by Tijan
man walked inside. He wore a three-piece suit and had slicked back hair, cologne that threatened to suffocate me, and a whole greasy vibe to him.
He boomed out, “James!”
James looked back and grinned. “Peter.” A transformation took place. Gone was the guy trying to make sense of the pastor’s instructions, the guy who’d been holding Analise’s hand a moment earlier, and even the loving guy who’d kept rubbing her back before they held hands. Instead, a businessman took his place. I felt transported into a conference room.
Mason and Logan paused when they saw the guy, then slowly resumed their trek to us. Logan hopped into the pew in front of us, and Mason went to the back, resting his hands behind my shoulders. If I tipped my head back, I could look right up at him.
Nate half-turned to face Mason and me, but he was also able to see Logan. “Who’s that guy? Do you know?” he asked.
Logan spared the guy a second look, disgust coming to his face. “It’s the mayor,” he sneered.
“The mayor?” Nate looked to Mason.
Mason watched the mayor shake James’ hand, then be introduced to Analise. “That’s the one thing our dad wanted,” he said. “And he came out on top.” He shot Logan a look, talking to the rest of us. “He wanted back in.”
“He got back in,” Logan confirmed. “Sure is helpful that Steven Quinn’s been removed from his CEO position.”
Nate asked. “Does that mean Adam took his place?”
Mason shrugged, folding his arms over his chest. “The hotel’s opening was postponed. Adam and I are off the project, so I don’t know. I’d assume, unless someone else moved in.” He touched the back of my shoulder. “Come on. We don’t have to stick around for the dinner.”
I stood.
Nate did as well. “I thought that was the whole reason you called me here,” he said to Logan, who smirked.
“Yeah, it’s all set up,” Logan assured him. “We’re going to stop there on the way home.”
We headed toward the doors.
Logan and Nate went out first. Mason held the door for me and was waiting outside when I heard my name called.
I looked back. Maybe I’d expected my mother, and when I saw she wasn’t standing there, I felt a pang of disappointment. I frowned, shoving that away. I looked out to the parking lot and saw Becky. She was standing to the side, her hands twisted together in front of her. She eyed Logan and Nate, who had paused on the sidewalk as they waited for us.
Mason let go of the door behind me, and her gaze jumped to his face. Her mouth opened in a silent gasp. Most of his bruising had faded, but I understood. It was still shocking. She looked back to Logan and Nate. I could only imagine how all three of them looked to someone else.
“Becky?”
She turned to me. “Yeah. Um…” She bit her lip. “Can we talk?”
“Sure.”
Logan stepped toward us, a dark look coming over him.
Becky took a step back.
“Uh…” I gestured to a bench in front of the church. “We can talk over there.”
She seemed relieved until Logan called her name. “Hey, Sullivan.”
She tensed, stiffening as she turned around. “Yeah?”
“Your fiancé. Is he the new CEO of his dad’s company?”
Her eyebrows pinched together, and she glanced quickly to me before nodding. “Yeah. He is.”
“So the two of you have to stick around here? He’s not going to law school yet?”
“Uh. Yeah. I mean, he is, but not right away.”
“When?”
I frowned. Why did Logan want to know?
“I don’t know. I think he’ll wait a year.”
“He’s still going to graduate this year, right? So he’ll be going in three years?”
“I guess.” She shook her head. “Why?”
He ignored her. “What school is he going to?”
“He got into to Harvard Law.”
“Good.” Logan clipped his head in a nod.
“Why?” she asked again.
A cold look came over his face. “Because where he goes, I’m going. That fuck sent Caldron after my brother and Sam. I’m going to make his life miserable from here on out.”
Her mouth fell open and stayed that way. She didn’t seem capable of closing it.
Nate shot Mason a look, but Mason only shook his head. Adam Quinn hadn’t sent Caldron after us. That was his father, and Logan knew that. Whatever he was saying, he had a reason.
Becky looked at me imploringly, but she wouldn’t see any sympathy from me. “Did you still want to talk to me?” I asked.
“I…” She closed her mouth, swallowing. “Maybe not now.” She turned back to her car, took a couple steps, then pivoted back to us. “We’re never going to be friends again, are we?”
