Page 37 of A Love Like Pumpkin Spice (Wayward Hollow #1)

Nic

“May I please have your attention?” Marissa taps against the microphone, even though all eyes are already on her. She smiles brighter than as if she’s about to give a toast at my wedding. I cross my arms in front of my chest, trying to brace myself for whatever she’s cooked up.

I know what she’s about to say will be attempts to tear me down, disguised as backhanded compliments. Even though that’s how she’s spoken to me all my life, and even though her opinions shouldn’t matter, I know this is about to sting nonetheless.

“What the hell is going on?” Andrea whispers beside me, and Henry untangles my arms, grabbing my hand to pull me closer to the stage, the murmurs around us getting louder with every step.

“I want to thank you all for being so welcoming during our stay,” she declares sweetly, putting her hand on her chest and pretending to blink away tears.

But from the way the mood shifts from carefree and happy to grim and what the fuck does she want?

it’s not giving her quite the reaction she was hoping for.

Instead of cheers, there's whispering. Instead of hospitality, there are crossed arms and glares in her direction. Which is already making me feel a whole lot better. She can only thank herself for that. She didn’t exactly become a town favorite over the past few days.

“ And because you are all so nice, I think it is my duty to tell you who the new addition to your wonderful town really is.”

We are still making our way to the front of the crowd, but I can’t quite bring myself to lift my gaze from the ground.

Shame weighs heavily on my shoulders for being the reason she’s here, that she’s disturbing the autumn fair for her own petty agenda.

God, I wish the ground would open up to swallow me. Or her. I’m not picky.

“It means the world to us. Especially to me. Seeing my little sister surrounded by so many … kind, trusting people.” She smiles wider, like she’s tasting something bitter but trying to sell it as honey.

“I know she’s made a big impression on this town,” she continues dramatically.

“She always does. That’s kind of her thing, showing up somewhere new, pretending to be a different person.

I used to think it was brave, honestly. Starting over, pretending none of the wreckage she leaves behind matters. ”

A murmur goes through the crowd and flashes from cameras light up the approaching night, making my heart beat into my throat and my hands clammy with anxiety. Henry gives my hand a reassuring squeeze, and when I look up at him, it’s to a reassuring smile.

“And because you’ve all been kind, it’s only fair to tell you more about the person you’ve embraced so wholeheartedly.

In her last relationship,” she says with a sorrowful shake of her head, “Nicola was … not faithful. She cheated on her fiancé only days before the wedding. We were all devastated. He was, is , a good man. And now he’s heartbroken after getting so utterly humiliated. ”

I can’t help but nervously giggle when she dabs beneath her dry eyes with a tissue she clearly brought up there only for this moment.

Damn, they’ve really dramatized and rewritten their version of eve nts. It’s almost funny.

She wipes another nonexistent tear off her face before she continues. “And then she disappeared. Walked away without a care in the world. No explanation. No apology. She left everyone who loves her behind. Especially me.”

She takes a fake shaky breath right into the microphone for the full effect, while I straighten my shoulders and finally lift my chin.

When she catches my eye, I can see her almost breaking into a triumphant grin, but she catches herself at the last moment. At this point, the only thing I can do is let her dig a deeper hole, waiting for the perfect moment to push her into it.

“She left her poor fiancé with nothing and ran to be with him .” She points at the two of us, and it’s taking everything inside me to not burst into laughter when the crowd’s murmur turns from confused to angry.

She might have had a chance if she’d only attacked me. But to pull Henry into this, a man who’s lived here all his life, who everyone here has watched grow up into the wonderful man that he is today—that’s when she completely loses the crowd.

“I came here thinking maybe we could reconnect as sisters. But watching her pretend nothing happened? Making herself the victim? It’s not only dishonest. It’s dangerous.

And if it saves even one person here from falling into the same trap we all did …

then maybe it’s worth speaking up.” She clutches her chest, trying her best to sound sincere.

I don’t think she realizes yet that there is not a single person in this crowd left who believes her.

Courtney and Phil are shaking their head with amusement, while Mr. Peterson is inspecting his cane, probably wondering how to best use it as a weapon.

Hell, even Amanda’s jaw is set in anger, and she’s basically the queen of being unbothered.

I motion to Lauren, who has been waiting at an angle where Marissa couldn’t see her, and she hands me a microphone, motioning for Kieran to cut the one on stage.

“ You know, I have a slightly different version of events,” I say into the microphone as I climb up the stairs to the stage, taking out my phone. She tries to cut in, her eyes narrowing at me when she realizes her microphone is dead.

Lauren has spent the past day cutting up all the incriminating recordings that we had of her and Jay.

Initially, Lauren wanted to cut the videos into a music video and edit them into dancing clowns, but the rest of us agreed that would be overkill.

In the end we settled on only using sound.

All I need to do is hold my phone against the microphone and press play.

Now it’s my turn to play the victim part—and I’m the, albeit former, sister that actually got paid and won awards for her acting.

I watch Marissa pale when she hears first Jay’s then her own voice coming from the speakers, listening to snippets of the conversation they had during what was supposed to be my engagement party.

“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.”

“I hate having that bitch between us.”

The whole crowd gasps, and I bite my lip to keep from grinning, as all of them turn to glare at Marissa. She is slowly but surely sinking into herself, probably wishing right about now for the ground to swallow her whole.

“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.”

The murmur grows louder, and I notice several people in the audience pulling out their phones to film the spectacle.

“People like her are meant to be used. She’s always been a joke. Way too emotional and way too stingy with her money.”

