Don't Marry the Ex: A Sweet Romance (The Debutante Rules Book 3)

by Emily Childs

  I close my eyes, my fingers curl around his shirt. “I want to,” I admit, my voice hardly above a whisper. “But it’s . . . I need time.”

  “You’ve got it.” He tucks a lock of hair behind my ear. “However long it takes.”

  I don’t kiss him again, don’t trust myself to stop if I start. It takes a few minutes before I gather my bearings to leave the man, though.

  The drive home is burdened by a hundred thoughts. How to face this trouble with Walter, how to admit I still love Sawyer as much as I did, how to overcome the fear of losing him all over again.

  I’m not sure I’d survive it a second time.

  Chapter 18

  Sawyer

  When I found the culprit, I didn’t think I’d have to sit here for this. Never mind this’ll be the most awkward, uncomfortable thing I’ve ever endured, but I’ll be asked to sit in the same room as Rob Gardener. I’m not sure how to look at the man now that I know how far he went to get me cut out of Dot’s life. I’ll never understand it. Was I so terrible? I had a career, was independent, I didn’t drink to excess, I never even raised my voice at Dot. I’d be more afraid of my own mama than Rob if I did something like that.

  Such is life, though, and since I’m the one who found the trail of fraud, apparently that means L & H Insurance will be explaining it to everyone else.

  Kyler and I are alone in the conference room. The clinic is eerie when everyone is gone.

  “Thanks for coming,” I say after I’ve checked for the tenth time that all the papers are in order.

  “Sure thing. Think this guy is going to lose it?”

  “I don’t know, I’ve never met him.”

  The door opens, interrupting us, and Dot steps inside. She gives me a tight smile, but the way her eyes are wide and her chin puckers, she’s heartbroken. Josephine follows, pale and focused on the table grains the second she sits down. Rob joins a breath later, on the phone, face red. He’s out for blood and doesn’t even look at anyone when he sits at the far end of the table. At my side, Kyler tenses, doubtless, for my sake. He dislikes Rob’s behavior almost as much as me.

  Rob ends his phone call with a huff. “Well, where is he?”

  Dot doesn’t look at her father. A pang tightens my chest. As much as I dislike Rob, I wish there weren’t a new rift between them. Then again, he sort of brought it on himself.

  Josephine is the one who answers. “He should be here soon.”

  I tap the end of my pen against the file folder, waiting. I peek at Dot. She catches my eye, wearing a look that says a thousand things. I offer the best grin of support in return, but it ends when the door opens and a middle-aged, breathless man strolls in, unaware.

  “Short notice for a meeting, but I got here as fast as I could.”

  “Sit down, Mr. Burg,” Dot says.

  He gives her a bewildered look. “What’s going on here? You haven’t called me Mr. Burg in a year.”

  Now he notices Kyler and me. I battle to keep from snarling at the man. He dug this place into a mess when it was only recovering from a previous one. This clinic helps people, it does good, and for an extra thousand or so a month he let greed get in the way of everything Dot is trying to do. None of it sits well with me.

  “Sit down, Walt,” Rob grumbles.

  The man obeys, and the way his body curls like a limp scarecrow, he knows. “You found it, didn’t you?”

  Dot draws in a sharp breath. “How could you? How could you do this to us?”

  To my surprise he glares at me and Kyler. “You’re the ones who found it, aren’t you?”

  “Mr. Burg,” I jump in, “you’ve been committing insurance fraud. It’s called upcoding, sir. Billing for services more expensive than the ones performed.”

  “Then you’ve been taking the excess from the payouts, Walt!” Dot can’t help herself. Not that I blame her, she’s hurt. Betrayed. “I don’t understand it.”

  “I didn’t know it would be hurting the clinic,” he says in a sort of whimper. “I thought no one would notice because they expected the less expensive payout anyway.”

  “We noticed,” Josephine says. “You’ve been messing up our reports, so sometimes the insurance refuses payment.”

  The man starts to cry. Big, heaving sobs—no tears—and it’s more uncomfortable than the confession. I glance at Kyler and he gently eases the sheet of ‘What to do if you find insurance fraud’ to Rob while we wait out the non-waterworks.

  “Okay, enough,” Rob snaps.

