by Craft, Maggi
“I’m not. I just think it’s stupid for her to move in with her mom. I know she’s going to turn right around and move in with me. I’m going to let her know that the option is there if and when she wants to do it.”
I put his sandwich in front of him. “I’m glad it all worked out.” I was, but I was still hoping he wasn’t setting himself up to be let down.
“Me too! She’s packing her dorm right now, and I’m going to stay there tonight and help. I have eleven straight days of filming coming up, so I want to spend time with her now while I can.”
I felt bad about being negative, but I didn’t want him to be too pushy. She was the one who had left, and he needed to remember that. I had no doubt that she still loved him, but I didn’t want to see him heartbroken again. Watching him suffer these last few weeks had been the most painful thing I’d ever experienced as a mother. As glad as I was that it might be over, I was just as concerned that it could happen again.
He must have read my expression because he said, “Mom, don’t worry. Everything is gonna be OK. She seems to really know what she wants. This is what we both want.” He looked down when he said that, and I knew something was wrong.
“Why did you make that face?” I asked.
“I don’t know. I just know it’s got to suck for her. There’s nothing I can do to control any of the BS with the media. There will be more lies out there again.”
“That’s just part of it, honey. Not to change the subject or dwell on the negative, but why do you think she hadn’t called you? What would have happened if you hadn’t seen her? Doesn’t that scare you a little?”
“Gosh, Mom, are you a Debbie Downer today or what? I thought you wanted us to get back together. Now it feels like you don’t like her.”
“Baby, I do! I just want you to make sure that you are asking her all the right questions. That’s all. I want y’all to get back together and stay together.” I reached across the bar and grabbed his free hand, squeezing it.
“Mom, trust me. It’s gonna be fine!”
Arden moved back in after graduation like Slayde had wanted her to, and he was back on cloud nine. I had only seen him once since she’d moved in.
I was at home, getting ready for a charity event I was involved in at the country club, when he came over. “Mom?” I heard him shout from downstairs.
“I’m in your dad’s office,” I shouted back at him.
He came in moments later. “What are you doing?”
“Stupid seating chart,” I grumbled.
“Oh, well, you got a minute?”
“For you, of course. What’s up?”
“We’re going to Saint Lucia with Milly and Eddie in the morning.” He smiled broadly.
“Oh, that sounds fun. You should stay at Sandals.” I looked back at my project.
“Well, we want you to go.”
What? I looked up. “You want to take your mom on a romantic getaway with your fiancée?”
“No, I want my family to come to my wedding.”
“Wedding?” I stood up, almost knocking my chair over. “Tomorrow? You’re getting married tomorrow?”
He laughed. “No, but in a few days. We’re leaving tomorrow, and Arden wants your help planning. Will you come?”
“Of course I’ll come.” I ran around the desk and hugged him. “Oh, this is going to be great. She wants my help? Really?”
“Yes. Mom. Not so hard.” He groaned and tried to break free of my grip.
After letting him go, I backed away. “Oh, sorry. OK. Well, we need to start getting ready. Let me talk to your dad and Taylor. Have you called Brady?” He looked away, shaking his head. “You haven’t told Brady? Slayde. He’s your brother. No matter what, you’re still family. You better talk to Brady. You know you want him there.”
“This is our wedding. I don’t want Brady ruining it.”
“He wouldn’t.”
He cut me off. “Really? You saw how he acted in Colorado. Do you really think he’d be better at our wedding?”
I sighed. I couldn’t argue with that. “But he’s going to be so hurt. You do understand that, don’t you?”
“Can we deal with Brady later? It’s his fault he’s not invited.”
“What about Kenedy?”
“Not invited either! Only Isabelle. Arden doesn’t want any of her other family members there. We want it small and drama-free. So, they aren’t invited.”
I nodded sadly. “OK, baby, just let me know when we leave, and Tay and I will be there.”
He smiled. “Thanks, Mom. You’re the best.”
I hadn’t expected this so fast, but I was excited for them. Arden really was all in. And I was thrilled she wanted my help. I loved weddings, and I loved party planning. This was going to be great.
Taylor and I were both packing when Zac got home that evening. He looked around, confused, probably assuming I’d told him about this trip and he wasn’t listening. “Uh, where are we going?” He threw his coat and tie on our bed.
“Saint Lucia.”
I could tell by his expression he was contemplating not saying anything because he thought I was going to be angry. I couldn’t help but giggle. Zac was notorious for not paying attention, but he never admitted it.
“Zac, it just came up. Can you take a few days off?”
Relief washed over his face, and he began untucking his shirt. “Not this week. I have a meeting in New York that I can’t reschedule.”
“Well, honey, you have to reschedule. We’re going for Slayde’s wedding. Your presence is not optional.”
He stopped what he was doing and glared at me. “Wedding?”
“Yes, Zac. They are engaged, remember?”
“They’ve only been engaged for like five minutes.”
I knew he was going to react this way. I knew he thought Slayde was getting married too young. I put my hand on his chest, looking him in the eyes. “Well, here’s the deal. They are getting married this weekend, and you will be there. End of discussion.” I pecked his lips and went back to packing.
