stone is the sun, then living without him is being banished to a life of shadows.
“Because . . .” Then, like with all lies, when the floodgates open, water bursts forth. “We wanted to keep things a secret for a while. Let it cool. Feel it out. We didn’t want the world to know before we were ready to tell them.”
He takes my hands and rubs his thumbs over my knuckles. His warmth is a luxury I never want to be without.
“How would you feel if we told them now?” Before I can protest, he adds, “From the first moment I met you, I knew there was something special between us, and now that I know what it is, I want the world to know. It’s not fair to keep this secret to ourselves.”
That secret sits on top of a trapdoor.
He continues, and I shake off the sinking feeling opening in my stomach.
“This also means—and yes, I’m going out on a limb here, feel free to catch me if I fall—if you knew me before the amnesia, then I’ve been afraid of something that doesn’t exist. I couldn’t have been an awful person because you wouldn’t have loved me. ”
Loved you?
He keeps going, oblivious to the deer-in-headlights look I know is plastered across my face. “Don’t you see? I wasn’t awful, because you wouldn’t have been with me. Plus, we may not have spent a lot of time together now, but I feel like I know you.”
“You know me?” I whisper.
He nods.
Stone desperately wants to not be the person he was before—the person who threatened to blackmail me, the person who rejected Hercules, the person who called me a small bureaucrat.
That’s all he wants. Redemption. Reinvention. A future that isn’t shackled to his past.
Who am I to starve him of that?
My throat jams up as if a roll of toilet paper has been crammed inside it. I can’t not ask. “What do you know about me?”
He slides a hand over my cheek. “I know you put the needs of others before your own. I know you have taken care of me every step of the way. I see you, Coco Higginbotham, just like you see me.”
No one—no one—has ever said anything like this to me. Not in my whole life. And I want to believe it. I want to bathe in every second of this moment, so all I manage to say is, “Yes.”
I’m saying yes to him. To being swept away in this moment, to being caught in a lie that feels truer than it should.
Stone taps my nose playfully. “This calls for a celebration.”
“It does?”
My mind barely works. Or maybe it’s working on overdrive and I’m simply unable to keep up.
Stone slides an arm over my shoulders and turns to the guys. The construction site is loud, full of rumbling and beeping, but Stone puts two fingers in his mouth and whistles, getting Isaac’s attention.
Isaac signals to the guys to stop what they’re doing.
“What’s up?” he calls out. “Everything okay?”
“Everything’s great,” Stone yells back. “After work, we’re going to Sparkle Bar to celebrate.”
“Celebrate what?”
Stone pulls me closer to him. “Our engagement!”
The guys look surprised, and then seem to quickly realize that surprise is not the correct response, because Isaac slowly claps and yells, “Congrats!”
Ron joins him.
And while they clap and shout their congratulations, Hercules trots up to me, lifts his leg, and aims to pee on my shoe.
I barely move out of the way before the full stream splashes to the ground. What the . . . ? Sheep don’t lift their legs to pee.
Apparently, this one does, and he’s not happy with me. Neither is my conscience, because what I’ve just done . . . this is a ticking time bomb, an explosion that, maybe, with a little luck, I can avoid.
But how?