Page 83 of The Monster I Loved

“While everyone is really happy for you two, do you think both of you can move your asses away from the fire?” Henry said.

We walked to the front of the house, leaving Felix, who was a volunteer firefighter like my dad had been, to save Eden’s house and put out the fire.

I shook my head as we sat on the front porch.

“That’s what happens when this group tries to get together,” Ashley said, reading my mind.

Daisy mumbled, “Disaster.”

With one hand protectively around Cora, Henry agreed. “Let’s face it. It’s over. It’ll probably be a lot safer if we go our separate ways.”

I watched the look that transferred between Henry and Ashley. There wasn’t any anger there, not anymore. They’d be able to put their differences aside for Wylie.

Thaddeus

The next morning,I spent hours tearing through the house. It just had to be somewhere. I’d checked the boxes in the basement and looked through all my college stuff packed away in my father’s old office.

“Mr. Fitzgerald, what are you doing?”

Aston only called me that when he was pissed. I looked around the room at the mess I’d made. None of which would be cleaned by me. Shit. “Sorry, Aston.”

Waiting for an explanation, he gestured at the mess.

“I’m looking for something,” I murmured, continuing my search.

“What?”

I continued to pull stuff from the box in front of me. “A ring.”

“Ring? Why would you keep jewelry in a cardboard box?”

Well, when I snatched it off Summer’s hand at the police station during the ordeal, I never cared about finding it again. “It’s the engagement ring I gave Summer years ago.”

Aston’s eyes brightened. “Oh, that. It’s with your mother’s stuff.”

That’s one place I hadn’t looked. “Thanks,” I said, already on my feet and leaving the room.

“It’s in the one markedmemories,” Aston called after me.

Seconds later, I pushed the door open and found the box. Hidden between a newspaper clipping about my mother’s death and Clive’s arrest was the ring. Lifting the sparkling piece of jewelry, I lowered myself onto a nearby chair. Everything got turned around. Now, I had to get Summer and I back on course.

“Aston, I’m not staying for breakfast!” I yelled.

Wherever he was in the house, he was sure to hear me. I grabbed a jacket and hurried to the car. My hands trembled around the steering wheel, but this time it wasn’t from anger. Why was I so nervous? Summer had already agreed to marry me. This was just a formality.

When I arrived at the office building, I was already in the elevator when it hit me. Giving her the ring at work might be a bad idea. I’d gone from telling the staff to make sure she walked through metal detectors, to announcing our engagement to the entire office.

It wouldn’t surprise me if these people thought I was crazy. Plus, Melissa worked there. Although now that I thought about it, my father had already taken care of that anyway.

The elevator door opened, and I walked off, pushing all thoughts that didn’t agree with what I was doing from my head.

“Summer, can I speak to you in my office?”

She looked up from her computer screen and followed.

Once inside, she finally asked, “Everything okay?”

“Well, we’re engaged, so you need?—”