Page 1 of A Love Like Pumpkin Spice (Wayward Hollow #1)

Nic

“Oh my God, you’re a fiancée!”

With a giant smile on her face that I’m all too happy to return, Lauren pulls me into a tight embrace. “Nic! It’s been too long.”

“It has been.” I release my best friend from the bone-crushing hug. She steps back, keeping her hands on my upper arms, and beams at me, cheeks red with excitement. “What am I even supposed to congratulate you on first? Retiring from acting, that pretty ring on your finger, or your birthday?”

“My birthday isn’t until tomorrow, so one of the other two,” I tell her with a giggle and grab her hand to pull her inside the house.

Retiring .

The word still sounds weird to me. I’d rather describe it as refocusing, living life in the shadows of fame instead of the spotlight. After fifteen years of acting, I need a break, some time to focus on my private life, and to start the family I always wanted to have.

But hey, whatever the media wants to call it.

“There are… a lot of people,” Lauren points out with a sigh and shifts her weight.

She brushes a strand of her ash-blond hair behind her ear, while the fingers of her other hand nervously play with the fabric of her pink summer dress.

I shoot her an apologetic smile and give her shoulder a reassuring squeeze .

“I’m sorry. Since Jay’s family is hosting, they insisted on inviting a bunch of people I’ve never even met.

Trust me, I’m as thrilled as you.” She tenses under my fingers, and I gently turn her to me.

Her eyes dart around the room, and I quickly reach for her hand.

“Will you be all right? It’s not too late to run. No hard feelings.”

I know she doesn't do well with large groups of people in small spaces, but bless her heart, she nods slightly, takes a deep breath, and straightens her shoulders.

“I’ll be okay,” she assures me with a small smile.

“But speaking of Jay, where’s your fiancé?

Arguably, he deserved the congrats even more now that he gets to spend the rest of his life with you.

” Her face softens as she stretches her neck to peek into the adjoining living room.

Most of our families are gathered there, happily chatting and sipping on the overpriced champagne we splurged on for the occasion.

“I could swear he was with them a moment ago.” I tilt my head and scrunch my eyebrows. Where could he have wandered off to? “Maybe he’s upstairs. Let’s go find him.”

I pull her with me, taking her mind off the loud chatter coming from the living room.

“By the way, how come I haven’t seen any new movie announcements from you?” I ask her as we climb the stairs, trying to distract her. “I heard you were in talks for some amazing roles.”

She twirls a strand of hair around her finger and looks at me sheepishly. “I’m taking a page out of your book and having a break. I have no idea what I’ll do with myself but damn”—a deep sigh falls from her lips—“I’m exhausted, Nic.”

“I get it,” I say with a soft nod and stop when we reach the top of the stairs. The light in Jay’s childhood room is on, and I nod toward it. “There he is.”

We walk down the dark hallway, our footsteps muffled by the soft carpet. I am about to reach for the door handle to open it, but the sound of two voices talking makes me freeze, my hand hanging in the air as if stopped by an invisible wall.

“You know it’s not for long, babe.”

Babe.

His nickname, for me, which normally wraps around my heart like a warm, comforting blanket, but now?

Now it makes my skin tingle as if spiders are crawling up my spine. My stomach churns and nausea creeps up my throat.

Lauren steps closer. Her eyes flicker towards me, wide with shock. I press a finger to my lips. Pain tightens my lungs, but I have to keep listening. She nods immediately, and I feel her tension ease. Her fingernails dig into my forearm.

We remain motionless, and I strain to hear better. The blood rushes in my ears louder than a waterfall, trying to drown out the meaning of the words. Maybe it wasn't his voice after all?

“Am I supposed to stand by helplessly while you marry that bitch?”

My lungs forget how to work, and my knees buckle when I recognize the high-pitched voice. Only my back leaning against the wall stops me from collapsing. I hoped maybe the TV was running, or he was listening to one of his weird podcasts.

But the fact that he’s talking to Marissa?

My own damn sister?

That is much worse. And here I thought she peaked when she told my third-grade class during recess that I pee my pants at night. Guess she was only warming up to making my life miserable.

At first, my brain refuses to process it. I mean, maybe I’m having a stroke, maybe I’m imagining things. It just … doesn’t make sense. I’ve been thrown into some cruel parallel universe where up is down. Where monsters wear my sister’s face, and I’m falling, like Alice, down the rabbit hole .