  “I-I-I can’t . . . I can’t go to jail, Mr. Gardener. I can’t.”

  “You should’ve thought of that before you stole from us.”

  For ten minutes, there’s a horrible back and forth between Dot, Jo, and Walter. Rob kicks in with a lot of big-handed threats that don’t help. Walter blames Kyler and me, then cries some more until a pair of security guards arrive and we’re excused. Security will remain in the conference room with a sobbing Walter until the police can arrive and the clinic decides how they wish to move forward.

  As we all prepare to leave, Walter’s sobs stop. “You’ll regret this, girl.”

  My jaw tightens, he’s talking to Dot. On instinct, I step in front of her. “Don’t say another word, Mr. Burg. You’ll dig yourself into a deeper hole.”

  His eyes flash maliciously at me. A non-threatening man at first, now he’s downright vicious. “You’re right. It ain’t her fault. It’s yours. See you around, kid.”

  Dot clutches my arm, but Kyler and I have dealt with more than one defrauder. When they’re backed against the wall, they start lashing out. We scoff as the police arrive and Rob bursts into a tirade of all the charges, and extras, he’s planning to press against Mr. Burg.

  Dot hangs onto my arm until we’re outside. She’s at my side, silent, pale, and hugging her middle. I should leave her to deal with her side. Kyler and I will have plenty of work to do helping the clinic file their claims and setting up a plan to help them get back on track, all of it on top of other accounts we already hold. Instead, I reach out and brush my knuckle down the back of her arm. She turns slowly, a forlorn shadow in her eyes.

  “I’m sorry,” I whisper. “I’m sure that must’ve been hard for you.”

  “I’ve known him for nearly three years,” she says. “I can’t wrap my head around this.”

  “Hey, we’ll get it straightened out,” Kyler jumps in. “No worries, Dottie Girl.”

  “I can’t tell you how much y’all helped us. I hate thinking what could’ve happened if . . .” She bites her bottom lip, the same pucker back in her chin.

  “But it didn’t happen,” I say. “We all caught it and now it’s going to get straightened out. This place deserves to succeed, Dottie.”

  She smiles, a pitiful little thing, but she’s trying. I forget to breathe when she reaches out and squeezes my hand. “Thanks, Lucky.”

  Gah, I want to kiss her.

  Dot takes a step closer. “He threatened you.”

  “Don’t worry, people usually do. Insurance people aren’t the favorite when we catch people who like to break the law.”

  “Still, I didn’t like it.”

  “Worried for me, Dottie?” I say softly.

  A curl tugs at her lips. “Maybe.”

  Rob interrupts the moment by clapping me on the back. “You boys pulled through in there. Went and proved me wrong and certainly made something of yourself. I tell you, kid, if you asked for my blessing now, I’d be hard up to say no again.” He pauses, smirking at Dot. “Unless y’all are still holding a grudge against me.”

  My eyes bulge. I glance at Kyler as if to say, He just said that out loud, right? By the state of my brother’s corded neck, I heard what I heard. Bitterness, embarrassment, relief all bounce around my head like pop rocks. I’ve waited to hear those words, but it’s too late. Too much has happened and I have a feeling he said it to get a rise out of me because he knows things aren’t the same.

  “A grudge,” Dot says through her teeth.<
br />
  My head is spinning and I don’t want a scene. Not tonight. Not ever, to be honest. I’d like to pretend Rob never interfered, that we’re starting fresh. I reach for her. “Dot—”

  “No,” she steps away from me. “I might hold a grudge, but Sawyer had every right to drop you, this clinic, and leave us to fend for ourselves after what you pulled.”

  “Oh, please,” Rob says. “So dramatic, Dorothy-Ann.”

  “I am not! I’ve found out an employee I admired was stealing from me all along, found out my own daddy ran off the love of my life, and frankly I deserve to flip my lid!”

  Silence is deafening. Rob is still smirking, and I’d like to smack it off his arrogant face. I don’t, because frankly I’m more focused on the love of her life part of the outburst. If we were alone, I’d certainly be wheeling back around to address that.