“But … ”
“But nothing, Zac Price. Reschedule your meeting. Jeremy and your father can do it without you.”
“So, we’re all flying down in a few days?”
“No, tomorrow.”
He shook his head. “No, I need more than twelve hours. It’s an important meeting. I can’t just not show up.”
“Fine. You don’t have to go tomorrow, but Taylor and I are. The wedding’s not until Sunday.”
“Fine, Brady and I will come down Saturday.”
“Friday. And no Brady,” I corrected him.
“No Brady?” he shouted. I had known this was going to be a big issue with him too.
I turned back toward him, grabbing his hand. “No, Zac. Brady acted a fool last time they were together. This is their wedding. Brady is a bit of a wild card at the moment.”
“And I understand why.”
“Well, I don’t.”
“Lexi, we can’t not take Brady.”
“We aren’t taking Brady, nor are we telling Brady, for that matter.”
“I am telling Brady!” he shouted. “I’m not letting him find out his whole family flew off on vacation and hid it from him.”
“That’s not what I’m suggesting,” I stated calmly.
“Look, I listened to you last time and didn’t tell him about Colorado. That blew up in my face.”
“I’m just suggesting letting Slayde tell him.”
“Slayde’s obviously not going to tell him, Lex, and by me not telling him, it looks like I’m taking sides. It looks like I’m saying what Slayde is doing is OK.”
“Why isn’t it?” I was about to lose my cool.
He threw his hands up in frustration. “He obviously thinks he’s wrong or he’d have told Brady himself.”
“Let’s agree to disagree here. I love Brady, but Brady has no claim on Arden. It’s been years since they broke up, and he was at fault.”
&nb
sp; “I agree with all of that, which is why Slayde should have told him. It looks like he’s hiding it from him.”
“This is none of our business. I don’t like that the boys aren’t seeing eye to eye on this any more than you do, but we need to let them work it out.”
I knew Zac was going to tell Brady, and I understood why. I just really didn’t want anyone fussing about all of this right now. It wouldn’t change anything, and it was really pointless.
Arden really didn’t care that much about all the girly-girl stuff. She wasn’t high maintenance by any means, and she let me take over the wedding planning—which was fine by me. Her mother wasn’t involved in her life at all, as far as I could tell. She’d spent the majority of Arden’s graduation ceremony and celebratory dinner glued to her phone. She even left before our food arrived, without even telling us good-bye. Not only was it rude, I worried about how it made Arden feel. She didn’t act like it bothered her at the time, but I had to believe that it really did. Maybe she was used to it. But that made me even sadder.
She had asked me what I thought about her not inviting her mother to the wedding, and I really hadn’t known what to tell her. When I asked her why she didn’t want to invite her, she finally admitted that she didn’t think her mother would really care to come. I figured she knew best, and if she didn’t need her mother present, then that was OK with me.
I spent a lot of time with Arden in Saint Lucia the few days leading up to the wedding, and she really seemed excited. I was glad to see that because I knew Slayde wanted this more than anything. She did ask me if I thought they were rushing into it, and that really worried me at first. But then she said she was just concerned about things getting hard with her starting her residency, which was understandable. I told her what I would have told to Slayde, that all things worth having are hard sometimes. I said she needed to decide if living without him was harder.
She told me with tears in her eyes that no matter what, she knew she couldn’t live without him ever again. That was all I needed to know. If she felt that way, they could work through anything.
Zac flew in two days before the wedding, since his prior business plans couldn’t be rescheduled. I didn’t mind that he flew in later; he would have been in the way anyway.
He didn’t get in until late, and I was getting ready for bed when he made it to our room.
I gave him a hug. “Glad you’re finally here.”
He squeezed me, kissed the top of my head, and pulled away. “Me too, but I’m tired and hungry.”
“Tell me what you want, and I’ll order you room service while you shower.”
“Whatever. I don’t know what they have.” I held out the room service menu, but he didn’t take it. He pulled off his shirt and headed into the bathroom, mumbling, “You’ve been cooking for me forever. You know what I like.”
“Excuse me, grouchy,” I said under my breath. He was clearly in a foul mood, but I wasn’t letting him get to me.
I ordered him baked chicken and vegetables, thinking that seemed safe, and crawled into bed with a new Nicholas Sparks book.
I heard the shower turn off, and a few seconds later he opened the door, still soaking wet with a towel wrapped around his waist. “So, everything is still all going as planned?”
“If you’re referring to your son’s wedding, then yes. It’s all under control.”
I looked back down at my book, and he disappeared back into the bathroom and reemerged with shorts on minutes later.
He plopped down next to me on top of the covers and leaned back with his arms behind his head. He was quiet. Something was bothering him.
I looked down at him, meeting his gaze. “What? What’s bugging you?”
“Don’t you think he’s too young to get married?”
I tried not to laugh. “Well, I don’t think we have any room to talk. We got married at eighteen.”
“And we got divorced. We’re his parents, Lex. We don’t need room to talk. We have experience.”
Not sure where this was going, I put my book down, giving him my full attention. “I don’t think he’s making a mistake.”