From the corner of my eye, I see Lauren rustling in her bag, and she takes out her phone. I shoot her a glare. What is she going to do, livestream my engagement going up in flames?

This time, it’s her turn to motion for me to shush as she pulls up her camera.

“You know I have to do this.” The lights dim briefly as Jay walks past the door and my heart races, the fear of getting caught twisting my stomach.

Hold on—why the hell would I feel bad about getting caught?

“Once the papers are signed and the period for an annulment is over, I’ll divorce her, take half of her money, and we can be together. We talked about this, baby. I’m doing this for us.”

Every single word stabs at my heart like a knife, like I’m the final girl who didn’t run fast enough from the killer.

Of all the things … it’s about money? A cold wave washes over me, and I cover my mouth with my hand as tears form in my eyes.

“I hate having that skank between us.” I hear the sound of lips smacking against each other, and bile rises in my throat. Hell, the thought of having kissed the same man as my sister drains all the blood from my face; makes my hands tremble with a mix of disgust and the urge to break her nose.

“Me too, babe. But I’ll make sure she sets us up for life.

We’re going to take all the vacations we talked about—on her dime.

Just imagine, the two of us on a beach in Hawaii, cocktail in hand, laughing at her miserable life.

” Lauren reaches for my hand and gives me a reassuring squeeze, watching me from the corner of her eye, probably afraid I’m about to have a panic attack right here. It wouldn’t be an unfounded worry.

“You better. I need to cut that shrew out.” My sister takes a deep breath.

“For twenty-eight years, I’ve been dreaming of the day she’d disappear.

I can’t believe it’s almost here.” They giggle.

I force myself to take calm breaths. “All thanks to you. It’s laughable how you have her wrapped around your little finger. ”

“Right?” His chuckle makes the hair on my neck stand up. “It was almost too easy to convince her to skip the prenup.”

“She’s not the brightest tool in the shed. It’s embarrassing to be related to her, honestly. Give her a crumb of attention, and that’s all it takes to have her trotting after you like a lost puppy, minus the charm.”

I inhale sharply. She’s not entirely wrong.

She always outshone me. My childhood was the Marissa Show, and I was the underpaid, emotionally neglected production assistant that was supposed to be happy about being allowed to be there at all. Even on my birthdays, she managed to walk away with more presents than I did.

“It wouldn’t be fair otherwise,” my mom used to say. You know, because celebrating my birth was apparently a scandal itself already.

For the longest time, I hoped I was adopted. Hell, I’d have been fine with being an affair baby. At least that meant there was a reason for them to hate me.

But nope. No hidden letters, no torrid backstory. Just pure, uncut resentment. Turns out, they just hate me for the crime of existing.

Marissa was the wanted child, while they acted as if I decided to show up out of nowhere without any input from them. If she got a D, it was the teacher’s fault. If I got a B, I lost Wi-Fi privileges for a week and had to “reevaluate my priorities.”

The older and more independent I got, the worse they became.

I started acting at thirteen so I could get out; going from school straight to auditions, only involving my parents when I needed their signature once I got a job.

They managed to make even that seem as though I’d asked them for a pony.

Yet they were happy to take any money I made until I was finally old enough to open my own bank account and forge their signatures well enough.

“You should be thankful for having a roof over your head. Contributing is the least you could do.” They used to say whenever I complained, while Marissa spent the day lounging in front of the TV instead of going to her university classes or finding a job.

All I wanted was to move out. I dreamed of it for years, how I’d live my best life, all on my own. But there was always some reason to not do it. Birthdays, Christmas, Thanksgiving.

Like a complete idiot, I still wanted their love. Still bent myself into a thousand emotional origami shapes, hoping they’d notice me.

Now look where that got me.

“It’s pathetic.” Jay’s cruel chuckle pulls me back to my nightmare of a reality. “She’s super dumb. She believes every word I say.”

How fucking dare he?

I want to storm in, give him a piece of my mind, slap the smug smile off his face. But Lauren tightens her grip on my arm and turns me to face her.

“No,” she whispers harshly, and with that little word, I deflate like a balloon, slowly crumpling into myself.