“It wasn’t a lie,” Zac said. “I don’t know much about your family but your dad is Tad Williams. No matter what biological matter my dad contributed, Tad raised you and the man I saw today is a good man. He defended your mother and mine.”
“He is a good man. I’ve always wanted to be just like him,” Nick said.
Zac realized that Nick might not know it but he had a better relationship with Tad Williams than he ever would have had with August Bisset. August was mellowing but he was still a difficult man to have as a father.
“That’s good,” Zac said. “Nothing’s changed. Did you know he wasn’t your biological father?”
“I did.”
“Did your mom ever say anything about my dad?” Zac asked.
“She said she’d fallen for a man who was charming and funny, and when she’d realized he belonged to someone else, she left. She said he wasn’t in the picture and that Tad was the only father I’d know.”
Zac wished that had been the case. “I’m sorry.”
“Thanks,” Nick said, pushing the glass back and forth between his hands.
“Want another?”
“Yes. But I have to fix things with Adler. She tried to say things would be okay and I yelled at her.”
“I think I’d do the same thing in your situation,” Zac said. “That kind of news is hard to hear.”
“It is, but Adler didn’t deserve that. She was freaking out too, I know it, even though she didn’t say anything.”
“But she loves you,” Zac said. “I’ve never seen her this happy before.”
“That’s the worst part about finding this out now. It’s going to be a cloud over the wedding. Hell, I don’t even know if she’ll still marry me after I yelled at her the way I did.”
The door to the bar opened. Zac caught sight of Iris and Adler. Leave it to Iris to get the couple back together and salvage the weekend. That was one of the things he admired about her. She didn’t hesitate to do whatever she needed to in order to make things run smoothly.
Look at how she’d contracted him to be her man when she’d been dumped.
Where had that thought come from?
There was a hint of resentment inside him as he realized he might be just another quick fix that she was so good at administering.
“There’s only one way to find out,” Zac said to Nick. “Adler just walked in.”
Nick pushed his glass to one side and sat up straighter. His shoulders went back and all the doubt and anger that had been dominating his expression and posture were subdued. It was as if he were putting on a show for Adler.
Instead, he was the confident man that Zac had seen the night before at dinner. He ran his hands over his hair and then noticed the scraped knuckles. Zac pulled his pocket square out and handed it to the other man. “Use this.”
“Thanks.”
Nick cleaned his knuckles, passing the square of fabric back just as the ladies arrived at their table.
Nick and Zac stood and when Nick turned to Adler, Zac looked away. They were hugging each other, and it was so intimate that really no one should be watching them.
He glanced at Iris and saw the longing on her face. She wanted what Adler and Nick had but she’d settled for a contracted boyfriend.
He wondered why. Was it convenience? Or was there something deeper that kept her from really committing to a man?
“Let’s give them some privacy,” he said.
She nodded and slipped her hand into his as they turned away. He looked down at their joined hands. After the morning they’d had, filled with lies and betrayals and secrets that should have stayed that way, he wondered what he was going to do about his woman he’d agreed to pretend to care for, since he had already realized that he had never been pretending with her.
She had gotten to him from the first moment they’d met and he should have done the smart thing and walked away. But she had him ensnared, and he had to admit he didn’t mind it as long as she felt something for him.
Which he couldn’t be sure of.
* * *
Iris walked with Zac to the other side of the yacht club bar, which wasn’t very busy at this hour. She was worried about Zac. She knew he and his father had a contentious relationship and finding out that his dad had cheated on his mom...that had to be a blow.
“Are you okay?”
He held out a chair for her and nodded. “Do you want a drink?”
“I’m okay, but you can get one if you want to.”
“I don’t like to drink alone,” he said.
“I’ll have a Perrier with a lime,” Iris said, realizing he needed something to do. She would bet that everyone in his family was doing their best to keep busy and not think about what had happened.
He walked to the bar and Iris realized she should probably cancel all of the filming she’d planned to do around the events for the day. She sent a text to her staff, letting them know that the family had decided to have a quiet day together and told them to enjoy the bonus day off. She also texted her friend Quinn, who was producing the televised wedding ceremony, and told her that Adler wasn’t going to be available today.
Quinn called back instead of texting. Considering that Iris, Quinn and Adler had been good friends since their freshman year of college when they’d met at the sorority house, she wasn’t surprised.
“Is Adler okay?”
“Yes. There was some unexpected drama with the Bissets and the Williamses and I don’t know that she’s in the right state to film. Just wanted to give you a heads-up.”
“Thanks for that. Is she okay? I’m going to text her. Just send her some virtual hugs. I’m on the damn ferry right now. This thing seems to go slower and slower every time I get on it.”
Quinn was a big city gal used to moving at a fast pace. Iris had once seen her friend pay for and bag up another woman’s groceries because she was moving too slow. “There’s nothing you could do if you were here sooner.”
