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Chapter five

Hazel

“I’m sorry. You’re getting married ?” My mother blinks at me from her place at the stove, where she’s making dinner.

“Yes.”

She exhales sharply, shaking her head, then returns to stirring the pasta. “Care to explain how this came to be? The last I heard, you were swearing off all men forever.” She flashes me a teasing grin.

“I still am.”

“Then how—”

“It’s Diane’s nephew,” I reply before she can get any further, and then launch into the meeting with Timothy MacDonald and what has transpired since.

“Well, I can’t deny that’s a lot of money, but are you sure about this, Hazel?” My mother’s eyes are laced with concern. “We’re talking about marriage here. At the end of the six months, the only way out is through a divorce.”

I stare down at the counter, hating that she’s right. I know this decision comes with consequences—I’ve accepted that. But it’s still a hard p ill to swallow. “I’m aware, Mom. I just need you to trust me on this, okay?”

It’s the first Sunday of the month, which means family dinner Sunday with Mom, our once-a-month tradition.

My brothers and their significant others haven’t arrived yet, which is why I’m having this conversation now.

I wanted to break the news to her before facing the inevitable inquisition from my brothers.

She sighs. “Of course I trust you, Hazel. But it’s my job as your mother to question you. Ultimately, you’re a grown woman and you’re going to do what you’re going to do, regardless of how I feel about it.”

“I’m scared, Mom,” I admit. “But I also know that if I pass up this opportunity out of fear, I’ll regret it.

Diane wanted us to have this money, obviously, but she was also hell-bent on setting us up.

She has been for years. Gage and I agreed to keep this strictly a business arrangement.

We both will benefit from it, change the trajectory of our lives, and then move on to our own paths.

Simple as that.” I brush my hands together, hoping that the next six months do in fact go that smoothly.

But after our meeting a few days ago, I’m doubtful that will be the case.

Sitting across from the man who’s about to be my husband and truly engaging with him for the first time was quite the experience.

My body betrayed me—forgetting that we’re not allowed to give in to our attraction to him—while my mind kept buzzing with so many questions that half the time, all I could do was stare at him blankly.

Gage is jaded about love—that was clear from a few of his declarations on the matter.

But he’s also full of contradictions. He loved his aunt, but wasn’t there at the end?

He claimed he doesn’t do feelings, yet seemed to care about mine—especially after I called him out on his behavi or.

I don’t know how he usually communicates with women, but the last thing I’m going to put up with is his surly attitude.

If we have to live together and endure this timeline, I want it to be as painless as possible.

And denying that you find him incredibly attractive is painful enough, isn’t it, Hazel?

“So, are you planning on telling your brothers tonight?” my mother asks, pulling me from my thoughts.

“Yes. No sense in delaying the inevitable. But I wanted you to hear it from me first, and the truth about why.”

My mother rounds the counter and places her hands on my shoulders. “I’m not sure what to think about this.” She folds her lips in as tears well in her eyes. “I always imagined your wedding day and what that would be like. And this certainly isn’t it.”

I swallow past the lump in my throat. “I know. But my vision always included Dad walking me down the aisle, and that’s not going to happen now, so…”

My mom pulls me in for a hug. “I’m so sorry that was taken from you, Hazel.”

A tear slips down my cheek. “Me too, Mom. But maybe since I won’t get the fairy-tale wedding, it makes sense that I don’t get the fairy-tale marriage either.”

When my mother releases me, she brushes my hair from my face. “No marriage is a fairy tale, Hazel. But I think as long as you go into this with the right expectations, you’ll come out as unscathed as possible.”

“Believe me, that’s all I want. I’m still swearing off men, Mom. Gage isn’t going to change that.”

The corner of her mouth lifts as if she doesn’t believe me, and I hate that it makes me doubt myself as well. “So when do I get to meet him?”

“ I’m thinking about introducing him to everyone at Michael’s birthday party.”

Her eyebrows raise. “That’s a big day.”

“Well, that way I can get introductions over with all at once.”

“And when are you getting married?”

“Gage and I texted about that last night. When he gets back from Florida in a few days, we’re going to the courthouse. The sooner we get married, the faster the six months will end.”

Mom purses her lips. “Well, can I at least be there?”

“Of course, Mom. But that’s it. I don’t want to make a big spectacle of it.”