The camera flashes become crazier with every word coming from the speakers.

I’m sure we make an interesting image. Me the victim, blinking incessantly as I pretend to try not to cry, and Marissa next to me, utterly humiliated, paling until she could give the town ghosts Amanda keeps telling Lauren and me about a run for their money.

Once the recording ends, I lower my phone and bring the microphone back to my trembling lips.

“I used to love you dearly, Marissa, but I can’t let you lie to all of these wonderful people,” I say and clutch my heart. “You said it. They deserve the truth!”

She opens and closes her mouth, floundering harder than a fish on dry land as she tries to figure out how to come back from that. But before she can, Erik climbs the stage in his uniform, handcuffs shining in his hand.

“You’re under arrest,” he says dryly, opening them and Marissa stares at him with wide eyes, panic washing over her face.

“What?”

“You’re under arrest,” he repeats. “For identity theft, credit card fraud, disrupting what was so far a calm and nice event, defamation, and harassment. Please turn around and put your hands on your back.”

“You can’t do that,” she protests, trying to wiggle out of his grasp, but he’s got her locked up. “Do you know who I am?”

“Yes, I do, remember? I saw your ID when I escorted you out of the hotel,” Erik chuckles, and a weight falls off my chest when I hear the click of the handcuffs locking. “You have the right to remain silent, and I recommend you make use of that.”

“You can’t do this!” Marissa shouts.

A sudden commotion breaks out in the back of the crowd, and I spot two of Erik’s uniformed coworkers, snapping handcu ffs onto Jay’s wrists. He’s trying to resist, but he’s got no chance against the two men.

Before I can even fully process it, Henry is right beside me, his hand steady and warm on my shoulder. I lean into him without thinking, letting the weight of it all settle, knowing he’s got me.

“This is the best moment of my life,” I whisper, noticing him shake with silent laughter. “I hope Lauren is filming this.”

“You did great,” he murmurs proudly and kisses the side of my head, to a few awwws from the crowd that make me blush.

“You must stop them!” Suddenly my egg and sperm donors appear in front of the stage, faces distraught as they watch their golden-child daughter be escorted away by police.

“Excuse me, do I know you?” I lift my eyebrow at them.

Funny. It doesn’t hurt as much as I thought it would. I spent the past few days, ever since Lauren came up with the plan, agonizing over how this would go.

But now that it’s here? It’s cathartic.

Sure. Seeing the people I used to call my parents still stings. There is still an underlying voice in my head, but instead of a constant scream of why don’t they love me? there is only a whisper. It is there, and I fear it will always be there.

But the voice reminding me of all the wonderful people who have my back is much louder now.

“How dare you talk to us that way? We are your parents!” my mother curses, and my sperm donor, face red with anger, remains silent—probably fearing that he’ll incriminate himself if he opens his mouth.

“Parents?” I stare at them, pretending to be confused, then amusedly glance at Lauren and burst into a giggle. “Lauren, these people claim to be my ‘parents.’”

Lauren hurries over immediately, face scrunching in anger as she quickly positions herself between them and me.

“ Really?” she asks, pretending to be as astonished as I did. “I mean, parents are supposed to love their children unconditionally, aren’t they?” Her eyes jump between me and them. “I’m sorry, but you must have the wrong person.”

“You dare do this to us after all we did? Is that your thanks for us raising you?” my father grits out between clenched teeth, and I shake my head.

“You did the bare minimum. You don’t get to claim a favor from me for it now,” I say with an overly sweet smile on my face.

“And I’m not going to do shit. Marissa has committed fraud and theft on a felony level.

For once, not even you can get her out of this.

My lawyers will throw the whole extent of the law at her, and there is not a single thing you can do to stop it.

And you know what? I will be able to sleep better at night for doing so. ”

My heart pounds loudly, and I can’t help but let out the nervous laughter that’s been bubbling in my belly. “And just so you know, if you ever talk to me again, ever try to contact me again, I have my lawyers on speed dial and will record any attempts.”

“You are such an ungrateful—” my dad talks himself into rage, but I demonstratively lift my phone and shake my head at him with a sneer when he immediately shuts up.

“I’m done being a doormat,” I say exhaustedly. “Fuck you. Have the life you deserve, far away from me.”

“How dare you!” my mother jumps in, trying to walk toward me and climb onto the stage, but my father holds her back.

I don’t waste one more breath on them and turn around, letting Henry lead me off the stage. As soon as we are out of sight from the crowd, I break into the biggest grin and Lauren lifts her hand for a huge high five.

“God, I feel so free,” I say, letting my head fall back and releasing the tension I’d held on to since Marissa noticed her own voice coming from the speakers.

“ I’m so proud of you,” Henry mumbles and presses his lips against the top of my head, which immediately makes the tears finally overflow.

God, I don’t know what to feel. Anxiety falls off me, but there’s still that numb sting, still sadness and anger but also pride and relief, all coming together at once.

“We all are,” Lauren assures me and reaches for my hand. “You were amazing.”

Kieran runs over to us and throws his arms around all three of us in a chaotic hug.

“Caleb’s at the front, but even he was impressed. I think I even saw a smile on his face,” he tells us excitedly then breaks into laughter.

“That’s like the highest badge of honor,” Henry whispers, and I can’t help but grin, even though tears are still streaming down my cheeks.

“I fucking did it,” I whisper.

“It’s over,” Lauren says, and I shoot her a smile.

If only this didn’t seem too good to be true.