“Except see Ad and if needed, kick some Bisset butt. They have to be the trouble, right?”
“It’s complicated,” Iris said. “Text me when you get here. Do you need a ride?”
“No. The traffic will be heavy when the ferry gets in. I’m going to run to the hotel. I need to burn off some energy.”
“Okay, I’ll see you later then.”
“Bye.”
Zac set the glasses on the table before sitting down across from her. He rubbed the back of his neck and turned to look out at the ocean. His clean jaw and sharp blade of a nose gave him a gorgeous profile but then everything about him struck the right note for her.
“Wish you were out there?”
He turned back and took a sip of what looked like whiskey. “Yes and no. I mean, my mom would’ve been alone when she heard the news about my dad today if I hadn’t been there.”
“That was a shock,” Iris said. “I was glad I got to escape.”
“I bet.”
He didn’t say anything, just swallowed his whiskey in one long sip.
“Do you want to talk about it?”
“Which part?”
“Whichever part you want to,” she said.
“I’m not sure. This isn’t part of the contract.”
“So? You said it yourself. We’re friends, aren’t we?” she asked. She had stopped thinking about the contract when shit had gotten real in the conservatory. It had made her feel very shallow to realize she’d been worried about showing up stag when something like this was going down.
“Are we?”
She wasn’t sure if he was being cagey because of what he’d learned about his dad or if he had some beef with her. She knew if it were her, she’d want to fight with someone...probably Thea because she knew that she could say mean things to her sister and, in the end, Thea would forgive her.
&n
bsp; “Yes, we are. Listen, I can’t begin to imagine what you’re feeling but if you need to talk or yell or go sailing or—”
“Have sex?”
Her eyes widened but she nodded. Whatever he needed. She hated to see the people she loved hurt... Wait, did she love him? She wasn’t sure if she did because she’d never been in love before, but this felt...well, not like anything she’d experienced before.
“Yes. Even that. Whatever you need. I’m here,” she said.
He reached for her hand and laced their fingers together. “I don’t know what I need. I guess I’m in shock. I’ve always known my dad wasn’t faithful to my mom. He had a very public affair before Mari was born. But I thought we knew the worst of him. Catting around on Mom while she was pregnant with Logan...that is something I can’t forgive.”
“You don’t have to,” Iris said. “You get to decide what you feel about that and if you can’t get past it, then that’s fine. He’s always going to be your father, but you don’t have to let him be a part of your life.”
Zac nodded. “I know what you are saying but here’s the kicker. I want him in my life. I’ve always worked so hard to make him proud. To prove that I was better than he was. And now, knowing in my heart how petty I want to be about this, I don’t think I am any better.”
Iris went around to sit next to him at the table. She put her arm around him and her chin on his shoulder. “No one is. That’s something I had to figure out the hard way. But no one is better than anybody else. We are all messed up and trying to figure out how to get through each day. Your dad had a shock, as well. He screwed up and probably thought that he had put all of that in the past. And then today his mistakes were front and center for his entire family to see.”
“You’re right. I know you are,” Zac said. He pulled her around onto his lap and just held her in his arms. She knew she should get up, that people would see them, but she didn’t want to. She wanted to give as much comfort to this man she loved as she could. And it didn’t matter what kind of image they presented to the world.
* * *
Nick took Adler to the new home he’d had built for them on Nantucket. She watched him pacing around the living room, that she’d had designed for their future. But as she looked around she saw it was all the things she wanted them to be and maybe not who they really were.
“What are we going to do?” she asked him.
“Do about what—the wedding?”
“Yes.” What did he think she was talking about?
“I really don’t know. We have all these people coming to Nantucket. If we cancel—”
“Are you thinking about not marrying me?” For the first time she had to face her fears about Nick. He was questioning everything about himself and his life. Maybe he was questioning a future with her, too?
“I don’t know,” he said, shoving his hands through his hair. “My gut says this isn’t going to blow over easily. I want to manage it.”
“I get that. Managing the news about your parentage should be the top priority. But are we going to do it as a team?”
He turned on her and she saw anger in his eyes. “Can we have one minute where it’s not all about you, Adler? Is that possible?”
She took a deep breath and nodded. She was about to start crying and blinked rapidly to keep the tears from falling. “Take as much time as you need. I’m going to my gran’s.”
“Run away. That’s what you do when life gets too real, isn’t it?”
“It’s what I do when I’m confronted with a bully who is lashing out because he doesn’t want to admit he’s hurting,” she said. Her voice was low and rough from trying to choke back tears. “Let’s have the clambake tonight and tomorrow we can figure out if we should still get married. We have a lot of people coming. Try to remember it’s not all about you, either.”
Adler left the room, tears streaming down her face. She wished her mom were here so she could talk with her about this. She had no idea how to handle Nick right now.
Was the man she loved gone? Had Nick disappeared when he learned he was August Bisset’s biological son?