Remorse swept through me, but I couldn’t let that show either. There might’ve been a fight between the fathers, and I didn’t know how things were between Mason and Adam, but it didn’t matter. Logan just threw a gauntlet down. Becky would be the messenger for it. Adam would know within the next five minutes that Logan Kade was his enemy now. That meant we all were.
All I could say was, “I think it’s best if we’re not.”
I saw her swallow again. Pure frustration pulled on her features, and she looked down to the ground for a moment. When she looked back up, she just seemed defeated.
“I guess so.” She headed to her car and swiped at something by her eye.
I couldn’t help but wonder if it’d been a tear.
Once she left the parking lot, I rounded on Logan. “Did you do that on purpose?”
“What?” But there was a guarded mask on his face. He knew exactly what he’d just done.
“You said that to her on purpose because she’ll be the one to tell him, and that’ll make her have to take his side.”
Logan shrugged. “So what?”
“So that means I can’t be friends with her,” I snapped.
“Like you would’ve been able to anyway,” he shot back. His eyes were heated as they flicked to Mason’s before coming back to me. He softened his tone. “I just did what you couldn’t. If you tried to be friends with her, you would’ve betrayed her again eventually. You know it. I just did it so Mason didn’t have to. Lines are drawn, Sam. The Quinns are our enemies, no matter who holds that name.”
Becky Sullivan would eventually be Becky Quinn.
He was right.
But it still hurt.
My mother was getting married today, and I stared at myself in the mirror with no clue what to wear. But it wasn’t even the clothes. I had no idea what to feel, which is why I’d been standing here for the last hour.
There was a slight flutter in my chest, but that didn’t make sense. Why would I be nervous? There was no reason for that.
A soft knock sounded on my door, and Taylor called from the other side. “Sam? You have a visitor.”
I frowned. Who would that be? “Let ’em in.”
The door opened, and my stepmother popped her head in first. “Sam? Oh good.” She pushed her way inside, shutting the door behind her. She held a garment bag in her arms and hung it up on the closet door. “I wasn’t sure if you had a dress for the wedding, so I brought a few over. Unless you do have one picked out?”
“Malinda.” I frowned. “What are you doing here?”
“I knew Mason and Logan were probably already at the church to take pictures, and I wasn’t sure if you needed a ride or not.”
I felt faint as I answered. “I was going to ride with Nate and Taylor.”
“That’s right. I forgot Logan’s girlfriend came back. I didn’t realize Nate was going, but of course he’d go. Where you guys go, he goes, too.”
There was a small bead of perspiration over her top lip, and she looked flushed.
“Are you okay?” I asked.
“Huh?” Her eyes darted around, and her lip trembled. She had to blink a few times before she could focus o
n me. “Oh. Yeah. I’m fine.” She patted my arm. “You have nothing to worry about with me, honey. Let’s focus on you this morning. Now.” She stepped back and scanned me up and down, frowning. “Have you lost weight, Samantha?”
I had, but I’d stopped running as much. I smoothed a hand down my tank top and pajama pants. They were soft, baggy, and heavenly. “I was running a lot earlier this summer.” I made sure to hold her gaze as I answered. “I’m fine now.” I wanted her to know I was telling the truth. She didn’t have to worry about me.
Her hand ran down my arm, resting on my wrist. “I know you are.” She pulled me in for a hug. “You are one of the strongest people I know,” she murmured, pressing a kiss to my cheek.
I hid a grin. “You brought some dresses for me?”
“Oh, yes!” She snapped back to attention, and her eyes lit up. “Your mother’s colors are teal and aqua. Such a pretty palette, and so rarely used if I do say so. Sooo…” She pulled out one of the dresses. “I brought you a teal dress, and I brought you an aqua dress. Your mother called me earlier in the week. She wanted to relay that if you wanted to wear white, you could. Mother and daughter kind of thing, you know. So I brought a white one, too. But you don’t have to; not if you don’t want to.”
My mouth dried.
Analise wanted me to match her? It was a wedding. No one else would be wearing white. It’d only be her and me.
Seeing my indecision, Malinda reached inside her purse. She pulled out a small box. “She also said you could wear this, if you wanted. She has a matching one, and people will know you’re not wearing white to disrespect her.” She held out a sparkling teal-colored pendant with a dandelion on it. “I don’t want to push you, but I also want to give you the option. It’s completely up to you, Sam.”
I took the pendant and held it up. “She has a matching one?”
