Chapter 5
Chapter Five
HAZEL
I expected the scrutiny over our relationship: why we kept it a secret and what our plans were for the future. But I hadn't expected the specific questions, like where would we live and how soon would we move in together.
It was crazy how many details people thought they had a right to know. And I suppose we had to provide the information since we wanted them to believe that we were in a real relationship.
And I couldn't believe Brady had so easily agreed to me moving in with him.
It wasn't something we'd talked about or that I'd even considered.
I thought this whole thing would be over in a few weeks, and I'd spend the rest of my life getting pitying looks for snagging, then just as quickly losing, a Kingston.
I didn't care about the hottest bachelor on the island thing. I knew Brady before all of that. I had a feeling that our broken engagement would only make him more popular. And I'd have to watch him date someone else. Maybe even marry her.
I hated the idea.
Thankfully, talk turned to the business, and we were granted a reprieve for the rest of the night. When we were saying our goodbyes, Joy took me aside and said, "You're going to make a beautiful bride, and I couldn't hope for anyone better for my son than you."
I let her praise wash over me, wishing she was my future mother-in-law. "You aren't worried that we're too young?"
Joy laughed. "You two were destined to be together. Frankly, I thought it would take you longer to figure it out."
She walked away, and I stood there feeling a little shell shocked. Did everyone think that? Sure, people had commented on it over the years, but I always thought it was just curiosity. Not something that people believed to be true.
Brady appeared next to me. "Are you ready to go?"
I nodded. "Yeah."
He raised a brow as he opened the door. "Are you okay?"
"We can talk outside."
"Am I already in the doghouse?" Brady teased. "I guess it was bound to happen. I've never been engaged before.”
"You came close though," I couldn't help but retort.
Brady sobered as he opened the passenger-side truck door for me. "I was."
I waited until he closed the door and rounded the hood to get in. "What happened between you two?"
"Erin never liked that I hung around you."
I frowned. "Most of your girlfriends didn't. But I stayed away when you got serious. I didn't want to come between you."
Brady turned on the engine. "Yeah, but that was a problem for me."
"What do you mean?" I asked, confused by his response.
"I didn't want to stay away from you. I grew to resent how she complained about our relationship. She wanted me to break all ties."
"I would have stayed away if that's what she wanted." I would have done it even though I would have hated it.
"She wanted me to tell you that we couldn't talk anymore. That wasn't okay with me."
"Did you break up over it?" I asked, a little upset about that.
"She said if I wanted to move forward with her, I had to break off my friendship with you. She always had a problem with you."
Before I could ask about that, he continued. "I told her I didn't want to move forward with her. That anyone I shared my life with would have to be okay with my friendship with you."
I sighed. "Oh, Brady."
"Don't feel sorry for me. There was more going on than that. She felt the need to control our relationship, to dictate what I could and couldn't do. I was okay with it to a point. But I'd never walk away from you completely."
I hated that I’d been the reason that he’d broke things off with his girlfriend.
"Now we can say we tried, and it didn't work out. Maybe this will make it easier for you to be with someone else." And I could take a step back even if it hurt.
"Sam and I weren't meant to be together. I felt too young for something so serious then. I wasn't ready."
I watched his expression, which was serious. "Okay."
"You're important to me, and anyone who wants to be with me will have to deal with that."
"You're a good man, Brady Kingston." If only he could be my man.
He reached over to take my hand. "You were upset that I suggested we move in together. I get we should have talked about it before I said something. But I didn't expect the questions we were getting. I thought it would be more about what made us go from friends to lovers."
"I thought so too."
He glanced over at me. "Do you think we should move in together to make it appear more real?"
I sighed. "I don't know. Everything's moving so fast."
His expression was pinched. "It seems to be what people expect."
"I wouldn't mind living in a beach house, even if it is only for a little while." But it was dangerous to think I could live with him and not fall more in love with him each day.
"And I'm not going to be upset that Max comes to live with me. He won't want to leave."
Hazel laughed, just like I wanted her to. "Fat chance of that happening. Max is my baby."
"What if this was an elaborate plan for me to steal your dog? I can win him over and keep him forever."
