Page 36 of Love to Hate You

After some fanfare, Autumn opened the box and gave a dramatic gasp. “Is this what I think it is?”

Jesus, what was it? She held the box to her chest so that no one could see what was in there. But her face said it would set the family back more than fifty grand.

“It is, babe.”

“The one on the Upper West Side?”

“It is.”

“It’s too much.”

“My woman deserves the best.”

“Would you two like to fill us in?” Summer said, and although the rest of the family couldn’t see, her hands were in her lap wrung so tightly they were white.

Autumn flipped the box around and his stomach didn’t just bottom out—it felt like a wrecking ball went right through his middle. Because attached to some gaudy keychain was a set of house keys.

“Randy bought us our dream house,” Autumn said, and the ladies at the table swooned in harmony. All except Summer, who looked confused.

“You hate that part of town,” Summer said.

“Not the Upper West Side in Ridgefield, silly. Manhattan,” Autumn said, and Wes watched the color drain from Summer’s face and quickly catalogued the devastation bracketing her mouth.

“Manhattan?” Blanche asked. “You’ve always dreamed of living there.”

“What a wonderful place to start your new life,” Cecilia said.

Frank said nothing, but quietly reached under the table to take Summer’s hand. She gripped it like it was the one thing holding her together.

Autumn looked at Randy all cow-eyed. “That’s what we said when we saw it. Summs, you’ll die when you come visit. It’s this cute brownstone with brick steps and an iron rail, just likeYou’ve Got Mail. And, Dad, there’s an actual yard, which is so hard to come by in that neighborhood. I’m going to have the best garden.”

“You hate getting your hands dirty,” Summer pointed out.

“Oh, we’d hire someone,” Randy said.

Of course he would.I mean, what’s an extra five hundred bucks a month when you blow a cool three mill on a “starter house.”

“You bought a house for my sister without consulting her?” Summer asked.

Randy looked uncertain. “It’s romantic, right?”

“It’s selfish. You’re assuming she wants to leave the state, leave her family.”

“It’s a sign of maturity to stop wasting money on rent and invest in a home,” Randy countered softly.

“It isn’t if half the partnership can’t afford the mortgage,” Wes said under his breath.

“Oh, I never expected her to pay for it. I’m doing this for her. It’s a surprise and a gift.”

“What the actual fuck?” Wes said. “What happened to taking it slow? And how are you going to run the Ridgefield location from New York? We still have to get it running and profitable. Then there’s the LA location.”

“We’ll work it out.”

“No, you meanI’llmake it work.”

“Don’t ruin this moment for me, man. I’ve been waiting to do this in front of her family for weeks. Hell, since I met the girl.”

Funny—Wes had been trying to get him to just come back to the country for weeks without much success. Now he knew why. Wes was trying to avoid a board takeover while Randy was busy playing house with a gold digger.

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