“They were broken up a month ago.”
“It’s his life. Stay out of it. Isn’t that what you always tell me?”
Thankfully his food came then, and he got quiet and ate and let me go back to my book.
Of course, as soon as I was ready to go to sleep, he switched the television on.
“I thought you were tired.”
“I am. But I just want to put it on the sports channel for a few minutes, so I can relax.”
Of course you do. He knew I couldn’t go to sleep with the TV on, but Taylor and I were meeting early the next morning to get our nails done, so I decided to try and ignore him and his ESPN and go to sleep.
I was almost asleep when he said, “Lexi.”
“I was almost asleep,” I growled.
He turned the light on. “It’s important.”
“What, Zac?” I rolled over, and he was staring at me.
“I need you to talk to Slayde.”
“About what?” I was completely aggravated with him at this point.
“He needs her to sign a prenup. I’ve already had one drawn up for him.”
I had been waiting for this. I was surprised it took him this long to bring it up. “I’m not talking to him about any such thing. He’s smart. He can make his own decisions about stuff like that.” I rolled back over. “’Night.”
“His money is not my problem, but what he has saved up from Price Oil is my problem. That’s our family money.”
“And she’s about to be our family,” I added flatly.
“Oh, come on. Don’t give me that crap. You know as well as I do that this most likely won’t end well. You just don’t want to say it.”
I didn’t share his opinion. I thought Slayde knew what he was doing. “Please let it go. He’s going to get upset if you bring it up. He’s happy, and it’s going to be fine.”
He muttered a few swear words under his breath, turned the TV off, and rolled over.
“’Night, baby,” I said.
He ignored me. Pouting, I’m sure.
The next morning, he got up when I did.
“What are you doing today?” I asked.
“Golfing and making Slayde hear me out about this prenup. If she’s marrying him for all the right reasons, great! That’s exactly what we want. So why would this matter?”
“I don’t think it will matter to her, but I do think it will matter to him. So if you do this, be ready for him to blow up. Because he’s going to.” I leaned up and gave him a kiss. “Have fun.”
“Love you,” he said.
I smiled. “Love you too.”
I knew this was a terrible idea, and I didn’t want to be involved. But unfortunately, I was going to be anyway. When I got back that afternoon, Zac was pacing in our room.
“I thought you were playing golf with Slayde.”
“We did, but we weren’t alone. So we couldn’t talk. He’s on his way up here right now. I texted him and told him I needed to see him.”
I grabbed my bag again and headed for the door. Zac caught my hand before I could leave. “Please stay.”
“I already told you that I don’t want any part in this.”
Before I could make my getaway, Slayde knocked on the door. I opened it and let him in. I could tell by his face that he knew something was going on.
He nodded at me and sat on the sofa, looking at Zac. “What’s up?”
This is a bad idea. Zac won’t listen to me, but Slayde is not going to take this well.
“Look, I like Arden. But I want you to get her to sign a prenup.”
“No.” Slayde jumped up. “That’s what you called me up here for?”
“Slayde. I’m not being a jerk. You have interest in our family business. That’s ours. Not hers.”
“Key word, Dad: family. She’s about to be your family. Accept that.”
> “In a perfect world, I would. But life’s not perfect. If she divorces you, Slayde, she gets part of the family assets. I can’t let that happen.”
“Then take my interest back. I don’t give a shit about it anyway.”
“That’s not what I want to do. I want to protect those interests. They’re yours.”
“This discussion is over. You do whatever you want to with your money. I don’t care!” Slayde shouted on his way out, slamming the door behind him.
Zac looked at me. “Will you talk to him?” I looked blankly at him. “Lexi, this is serious. She has to sign a prenup. Please, Lex. He will listen to you.”
“Think about what you’re saying. You sound like your father.”
“And he was right. You did divorce me.”
OK, now I was pissed. I stood up. “You better be careful. I don’t have a prenup anymore.”
“Where are you going?”
“To take a walk,” I snapped.
“So you’re really not going to talk to him?”
“Nope.”
“Why not?”
“Because I don’t agree with you.”
“Do you realize how much she’d get if they divorced?”
I cut my eyes to him and said, “Then don’t give it to him.”
“So that’s the answer?”
“Zac, he doesn’t care. She doesn’t care.”
“And obviously you don’t care!”
“You’re right. I don’t,” I said with thick sarcasm.
“Alexis. Think about it.”
I held up my hand. “I’m not saying that I think you’re wrong by trying to protect him, but he doesn’t want it. So butt out.”
He was furious, but I didn’t care.
As I headed out to the beach, I saw Slayde sitting on a wooden beach chair, staring out at the water.
I sat next to him. He jerked his head up at me. “Aren’t you supposed to be with your friends and fiancée?” I asked.
He nodded. “Yeah, when I calm down. Arden’ll know something’s wrong. And the last thing I need is anything scaring her. I’m not doing it. So if that’s what you came here to talk to me about, don’t waste your breath. I love her, Mom. I’m not setting us up with a plan B. We’re not going to get divorced. I don’t care what you and Dad think. This is my life.”
