Page 51 of The Reverse Cinderella

She wondered if it had been real or not. Her heart throbbed and she knew that he had found his way there somehow. She was in love with this big oaf and she didn’t know who he was anymore. Piaget wanted the Max she had been championing, not this man who could easily have championed himself. He’d turned her whole world upside down in so many ways.

“Piaget?” Max slowly placed a hand on her shoulder and then turned her around to face him, his other hand cupping her cheek. “I’ll do whatever you want.”

Piaget looked at him miserably. “You lied to me.”

“No. I just didn’t tell you everything.”

“My husband had a habit of not telling me everything. He didn’t tell me about the three or four pieces on the side that he had. Those are the ones I know about, there might have been more. He didn’t tell me that he had no intention of having children. He didn’t tell me how bad our finances were. He didn’t tell me a lot of things,” Piaget said sadly. She couldn’t help that a tear had found its way out and was going down her cheek. “I can’t do that again.”

“Then you won’t.” Max pulled her into his arms and even though her heart felt like it was breaking it also felt like it was coming home. Piaget just wanted to hold on for a few minutes and pretend that the last hour hadn’t happened. But pretending and ignoring had gotten her in a bad place before. Piaget wiped her eyes and resolutely pulled back.

Max gave her his handkerchief and tried to explain. “I was born Maxwell David Ramesly, youngest son of David and Barbara Ramesly. I had a blessed childhood with two older brothers, no sisters. I went to Harvard. I enjoyed some good adventures and did some dangerous stunts with my friends at the time. Then I followed my father’s footsteps into the family business like he wanted. Like all of us Ramesly’s are expected to do.

“My father, David, is the one who owns Ramesly Pharmaceuticals. He’s the one who covered everything up with the diabetic drug I was telling you about. Because I refused to back down, he doesn’t talk to me anymore. Neither does my brother Michael. The only one I have any contact with is Noah.

“I haven’t felt like a Ramesly for the past four years, Piaget. I don’t like using my last name because people expect things from a Ramesly. I’m just a guy who works for a demolition company. I don’t want to be judged by my last name anymore,” Max ran his hand through his hair, frustrated. “I was going to tell you.”

“You were going to tell me,” Piaget repeated angrily. “It seems like you’re going to tell me a lot of things, but you never get around to it.”

“What would you have said if I had told you?” Max asked.

“I don’t know!” Piaget exploded. “We’ll never know because once again, you didn’t tell me! I had to hear it from other people. It makes me feel foolish, like I don’t know who you really are.”

“I’m Max, the guy who loves you,” Max said a little desperately. “That’s who I am.”

“Really? Because people who love people don’t keep secrets from each other. I don’t have any secrets from you,” Piaget waved her hands around. “I don’t want to be in a relationship where the truth is being kept from me. I did that already with Gary. It’s not fair to me.”

“You’re right,” Max tried to grab her hand, but she pulled away. “I promise, there are no other surprises about me. I will make sure to always tell you absolutely everything about me.”

“It’s too late, Max,” Piaget sighed. The fight going out of her. “Let’s just get through this weekend. I’d like to keep up appearances in front of my family for the wedding.”

“What about after the wedding?” Max asked softly.

“I don’t know,” she said tiredly. “I’m going to go wash up and redo my makeup. You should go back to dinner.”

“Piaget…” Max protested, but she waved his words away and left him.

In the bathroom Piaget looked in the mirror and reflected on what a fool she had been. She was in love with a chronic liar. Well, maybe liar was too strong of a word, but certainly with a man who withheld the truth when he thought it was convenient to him. She sighed over her aching heart and then washed her blotchy face. Fortunately, she still had some of her good quality make up left. It was supposed to have gotten her through the wedding but it was more important to cover up her mottled face right now. She’d go back to department store makeup tomorrow since it would be all that she had left.

A few extra flicks of the mascara wand and she was ready to go, but still she lingered. Her mother was going to pitch a fit once she found out it was Max Ramesly who was Piaget’s date. She would think that Piaget had played a joke on her, making her think he was homeless. Tiffany already thought that. They would both be angry at her and it would make the weekend a lot harder. Piaget supposed she’d just have to weather their disapproval. It wasn’t like they accepted any of her choices lately anyways. Mother would be demanding some sort of explanation over the course of the weekend. Piaget wondered what she could say to smooth things over. Then suddenly, she decided she didn’t want to smooth things over.

She straightened her shoulders and blew out a breath. She could handle her mother. Sort of. With some wine for fortitude. She could handle Max too. She was just going to pretty much ignore him throughout most of the weekend.

It didn’t take long to find out that the group was on dessert by the time Piaget reentered the dining room. That was fine, she was ready for something sweet and soothing to calm her nerves. It helped that her wine glass had been refilled. Max helped her into her chair. Piaget allowed it because she was choosing not to create a scene. Like she had told Max earlier, she simply wanted to get through the weekend. Everyone pretended to not be curious as to why she and Max had left in such a hurry. Mother sent her a silent glare sheathed in a perfect smile that Piaget knew so well. She’d be hearing about the whole episode later.

Piaget spent the rest of the meal ignoring Max and flirting with Earle Milton who had no idea what was happening. Either no one had ever flirted with Earle before so he didn’t recognize what she was doing, or she was a total failure at it despite the wine coursing through her veins. It was depressing.

Finally, the meal ended with the men going to the library for drinks and the ladies retiring to the parlor for gossip. Piaget mingled with people that she hadn’t seen in the year that she had been widowed. Everyone was polite, but Piaget knew she was off their radar. They really didn’t want to associate with her, however, she was the aunt of the bride so they did what was necessary. Piaget caught up on the news of people that she no longer had anything in common with.

“So, Max Ramesly. Pretending he was homeless. I don’t know what I did to deserve that,” Judith murmured in her ear.

Piaget sighed. There was no way to win that particular argument. She chose to change the subject instead. “Tricia is looking really well. I’m sure she’ll make a beautiful bride tomorrow.”

“He’s purported to be quite a catch,” her mother remarked, undeterred from her original comments on Max. “I’m surprised you managed to get him to attend. Charles has been trying to get Ramsely pharma to switch to become clients of the law firm for some time. This could be quite a feather in his cap.”

“Or he could just focus on his daughter’s wedding rather than making this a business weekend,” Piaget replied sweetly, taking another sip of wine.

“Socializing is business,” Judith slid her a sharp look. “Where did you meet him anyways?”