"First of all, that's not happening. And second, that's crazy. Who would concoct a plan like that? Just get your own dog."
"The only flaw in your argument is that some dogs are irreplaceable."
I'd already built a relationship with Brady, one that started in childhood. I couldn't do the same thing with a future man I hadn't met yet. You couldn't recreate something like that.
What we had was unique. But I couldn't tell him that. He couldn't know that I'd been harboring a crush on him for what seemed like forever. It would be a betrayal of our friendship. How could he ever trust me again?
"So what do you say? Should we move in together? Stifle any rumors that we're not the real deal?"
I sighed, long and hard. "Fine. But when I move out, I'm taking Max with me."
Brady flashed me a grin. "We'll see about that."
I was going to lose more than Max's affection if we moved in together. I was going to lose the distance I desperately needed to keep my heart intact.
At drinks with the girls, Ivy asked, "I can't believe you're moving in together so soon.”
"We are engaged." My heartbeat raced because I was lying to my best friends. "Brady said that Dalton’s moving in with his girlfriend. It’s the perfect timing, and what his family said made a lot of sense.
We should give things a test drive before we're actually married.
" That made me think of sex for some reason.
Shouldn't we try everything before we tie the knot?
But we weren't engaged. This wasn't real. The more steps we took—moving in together, the engagement party, the questions about wedding plans—the harder it was to remember that none of this was real. That we had an end date that was rapidly approaching.
Daria wiggled her brow. "Test drive, huh? I like the sound of that."
I blushed, which I shouldn't have done because, as far as my friends knew, we were already intimate.
"I still can't believe you kept it a secret from us," Elena pouted.
"Can you blame us? We wanted to explore things without the pressure and expectations. What if it hadn't worked out? That would have been brutal. And I would have lost Brady's friendship."
"I can understand that," Elena said since she'd only recently had her own secret relationship with Hudson while she was supposed to be interviewing him for a feature in the local magazine. "But I felt like we should have been the first to know. Not our grandmothers."
"You know my grandmother. If there's a secret, she finds it out first. I think she discovered Dalton's girlfriend was pregnant before she did."
Everyone laughed.
"They are powerful gossips. It's best to stay off their radar," Ivy said.
"What about you, Ivy? Have you met any rich real-estate buyers lately?"
Ivy swirled the tiny straw in her drink. "Sadly, no. They're all twenty years older than me, and even if they're interested, I'm most definitely not."
Ivy was a realtor and met a lot of new residents before we did, whether they were vacationers, investors, or permanent island residents. We always went to her for news on what was going on around the island.
"That's the problem with living on the island," Daria said. "We know all the locals, and we've dated most of them. That leaves the tourists, and they're only in town for a short while."
Ivy wiggled her brows. "That's what makes it so fun. No strings. No commitments."
Daria's shoulders slumped. "I kind of want strings. I haven't had a boyfriend in forever. It's time."
"I suppose you don't get a lot of single men coming into the seashell shop," Ivy remarked.
"It's mostly families," Daria admitted.
"I heard that someone's looking to buy that strip your shop is in," Ivy said, watching Daria carefully.
"I was worried about that when it went up for sale. Do you know anything about the buyer?"
"I haven't met him yet. He's been communicating by email mostly. But it sounds like he wants to invest in property. It's unclear if he plans to keep the center as is or build something new."
"I'd hate to move the shop. Our family has only ever been in that location," Daria said, her brow wrinkled.
"It's such a nice place too, with the fountains and grassy area," Elena added.
"I wouldn't worry about it yet. He hasn't decided to make an offer. It's just one of the places he's looking at," Ivy said.
"It's worrisome when outsiders come in and buy up the shops and restaurants. They don't know what makes Sanibel unique," Daria said.
"It's the quaint shops, the local restaurants, and the charm of the island," Ivy said as if she was reciting a commercial.
The group fell silent for a few seconds. The band playing filled the silence.
Ivy stood. "I'm going to get a drink. Anyone want anything?"
"I'll go with you," Daria said.
"I'm fine," I said to them before they headed to the bar. The best part about this location was that we were seated in the sand with torches and twinkling lights, giving it a cozy vibe.