34. Pepper
“It’s wonderful to finally meet you, Penelope.”
“Pepper.” I offer a wide smile.
Carly Smith from Channel One News scrunches her face but quickly smiles back. “Right. Pepper.” She stretches the ‘r’ as she glances at Troy, who’s sitting in the chair beside me.
“So let’s talk wedding planning. Is the big day still next Sunday?”
“That’s right, Carly. Six days and counting. We’re keeping it small so we don’t overwhelm my bride again with a massive guest list.”
I smack his leg. “That’s right, dear. You know I hate big crowds. Being from a small town an’ all.”
I smirk at the sight of Troy’s jaw tightening and turn away from his glare.
“Small town? I…thought you were from New York? Upper East Side, like Troy?”
I laugh. “Oh Lord no. I hate Manhattan. I’m just a small-town girl from Colorado.”
“That so? Where exactly?”
“Hideaway Springs. You wouldn’t know it unless you followed the news about eight years ago when my father was convicted of fraud.”
“Pepper,” Troy grits. “I’m sorry, could we cut please? And could you cut that last part out?”
Carly’s brows lift. “This is my show,” she says through a tight smile.
“How would you like to keep it?” he retorts.
“Cut. We’ll edit Penelope’s last comment.” She stands and leaves us, muttering something about politicians.
“Pepper, what are you doing? You can’t tell people that.”
“Why not? Are you embarrassed by me?”
“No. But it’s not exactly the image we want.”
“I agreed to be your wife as long as I can be honest about where I come from.”
“No. Your clause was a promise to be honest. You said so yourself.”
“Actually, sweetheart, it said both parties agree to maintain honest and transparent communication, including relevant information and shall not…” I put my finger on my chin remembering the exact words. “Conceal important information from the date this agreement is signed to its end date.”
He glares at me. “Fine. You win. But for your family’s sake, maybe leave out his indiscretions. Let the man rest in peace.”
“Fine,” I agree. But the seed is planted. Any of his opposing candidates will get a hold of that recording and it’s all he’ll need to end this.
He grips my arm. “Also. Don’t fuck with me again. I will turn the table on you with your own game, Pepper.”
Carly marches back into the room with the crew and claps her hands. “Okay, shall we continue?”
“Please,” Troy says.
“Wonderful, so tell us more about the wedding. I hear it’s going to be in Central Park?”
“Oh, no, Carly. That’s part of the reason we’re keeping it small. The wedding will be in Pepper’s hometown. Hideaway Springs.”
“What?” I snap.
He laughs. “It…was supposed to be a surprise. But please feel free to televise it. I’m sure everyone she knows will be dying to watch her walk down the aisle.”
He was right.
Troy always wins. That’s what he does. He competes. He manipulates.
And I have a very long year ahead of me.
But a year spent at his side isn’t what’s been keeping me up at night. It isn’t what’s had me crying myself to sleep for the last week and a half.
It’s the look on Chase’s face that haunts me.
Part of me wishes he’ll refuse to believe it. The other part knows it’s not fair to ask him to wait. Or to forgive me for agreeing to Troy’s demand for a public breakup.
I’m a sellout.
I’m no better than my father. I never was. I left town because I didn’t like the way people looked at me. I wanted better. I wanted new. I wanted anonymity.
Well, I got it.
No one wants to know me now.
I’ll be a politician’s wife. And next year, I’ll be a politician’s ex-wife. Who took her money and ran.
My eyes sting and I’m sure to ruin my makeup before this private plane even lands outside of town. The wedding is supposed to be at the far end of town by Hideaway Lake.
Where I once imagined a spring wedding next to the man I love. Wearing my mother’s tiara, made with my grandmother’s pearls. The one I couldn’t remove the damn veil from on my wedding day so stuffed it into my backpack.
I opted for no veil this time when the planner showed me samples of a winter wonderland wedding in Colorado.
I wonder if he’s here today.
I wonder if he knows…
I’ve played out coming back to him after a year to tell him everything. And each time I do, his expression is the same; cold, hard and dismissive.
Troy made sure Chase would never want to see me again. It’s the only way he agreed to one year. Making sure I had nothing to go back to.
My chest tightens with fear at the possibility. Fear that Chase didn’thear my hidden message at the rink. Fear that I ended up taking him down with me when I fell. And like life after a hurricane, he has to slowly build back.
I’m not ready to let go.
I want to wrap my arms around him. Throw myself at him. Freeze him in time so that he can’t pull away from me when I try to explain.
Because I’ve done well to remember the one thing Chase Reeves never does.
Chase.
“Ms. Walker?”
I look up from my seat. “Yes?” I don’t bother with corrections anymore. There’s no point to them. But I’ve got no quarrels with the man in front of me. He’s one of Troy’s messengers I used to deliver Charlie’s check.
“Ms. Whitley asked me to deliver this to you.”
I frown. “What is it?”
“I think she said a thank you note.”
Relieved, I sigh. “Oh.” I take the envelope. “I appreciate it.”
I tear it open and pluck the pieces of paper from inside. Combining them to read the message.
“What’d you find?”
Noah glares at me from across the booth at the Inn. “You really want to talk about this today?” he asks.
“Yes.”
Noah sighs. “Things aren’t adding up in Kyle’s case so that’s going to take a little more work. But with regard to the other thing, I’ve been tracking some leads and think…I might have found him.”
“Him?”
“There’s no telling if Pepper’s mother is with Robert Woods. I’m assuming so. I’m also assuming that a Robert Smith contacted the courts and attempted to post bail for Kyle three years ago and was denied. Since he refused to come in person and there was no evidence of where the money was coming from.”
“You think it’s him?”
“I did some more digging—and yes, I think it’s him.”
“And there’s no way to reach them?”
“I might have ways…but…if we do…”
“They’ll be compromised and…arrested.”
He nods slowly and twists his palms toward me. “What do you want to do?”
I sink in my chair as my skin crawls. Remembering the state I’d found Pepper in at the site of their supposed accident. The attacks she regularly suffered because of their abandonment.
My chest aches at the memory of her words. How hard she tried for them and how much she loved them.
“They left her.”
I remember her telling me the reason she was attracted to Troy in the first place. He’d waited for her. He knew she was scared and waited for her. To take her down a goddamn elevator. No matter how long she’d be.
“Maybe it’s for the best.” My brother snaps me out of my daze.
“What do you mean?”
“You don’t owe her anything anymore. Hell, I’m not even sure it’s them. We’re all going on instinct here.”
Instinct is enough for me.
“I do owe her the truth.”
Noah leans forward. “Chase, she humiliated you. She played you for a fool.”
I shake my head. “She wasn’t playing me. I think she was asking me something.”
Noah nods condescendingly. ”Yeah. To let her go.”
I shake my head. ”She said she saved something for me. And I think it”s something Pepper wouldn”t get married without.”
Noah watches me, then smirks, pointing to the television. “You better hurry.”
I look up over the bar. Several patrons are tuned into the wedding happening across town. The first snow of the season began today and they’re calling it a winter wonderland wedding. The seated guests on either side of the aisle are a blur, but I can tell they’re not from around here. A big evergreen arch is at the far end in front of snow-dusted trees. And the man I pictured smashing hard into the boards on several occasions—since it’s the only way I know how to fight—is standing at the far end, waiting for his—no.
Waiting for my bride.
I race out the door and onto my bike. Praying they don’t say their vows in the next fifteen minutes.