  Josephine makes a quiet escape toward her car, eyes bouncing between us, and I almost feel bad she and Kyler are caught in this tonight. It’s as if Rob is enjoying himself, or trying to get a rise out of his daughter. After what happened with Walter, this seems wildly inappropriate. I go to excuse ourselves, to tell Dot she ought to leave it alone for now, but she moves in closer to Rob.

  “Sawyer made something of himself a long time ago,” she says, low and raw. “He was something to me.”

  Nervous, hot energy is taking hold. I rock on my heels as everything kind of muddles in my head. Focus. I need to focus. No, I need to leave before I spout off, or make an absolute fool of myself by saying all the wrong things. “If you don’t need us anymore . . .” I start and take a step back.

  “Sawyer,” Dot steps forward, but I hold up a hand.

  “It’s been a long night,” I insist, almost plead. I don’t care about anyone else seeing, I step next to her, our bodies close. My hand finds the curve of her waist. She grips the lapels of my jacket. My lips brush against her ear, making sure only she hears me because only she understands. “I can’t think straight. I can’t do this here.”

  She nods. “Okay.”

  “I will be bringing up that love of your life thing, though.”

  “Figures. Don’t take it as a free pass. I’ll still be needing some convincing, Mr. Lanford,” she whispers back.

  “I plan to satisfy that, Miss Gardener.” I give her waist a squeeze.

  She releases me and steps back. I don’t say another thing to Rob, not to Josephine who watched everything from the sidelines. I hand the keys to Kyler, silently asking him to drive us out of here. In the car, I lean my elbow on the rim of the window, and stare into the velvet blackness.

  I’m not sure what I’ll do to convince her that she too was—is—the love of my life, but I know I’ll do anything to start over. No secrets, no threats between us. We know what people are capable of, we’ve lived and learned. Round two—we’ll make it.

  Chapter 19

  Dot

  Beach Games seem like a bad idea after the situation with Walter. We should be instilling protocols Sawyer and Kyler sent us, we should be filing paperwork, we should be distrusting everyone who walks in the door now.

  “We need this,” Josephine says in the parking lot, as if she can read my mind.

  More than embezzlement has me on edge, though. Since the blow up with my daddy in the parking lot, I haven’t heard from Sawyer. Really, it’s only been forty-eight hours and we’re busy, professional adult humans after all. But still. I’ve been growing accustomed to a few texts here and there. Maybe I wouldn’t mind another kiss like the last two in his kitchen. His magical kitchen it would seem.

  Maybe I’m ready to move forward.

  My stomach flutters like a flock of seagulls took refuge in my gut. Can I really do that? Can I trust Sawyer to be committed through thick and thin, for better or worse?

  I stop, clutching the cooler to my chest. His car is three stalls down.

  Does Rosita not realize the man will be irresistible in a swimsuit? He’s like finding gold in the sand when he’s shirtless.

  If anything can weaken me, it’ll be Sawyer Lanford at beach day.

  “Dot!” Olive shouts at the back of Rafe’s pickup. “Sweet tea or Fresca?” She wiggles two separate drinks in the air.

  I clear my throat and force the smile I’ve been forcing since this morning. “I’m ashamed you have to ask, Ollie.”

  She laughs and places the sweet tea bottle in a cooler. There is quite a crowd. The way cars are pulling up, it’s like the businesses of Honeyville are a colorful caravan. A healthy mix of rough and tough guys from the masonry, down to the Belle Boutique and their high-heeled sandals. As for my crew, we represent three of the ten small businesses at the shore. Even Jace and Will finagled an invitation since Jace runs a local branch of their daddy’s engineering and architectural firm. It’s really a small top office that shares a bathroom with the GameRoom—an office of professional gamers who post their playdates on YouTube. Basically, a glorified payday for fresh out of high school kids whose folks pay the rent until they find their purpose in life.

  “You excited, Miss Gardener?”

  I peek over my shoulder and grin at one of the new first year residents working with us. “Doctor Brady, I was born ready for this day. I’m surprised to see you without your nose in a book.”

  He grins and leans against the car as Lance, another doctor-in-training, gets out of the passenger side of the Subaru. “It’s the life, I guess,” Brady says. “Lance and I are just glad we get to come. Amber and Matt have been whining all day about needing to be on shift while we go play.”

