Chapter 20
Chapter Twenty
Cara
I wake up on Wednesday morning an engaged woman.
I’m marrying Hayden Reilly, and while teenage me would have been spinning in circles and squealing with joy, adult me stares at the ceiling and wonders what the hell I’ve done.
Do whatever it takes. There’s my sister’s voice in my head again, but I don’t think this is exactly what Georgia had in mind. I groan and pull the sheet over my head. I have to tell Georgia what I’ve done. I have to tell Mel. I have to tell her parents.
And I have to tell my mother.
Many times over the years, I’ve wished for a tiny kitchenette in my room. Just a Keurig and a mini-fridge so I could have a cup of coffee before facing my mother. Today, I’ve never wished for it more. Coffee wouldn’t make breaking the news any easier, but at least I’d be fully caffeinated.
Pampered Pets has a full schedule today, but the first appointment isn’t until nine. Plenty of time to drink coffee and maybe have some toast while I blow up our lives. The appointment will be a good excuse to escape the emotional rubble for the day.
It also adds a ticking clock element, so I have no choice but to force myself out of bed and get it over with.
Just to make it worse, it’s a Crock-Pot oatmeal morning.
I have no idea where Gin got the recipe, so I don’t know if it’s Gin, the recipe creator or our ancient Crock-Pot that’s to blame, but the stuff is nasty.
I’d planned to nibble on some toast out of deference to the nerves making a mess of my stomach, but she’s already dumped a ladleful of the slop into a bowl for me.
There’s going to be enough fighting without adding a breakfast battle into the mix.
Her bowl is empty and I still have a few spoonfuls hardening into cement in mine when I realize she’s about to leave the table and I can’t put it off anymore. Not if I want a few minutes to hash it out before I have to leave.
“So, Mom,” I say before pausing to clear my throat. Then I have to take a sip of coffee because my mouth’s suddenly dry. “You know I’ve seen Hayden.”
“I thought I made myself clear. I don’t want to hear that Reilly boy’s name in this house again.”
Her tone does the trick, triggering the defiance I need to get through this and save myself. “I’m marrying him.”
For a long time, there’s no sound in the house except the old mantel clock ticking in the living room, my heart pounding in my ears, and the occasional car passing on the street.
“No,” she finally says, her expression blank. Her lips don’t even have that pinched look, and I can only assume she’s in shock.
“Yes. It’s happening. He asked me to marry him and I accepted.”
“You barely know him, but we know his family and…just no. You’re not marrying a Reilly. Any Reilly at all, but especially that one.”
That catches in my mind again—why does Gin seem to have a grudge against Hayden in particular? It doesn’t make any sense. But now is not the time to go off on tangents.
“You barely know him. I know him very well.” I used to, anyway. “I grew up with him and we dated in high school.”
“First of all, high school was a long time ago. And secondly, you didn’t date. He asked you to homecoming and then stood you up.”
And there’s that familiar pang of hurt and humiliation. Thanks, Mom. “He asked me to homecoming because we’d been seeing each other for months. I think you can figure out why I didn’t tell you about it. And we reconnected online a while back. This isn’t out of the blue, Mom.”
Her eyes narrow at my lie. “He started talking to you on the internet before he tried to buy my house?”
And there’s the suspicion I was afraid of.
“He knows I don’t want to leave you alone here, so he thought if he buys the house, you can get something small and cute, and I’d be free to move to Boston.
I don’t want to live in Boston, though. I love this house when it’s not draining the life out of me. ”
“You can’t marry him.”
“You said you wanted me to marry some guy from Sumac Falls. Hayden is a guy from Sumac Falls.”
Her cheeks are hot, and I’m afraid she’s going to bend the spoon in her hand if she doesn’t put it down. “Carolina Marie Gamble, I’m not going to tell you again—I promised your father I would keep this house in the family.”
I already know there’s no sense in telling her again that no reasonable man would expect two women he loved to let a house fall down around their ears. But I’ve learned the hard and exhausting way that Gin won’t see reason.
Instead, I have to lean into Hayden’s ridiculous plan.
“If you sell it to Hayden and me, the house does stay in the family because I’m your daughter.”
“If you marry that Reilly boy, you’ll be a Reilly.”
“And yet, still your daughter.” Her mother’s attachment to the house was almost as ridiculous as the family feud. “I won’t change my name. A lot of women don’t these days, you know. I’ll still be Cara Gamble and this will be my house.”
“That’s not—”
“And my house will have a hot water heater. You’ll have kept your promise to Dad, and you can get a fresh start and everybody wins.”
“For now. But when you have a child, it’ll be a Reilly and that’ll be the end of it.”
Oh, for the love of— “That would be an issue no matter who I married. But we’ll hyphenate the kid’s name to Gamble-Reilly and maybe that can be the end of this feud crap.”
She stands, her chair scraping so harshly against the old linoleum, I wince. Then she practically throws her bowl into the sink, and I’m surprised it doesn’t shatter. “This is the most ridiculous conversation we’ve ever had.”
It’s certainly ridiculous, but any more than the conversations we’ve been having lately? I don’t think so. “I think it’s more ridiculous for us to stay on this sinking ship until we drown because you made a promise to a man who’s no longer with us.”
“Not just a man, Carolina. My husband. Your father. While you may not care about honoring your father, I certainly care about honoring him.”
I can’t even speak for a long moment. Angry and hateful words want to fly out of my mouth, but I clench my jaw tight until I can’t stand it anymore.
“I don’t care about honoring my father?” As much as I don’t want to throw fuel on this fire, there’s a limit to how much of this crap I can tolerate. “I’m the one who’s been honoring him, you know. If not for me, you would have had to break that promise years ago.”
“Do not speak to me like that.”
“We’re getting married,” I say firmly. “And then you can sell the house to us. It stays in the family and Hayden can restore it so it’s beautiful for your grandchildren and future Gamble generations to come.”
“Absolutely not.”
“Fine. We’ll get married and I’ll move to Boston with him and you can keep your promise and this house all to yourself.”
It’s an empty threat. I’m pretty sure everybody in my family—probably everybody in Sumac Falls—has figured out I won’t leave her.
But this time it might land for Gin because it’s the first time I’ve said I’ll be leaving for a very handsome man with a cute dog and a lot of money.
That’s a little more believable, if still a lie.
I’ll only go through with this if my mother surrenders to the fact she’s selling her house to Hayden Reilly because our marriage and my name on the paperwork fulfills the promise she made to my dad.
Sure, I want to get out from under this house, but the only reason I’ll let that man put a ring on my finger is making sure my mom is taken care of and able to live on her own—or has the foundation to do so.
Her choices after that will be her own, because I can’t take the pressure anymore.
“You’re not moving to Boston,” she says finally, and then she turns to leave.
“Do you want an invitation to the wedding?”
She whirls back to face me. “Of course I do. I’m not missing my own daughter’s wedding.”
Then she’s gone and I’m surprised I don’t melt right out of the chair into a puddle on the floor. Telling me I’m not moving to Boston and accepting there will be a wedding is as close as I’ll get to knowing the plan will probably work.
I’m getting married.
I ignore the lump of oatmeal turning in my stomach and send a text to Mel first.
CARA
Stop by the shop if you get a chance today.
MEL
I’m not free until six. Are you working late?
I hadn’t planned to, but I’m not facing Gin again until I’ve talked to Mel. I’ll spend the time cleaning, and hope my mother’s too angry to tell anybody before then.
CARA
I’ll be here.
And then I text Hayden and I’m not surprised my fingers are trembling.
CARA
It’s done. There’s no going back now.