Page 94 of Fall Apart

I smile back at her warmly. “Seriously, thank you for helping.”

She fiddles with my bowtie one more time before looking up at me. “Glad to help. You two are going to be fine. Just keep your head out of your ass and be you.” She hums in consideration. “Well, at least the part of you that Lizzy likes.”

Yep, she’s definitely the wisest of the Chapman siblings. I look at her, taken aback by my little sister that reminds me so much of our mom. She looks up at me with a questioning expression. “What?”

“Look at you.” I run my hand up and down in front of her. She’s tall like our mom with the same flowing brown hair as her. My baby sister is just as smart and wild spirited as she was too. “Remind me again how you’re single?”

She scoffs. “I haven’t met a man special enough yet. It’s just trust fund babies and wannabe ski bros around here. Too many boys, no men. I know what I'm worth.” She tosses me a wink before loopingher elbow into mine. “Just promise me you won’t let us drift apart again?”

I nod, looking her right in the eyes. “Chapman Promise. Now let’s go inside and get this shit show started.”

I gripthe hand of the man I used to look up to, pumping it in my definitely too tight grasp in a handshake I wish would end. I don’t know when I started to resent him, but Lizzy was right. Standing here just inside the entryway to the event hall in the line of customers and clients waiting to greet him, I see him differently now. He’s not the former ski legend that the impressionable eighteen year old me was eager to listen to and desperate to please. I should have seen through his bullshit years ago. He tore me down even further at my lowest point, just so he could build me into a tool to use for himself.

“Glad you’re here, Clay.” He’s wearing that eerie smile that I hate. And now I know why it’s never sat right with me, seeing him in a whole new light, recognizing just how much he’s been manipulating me.

“No problem. Just part of the job.” I squeeze his hand one more time before letting go.

He turns to Grace. “And if it isn’t the youngest Chapman. It feels like it’s been years since I’ve seen you.”

She puts on a bright, but obviously fake smile. “Ithasbeen years, Ralph.”

He frowns awkwardly and I bite back a laugh, knowing damn well that she knows that’s not his name. I wrap my arm around her shoulder, steering her inside. “We’ll see you inside, Mr. Jensen.” Henods and immediately puts facade back up and turns to the next person to greet.

Once we’re out of ear shot, I turn to my sister. “You’re a troublemaker. Ralph? Really?”

She hums and shrugs. “What? Lizzy’s right. Dude’s creepy. Someone needs to give him a reality check.”

I snort a laugh. “Alright, killer.”

She grins and tugs me by my elbow further into the huge room. “Come on, let’s get a drink. You said it’s an open bar, right?”

I nod and she pulls me along towards the bar on the back wall.

“Good, because I want to drink on his dime.”

We get to the bar and flag down the bartender over the noise of the crowded room.

“What are you having tonight folks?” he asks, looking at Grace first.

“Champagne, please.”

He looks to me and I think to myself, Grace is right. We should have a little fun.

“What’s your oldest bourbon?”

He smiles back knowingly. “We’ve got a great single barrel of Wasatch Whiskey Twelve Year bourbon.”

“Perfect. Make it a double.”

“Go ahead and make that two doubles,” a voice from behind me says. A voice that sends sparks up my spine.

I turn around to find Lizzy standing behind me, with Kayleigh at her side.

My eyes rake over her body, from her skin tight, strapless black dress, all the way down to her red heels. Her nails are done in red instead of her trademark pink that’s grown on me, matching her kissable lips. Her hair is in her always perfect ponytail. She’s pure, fierce, radiant perfection.

There are a thousand words I want to say, but when our eyes meet, only one comes out in a low, raspy breath.

“Princess.”

---