  I chuckle. Good thing the local hospital keeps sending us first years, it helps us keep the doors open seven days a week while avoiding burn out from the staff.

  I pat Brady on his shoulder. “Let’s not pretend Amber and Matt aren’t happy being alone together.”

  Brady flicks his brows, the dark brown of his eyes reminds me of hot chocolate. “So we’re not the only ones who’ve noticed.”

  I let out a pitchy snort-laugh. “No, I don’t think anyone could miss it.”

  We’re interrupted by Zac’s whistle, letting us know it’s time to make our way to the beach. Olive is yammering with Lily, but something overtakes Olive Whitfield whenever we head to the water. She hops-to-it and makes it to the head of the line to reach the surf in no time. She’s part fish. Has to be.

  Spanish moss drips like webs from the trees, magnolias, and pastel colonials along the street. The Battery is always alive with visitors and crowds. Brine in the breeze sets my nerves at ease. I love living close to the water, but something about squishing sand through my toes and letting the waves lap against my ankles is a different kind of romance.

  “I think we need to watch out for Sport’s Academy,” Lance is saying when I tune back in. “You know they’ll be out for blood. How bad would it look if they lost again to Sue’s Bakery?”

  Brady laughs and turns over the chair. “What about you, Dot? Any bets who’s taking the pot this year?”

  I tilt my head. “Puh-lease, my doctors! We’re going to win, obviously.”

  They laugh, and we stop at an unclaimed spot on the sand and stake our territory with bright beach umbrellas and sand mats. A little community of towels and red ice coolers dot the immediate surroundings. Rosita scurries through the sand like a crab, taping sheets with each business name to umbrellas. Rick’s Hardware appears to be challenging Sports Academy with puffed out chests like a couple of fat turkeys with ruffled feathers. The masons are trash-talking the lumberjacks, as we call the cabinetry guys. Sue from the bakery tosses out her famous lemon bars. I help Brady and Lance with the lawn chairs, then turn to set up our coolers, but slam into a broad, hard body.

  “Easy, girl. You almost took me out and the games haven’t even started.”

  My shoulders relax, but it’s impossible not to take it easy around Kyler Lanford. “Ky, you decided to quit the workaholic life and grace us with your presence.” In the back of my head. my consciousness is screaming that
Kyler goes hand in hand with Sawyer. If anyone will sense my tingling, hormonal yearning to touch the man, it’s going to be the man himself.

  Kyler slings an arm around my shoulders and squeezes me against his side. “I wouldn’t miss beach volleyball. You know we’re going to bury you, right?”

  Brady snorts, and I whip around to make introductions. “Ky, these fine gentlemen are Doctor Brady Lexington and Doctor Lance Hall. By the looks of them, I hope you’re trembling.”

  Kyler plays along, introduces himself and, like I knew my friendly doctors would, they are already knee deep in the latest Gamecocks update. Doesn’t matter. I’m not listening. My world is in a frustrating spin when Sawyer materializes from behind one of the massive umbrellas owned by the Music School. Strong legs, toasted skin. If he strips that T-shirt and shows off his tattoos, I’m done for.

  He’s holding my gaze, and under his scrutiny, I’m all at once self-conscious about my polka-dot swimsuit and halter top. As a redhead, tanning is a fool’s dream. Doubtless, my skin rivals the glare off the waves.

  Maddie and all her dark-haired beauty appears at his side. She whispers something to him, certainly looking our way and smiling.

  “I think this’ll be good,” Kyler whispers behind me.

  I jolt at his voice. “What will?”

  “Today.” His eyes flick to his brother who is helping a few more of his staff gather things to take to the beach. “You two. Unless you’re still pretending you’re not going to jump my baby brother any second.”

  I smack his arm. “I am a lady and do not jump bones.” Unless they belong to Sawyer Lanford. “Besides, your baby brother has not spoken to me in nearly two days.”

  “Building tension, Dottie Girl. Building tension.” Kyler winks. “You’ve got him all out of sorts, he can hardly form sentences.”

  Sawyer did seem out of sorts when Walter was arrested. I understood what he was telling me, that he needed to chill out or he’d blow steam out of his ears. “How is he managing that? There’ve been a few times where he seemed like he was going to get overwhelmed.”