“She does.” Malinda reached for the necklace around her own neck. She pulled it out, and I saw it was identical to mine, but larger. “She wanted me to wear it, too. It was a gift since I helped her plan the wedding. And again, I’ll take mine off if you don’t wear yours. I’m with you, whatever you decide.”
I…
I had no thought. No reaction.
Then I frowned. Suddenly, I wanted to wear it, but I didn’t know why. “Let me see the dress again.” I asked hoarsely.
“Oh!” She held it up by the hanger.
It was a simple dress, but it was beautiful. It had small straps that would circle around my arms and attach underneath them. There was a side pocket, and the dress fell to the floor. I shouldn’t wear it, but I wanted to.
As if sensing my torn feelings, Malinda said softly, “Would you like to put it on?”
I nodded, and when I did, even I was taken aback by how I looked.
Malinda stepped behind me, resting her chin on one of my shoulders. She smiled, and I saw tears in her eyes. “Amazing. Absolutely amazing.”
I couldn’t speak, not for a moment. Emotion choked my throat, but I didn’t want to identify what kind of emotions they were. I swallowed them down.
“If I wear this, then what?” I asked. “Is this a peace offering to her? Am I saying she can be in my life again?”
“No, sweetheart.” She moved my hair to my other shoulder, still smiling almost sadly at me. “It just means you accepted her gift. That’s all, and she knows it. The rest is when you decide to go to her. She knows that. She’s waiting, for whenever you want.”
My eyes fell on that necklace. Malinda had placed it on the bed, and I could see it in the mirror.
I missed my mom.
That was what these emotions were.
I missed her, but I was so goddamn angry at her.
I closed my eyes, feeling the tears there. I didn’t want to cry for her.
Malinda kissed my bare shoulder, and whispered, “What are you feeling, honey? What are you thinking?”
Analise had two other women standing up as her bridesmaids. I’d noticed them last night, but I hadn’t asked who they were. I couldn’t keep the words in today. “Who are those women? The ones standing up for her today.”
“They were patients with her at the treatment facility. They helped her through some rough times, and I guess she did the same for them.”
“So she has friends? From that place, I mean.”
Malinda nodded, holding my gaze in the mirror. “She does. Yes.”
That was good.
My mom had friends.
I looked back down to my hands and murmured, “She never did before.” And if she did, she’d lost them because she flirted with their husbands, or worse.
“They seem like real friends. Good friends.”
“That’s good.” I looked down again. I didn’t want to keep looking at that dandelion.
“Samantha? What’s going on? Tell me what you’re thinking.”
I shook my head. Malinda meant well. Maybe letting myself feel these emotions was smart, but I didn’t want to. Not now. There was a mountain of repressed shit, and all of it was beginning to swirl inside of me.
I cleared my throat, pushing the tears aside. “I’ll be fine. Give me a moment and I’ll be ready.”
“I booked a hairstylist. If you come over, you and Taylor could both get your hair done.”
“Really?”
She nodded and kissed my shoulder again. “I’ll be in the living room. The wedding isn’t till this afternoon. You have plenty of time to decide on the dress, so look at the others, too. They’re just as gorgeous.” She went to the door. “The stylist will be at my house in ten minutes. You and Taylor head over about fifteen after that. She doesn’t take long to do my hair.”
She slipped through the door, but I called out, “Malinda?”
“Yeah?” She leaned back in.
“Thank you.”
I wasn’t sure what I was thanking her for, but I knew there was a lot.
“Of course, honey. I love you; you know that.”
I nodded. It’d been a long journey, but I didn’t fight those words. I embraced them. I clung to them even, the way a real daughter would.
MASON
“You ready for this?”
Logan sidled up next to me at the front of the church. The pastor had come out, so the music was going to change soon. My dad was to my left, and Logan to my right. All eyes had been on us, but now people began shifting in their seats. Analise was about to come down the aisle.
I grunted. “I just want to get this fucking over with.”
He chuckled, folding his hands in front of him. “I hate tuxes. I hate weddings. Only good thing about weddings is the booze.” He winked. “And having Taylor here. Have I told you lately how much I love my girlfriend?”
“You’re becoming annoying.”
“Good.” He snorted. “It’s payback for all of your and Sam’s lovey-dovey shit.”
“Lovey-dovey shit?” We weren’t known for our public displays of