Fifteen
Iris and Zac ended up taking a lead role in entertaining the guests who were attending the clambake on Thursday evening. The elder Williams and Bisset couples had spent the day with Carlton coming up with the spin on today’s revelations in case the story somehow got out to the press.
Iris just stayed by Adler’s side and did whatever her friend asked her to do. It was odd to see Adler so fragile because she’d never been like that before. This thing with Nick had rattled her.
It was safe to say the couple hadn’t resolved things. They were still going through with planned events but Iris could tell nothing was right.
Nick was drinking a lot; Iris had known him in his frat boy days so that was saying something. Zac was keeping pace with him and she had to say she was both surprised and happy to see that he was a really funny drunk. His brother Logan, who had the fiercest rivalry with Nick in business, had surrounded himself with a group of women that Iris wasn’t sure were part of the wedding party. Leo, Zac’s younger brother, was keeping an eye on Zac and Nick and running drinks back and forth to them. Nick’s brothers, Asher and Noah, were hanging with Leo and Nick’s sister Olivia was at Iris’s side, helping Adler out.
The food had been prepared by a catering company Adler had hired, which meant there was little for them to do but keep the conversation going and that horrible truth buried.
Iris saw Toby Osborn before Adler did. He still had a full head of hair despite being sixty. He had a mustache and short beard and carried his legendary guitar, Martha Mae. He had his usual entourage with him, including his live-in girlfriend, whom Iris had met before and liked.
As soon as Adler saw her dad, she ran to him and he pushed his guitar around to his back and caught her. Iris knew that Adler had always wished for a more normal upbringing but there was no denying she had been well loved by her father. She was his world.
“What’d I miss?” Quinn asked, coming up beside her and handing her a gin and tonic.
“Nothing. The elders are back at the house having a meeting, Nick’s getting drunk and Zac is helping him, and Toby’s just arrived.”
“Are you dating Zac?”
“That’s what you got out of my rundown?” Iris asked.
“Well, I did see it on my newsfeed. He’s not your usual type, is he?”
“Uh, no. Graham kind of put me off my usual type.”
“Graham was a douche bag,” Quinn said.
“Did everyone hate him?” Iris asked.
“Yes,” Quinn said. “I’m glad you aren’t with him anymore.”
She glanced over at Nick and Zac, who were singing along to Sister Hazel’s “All For You.” She especially loved when they tried to harmonize and neither of them sang a note that was near the other’s. Toby set Adler down and went over to the two would-be singers and joined in.
“Oh, my God, they’re hilarious,” Iris said, grabbing her phone so she could capture the moment. She knew that Nick would want to see this happy moment later, after a day that had been filled with so many ups and downs.
Zac caught her filming and wriggled his eyebrows at her. The next time the chorus came on, he gestured to her as if to say he only wanted to be with her. She knew he was drunk and kidding around but she wanted this to be true.
Adler came up beside her and looped her arm through hers and Quinn took her other arm. After the crazy day they’d had, she was so grateful to have these two women by her side. She wasn’t sure that anything was going to come of her and Zac but she’d have this memory to last forever.
And after the way she’d seen the past come back to haunt August and Cora, she wondered if she shouldn’t come clean about hiring Zac to be her man for the weekend. She didn’t want that to come out at some odd time when th
ey were both older and more established...maybe with other partners.
The thought hurt and dimmed her joy of the moment, but she had to be honest with herself. She loved Zac but that hadn’t made her blind to how impossible it was for the two of them.
He was in the spotlight, dancing and singing and loving the attention, and she would never be comfortable out there. She needed her glam squad and her prepared scripts to be comfortable in front of the camera.
She stopped filming the video as the song ended. Toby started singing some of his hits and Adler drifted over to Nick and they walked down the beach. Quinn’s phone went off and she turned away to take the call. Iris was left standing by herself. Zac was surrounded by his brothers. She watched him and realized that he always knew how to handle every situation and she envied that.
It was something she’d never been able to find in herself. She could only function with rules. She took a step backward as she realized that she had let herself love Zac because it was safe. She’d let her guard down, thinking her contract and her end date would keep her from getting hurt. Never realizing that letting her guard down was the thing she should have been avoiding.
It wasn’t a certain type of man who could hurt her—it was herself. Her own flaws and fears had been driving her to this moment ever since she’d become an adult.
She looked at Adler, trying so hard to find a man who was nothing like her father and then finding out on the eve of her wedding that he had a scandalous secret, even though it was no fault of his own. Then Iris thought of her own secret with Zac, one she was 100 percent responsible for.
There was no way to protect herself from herself. She wished she’d realized this in Boston before she’d walked into that bar and seen that sexy man for the first time. She wished she’d had the strength to know herself and be real about her fear of being alone then. She wished... Hell, it hurt her to her core but she wished she’d never talked to Zac Bisset.
Without saying a word to anyone, she quietly left the party and went back to the hotel.
Her One Night Proposal (One Night Book 4) Page 14