As soon as the words leave my lips, a crack fissures across my heart. All of my dreams as a little girl, all of the visions of wearing the perfect dress and walking toward the perfect man vanish like a cloud of dust in my mind.

“So, what are you going to tell your brothers?”

I take a seat on the stool next to the counter as my mother returns to the stove. “The truth. There’s no point in pretending it’s real.”

She nods, unsurprised. “Probably for the best. Parker’s fake engagement was exhausting enough for everyone involved. At least this way, you don’t have to keep up appearances.” I roll my eyes. “God, I just can’t wait to hear their thoughts about it.”

Mom chuckles. “I think they might be more understanding than you think. It is a lot of money to inherit. Do you think any of them would pass up that opportunity? Money makes people do crazy things, Hazel.”

“Are you saying I’m crazy, Mom?”

She eyes me over her shoulder. “No, honey. But I do think that this is affecting you more than you care to admit.”

I s tare out the window to the deck on the back of my parents’ house. Even though my dad is gone, it will always be their place. “I’m hoping once the wedding part is over, I won’t feel so torn up about it.”

“You can always back out.”

I shake my head. “No. Gage deserves this money too. I just wish Diane had spoken to us about this beforehand.”

My mother turns to me and places her hands on her hips.

“Right…because when she tried to set y’all up all those other times, you were so receptive to the idea,” she says, sarcasm lacing her words.

Then, her expression softens. “I think this was just Diane’s way of taking care of the two people who meant the most to her. ”

I nod, blinking back tears.

She sets the spoon down and crosses the kitchen to where I sit. Gently, she squeezes my shoulders, her gaze meeting mine. “I know this isn’t what you pictured for yourself—”

Before she can finish, the front door swings open and Penn, Astrid, Bentley, and Lilly scramble through, their voices filling the quiet space.

“Guess our private time is over,” Mom says, kissing me on the cheek before greeting my second oldest brother, his wife, and their two kids.

“You’re here early,” Penn says as he walks into the kitchen and over to me, pulling me in for a side hug as I remain perched on the stool.

“Yeah. I finished editing early today, so I figured I’d come help Mom.”

“What was the photo shoot?” Astrid asks as she grabs a cucumber from the veggie tray my mother set out, dunks it in the ranch dressing, and pops it into her mouth.

“A family. They schedule a shoot every year as their kids grow.”

Astrid turns to Penn, nudging him with her elbow. “We need to do one soon. Bentley and Lilly have changed so much over the past year. ”

Bentley is thirteen now and Lilly is nine. I’ve known these two since they were babies, and Astrid is right, they’ve both grown a lot in the past year, especially Bentley.

“Well, your photographer is sitting right in front of you. Schedule something, babe.” Penn presses a kiss to Astrid’s temple and then heads toward the fridge.

“Remind me before you leave, and I’ll put you on my calendar,” I tell my sister-in-law just as Parker and Cashlynn stride through the door, looking tanner and more in love than ever.

“It’s the newly engaged again couple!” Astrid teases as she walks over to them, pulling Cashlynn in for a hug.

Parker and Cashlynn, his boss’s daughter, faked an engagement last year after she convinced him to go along with the ruse.

But when the truth came out, so did their real feelings.

They decided to take their time dating before making it official, and Parker finally proposed for real on their trip to Greece, celebrating the one-year anniversary of Cashlynn’s art gallery here in Carrington Cove.

Parker rolls his eyes but leans down to kiss his fiancée. “Yes, the ring is back on her finger, but it won’t be alone for long. The wedding is going to happen before the end of the summer.”

All of us whip our heads in his direction.

“Is that so?” my mother asks, arching a brow.

“Shotgun wedding?” Penn asks, smirking over the rim of his beer can.

Parker shrugs. “We can work on making it one between now and then.”

Cashlynn groans and swats at Parker. “No! Jesus, babe. We are not adding a surprise pregnancy to the equation.”

I stand from the stool and walk over to hug my brother—and whack him on the back of the head at the same time.

“ The fuck?” He jerks away, rubbing at the spot.

“Don’t piss off your fiancée now that she’s agreed to marry you for real, dummy.”

“Hey! No one asked for your advice, especially after the last advice you gave.”

I smirk, basking in my own brilliance. “Oh, you mean when I told Cashlynn to intentionally mess with you in your own home so you’d have an existential crisis and admit you had feelings for her?”

Parker glares. “Yes. That.”

Cashlynn leans into him, grinning. “To be fair, it worked.”